Bad Guys Wear Black Hats

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.]

  

Growing up in the 50’s and 60’s, Western TV shows and movies were at their peak. The nice thing about Westerns was that it was easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys. That’s because the good guys wore white hats, and the bad guys wore black hats.

 

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

 

The chief priests didn’t care about Judas returning the money or repenting. They had
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’.

 

Copyright 2024 Joseph B Williams

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

 

Betrayed or Betrayer?

“Where are you God?” - A Series from the Psalms

Psalm 55

(Use the link below to read the verses.)

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm%2055&version=NIV;TPT

 

It was a crisp, clear winter night in Houghton, Michigan. One of those Upper Peninsula nights that makes everything sharper, cleaner, more crisp. Not bitter cold; just cold.

 

I went for a walk to get away; to be alone. The snow crunched under my feet until I found a spot where nobody else would be. I laid down on the bed of snow, looking up at the starry night, and cried out, “Why God? Why!”

 

It wasn’t so much a question as it was a statement; an indictment really. “Why did you let this happen to me God! It hurts so bad to be betrayed”. As a nineteen year-old whose self-image revolved around having a girlfriend, my world was crushed when my fiancé dumped me for another guy. Not only had she betrayed me; but I felt like God had too.

 

David knew how it felt to be betrayed.

 

¹² It wasn’t an enemy who taunted me.
If it was my enemy, filled with pride and hatred,
then I could have endured it. I would have just run away.
¹³ But it was you, my intimate friend—one like a brother to me.
It was you, my advisor, the companion I walked with and worked with!
¹⁴ We once had sweet fellowship with each other. We worshiped in unity as one, celebrating together with God’s people.             TPT

 

Jesus knew what it felt like to be betrayed also. Not only was he betrayed by his closest friends in his greatest hour of need; but he was betrayed by his Heavenly Father. "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

 

But are we any different than Jesus’ disciples? Would we have done any better had we been there? Wouldn’t we have betrayed him just as Peter did? Don’t we betray him still when we rebelliously sin?

 

Is there anything left for us to do but to follow in the steps of David as he cried out to God, even when feeling betrayed?

 

¹⁶ But as for me, I will call upon the Lord to save me, and I know he will!
¹⁷ Every evening I will explain my need to him.
Every morning I will move my soul toward him.
Every waking hour I will worship only him,
and he will hear and respond to my cry.            TPT