A Series on Lent
The stories of Passion
Week - Judas
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Matthew 26:1-5;
14-16; 47-50; Matthew 27:1-5
[Lent
is a 40-day season of personal reflection with the purpose to prepare
your heart to celebrate the Lord’s Resurrection at Easter. In this series on
Lent, we will be looking into the stories of Passion Week. How the people who
were directly involved were impacted and how that applies to us today.]
When you read the story of Passion Week, there are
plenty of people who wore black hats. The chief priests and elders who planned
to have Jesus killed. Caiaphas, the high priest who declared Jesus had
blasphemed. Pilate who sentenced Jesus to be crucified in order to appease the
Jews.
But the most notorious person to wear a black hat
was Judas Iscariot, “who betrayed Jesus”.
How would you like to have the title of “who
betrayed Jesus” attached to your name every time you’re mentioned? That’s
how it was for Judas even though he repented.
3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, realized that
Jesus had been condemned to die, he was filled with remorse. So he took the
thirty pieces of silver back to the leading priests and the elders. 4 “I
have sinned,” he declared, “for I have betrayed an innocent man.” NLT
what they wanted. However, Judas couldn’t live with the guilt and the shame of what he had done. So, he killed himself. An inglorious end to an otherwise tragic life.
Although, he must have had some redemptive qualities
because Jesus called him to be a disciple and then made him an apostle. However,
as treasurer of Jesus’ ministry, he was stealing from it. Then, in his defining
act, he approached the chief priests to see how much they would pay him to betray
Jesus.
There are lots of people in the Bible who did
terrible things, but were still a part of God’s redemptive plan. Jacob stole
his brother’s birthright. Moses killed an Egyptian guard. David had an affair
and then covered it up by killing her husband. Paul persecuted the church to
the point of death. All were forgiven.
What about Judas? Is there no grace for him? Didn’t
he have faith at one time? Couldn’t he have been a disciple who just lost his
way? In some ways, he’s not all that different from the other disciples. They
all had their weaknesses and sinful nature.
It was much easier watching westerns when I was a
kid. You could tell the good guys from the bad. But in real life, it’s not so
easy. Judas is known for the worst thing that he ever did in his life. What
would that be like for you or me?
Thankfully, there was one person who did wear a
white hat in this story... Jesus. He died so that you and I could live. He took
our punishment so that we wouldn’t have to. As a result, there’s no sin that is
too terrible for him to forgive. Not even Judas’.
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