Judas Iscariot
Public Meeting, Week 2, Sem 2/23
Plenty of misconceptions about God stem from a flawed assumption that God is like us, but bigger. We abhor evil and so conclude the only solution is to eradicate it. We value justice and so see fairness as the highest virtue. We experience love and so demand the right to define its limits. We then impose these ideas onto God and assume He thinks and acts just like we would. Hence, the existence of evil becomes an argument against God since if God exists, He would eradicate evil, wouldn’t He?
But God is not like us. His ways are not our ways. It could even be said that He has different definitions of the very things we assume. Things like grace, power, and love. That’s what we see in our passage today. Together they paint a picture of a God who is nothing like what people assume. He is glorious.
Grace: He is kind to the undeserving
John 13:21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
There’s something really remarkable and terrifying about what is happening here. Jesus announces that one of the 12 apostles will betray him. Throughout their time together, Jesus and the disciples had been rejected, falsely accused, and even attacked for the message they preached. But that has always been from the outside. But now this one hits different.
What is remarkable here is verse 22. When Jesus says one of you will betray me, nobody looked at Judas. It wasn’t as though people had always suspected him. He was part of the 12! At one point, Jesus had sent them out to different villages to preach and pray for people, during which they reported that even demons were subject to them. So think about it. It wasn’t as if Judas was the only one out of the 12 who prayed and nothing happened. God really did work through him. No one even remotely suspected Judas, whom Jesus entrusted with money.
On the outside Judas looked just like any of them. More than that, he wasn’t just a member of the church, he was one of the leaders. But lurking beneath the surface were treachery and wickedness. If there is a lesson here it is that sin is so insidious that it can be present without anyone even knowing. The apostles all looked at each other. It wasn’t like they all looked at Judas. But Jesus knew. Not just that, he wasn’t filled with anger. He was troubled in spirit, as though he was hurt by it and at the same time hoping that it wouldn’t happen.
23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
The disciple whom Jesus loved refers to the apostle John. Notice Jesus doesn’t say it’s Judas. Instead he makes a show of it with the bread. It’s easy to miss the significance because we are so culturally removed from them. Dipping bread and giving it to someone is what you do to show honor to a guest. Sort of like letting someone have the first go at a buffet table or the first slice of cake. Something like that but more significant. Even if you miss the cultural significance, consider this: Jesus served Judas whom he knew would betray him.
There’s a picture of Jesus reaching out to Judas, almost like an appeal of his love for Judas. Isn’t that remarkable? I would have exposed him and challenged him there and then. But again, see how God is nothing like us. He gives grace to those who would betray him.
Power: He subverts evil to bring good
27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
To be clear, God did not make Judas betray Jesus. God is not the author of evil. He didn’t create evil, that would just make God evil. We are told that Satan entered Judas. What that means we don’t know except it tells us that Satan was involved. I don’t think there’s any point in trying to speculate the psychology or theology behind all of it. The more important point is verse 28.
28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
Think about that. Satan was right there in that room with them and no one had a clue. We think of the devil as having horns on his head with a scythe in his hand. But in that room with the apostles, where was Satan?
“Satan was right there in that room with them and no one had a clue.”
Let me put it another way for you. Which is more likely to have a satanic influence – watching a really dark horror movie or walking through k-mart? Let’s not assume that everything is as it appears to be.
But here’s the amazing thing. Judas obeyed Jesus. Did you notice that? Satan entered Judas but all that did was accomplish what God had planned. This is the key to understanding why evil and suffering still exists. Does God have the power to crush Satan? Of course. But again, God is nothing like us. We think power is to destroy evil. That is nothing to God. The glory of God’s power is that He subverts evil. He uses it and turns it into good. That is the glory of God’s power.
Love: He lays down His life
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. 33 Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’ 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Here he’s talking about the cross. And it is at the cross where we see God’s glory. The glory of his love. You have to know firstly that the new commandment isn’t actually new. Love God, love one another. Jesus said all of the Old Testament law can be summed up in that. So here’s the question. What’s new in verse 34?
Just as I have loved you. That’s new. Notice it’s past tense. It’s a commandment we obey not to get God’s love, but because we have been loved. And there’s an irony in the last bit of the passage.
36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” 37 Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me?
The mistake Peter made was not overconfidence. The question is rhetorical because ultimately it is not Peter who has to lay down his life. And so again, see how God is nothing like us. We think the point of religion is for people to lay down their lives for God. From Peter here in this passage, to the radical Islamist who puts on a suicide vest, to the teenager being dragged to church. We think it’s about us laying down our lives for God. But the cross of Jesus shows us a completely different thing. God lays down his life for us.
He is glorious in ways we don’t understand
The glory of God’s grace: He is kind to the undeserving
The glory of God’s power: He uses evil to bring forth good
The glory of God’s love: He lays down His life for his enemies