The Judas in Us All | Holy Week | Wednesday

As Holy Week continues, we step into one of the heaviest and most sobering moments in the story - Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. 

For thirty pieces of silver, Judas trades relationship for control. Disappointed that Jesus didn’t meet his expectations of what the Messiah should be, he turns away - choosing his own path over trust. 

It’s easy to judge. Easy to distance ourselves from the story. But if we’re honest…there’s a little bit of Judas in all of us. 

Moments where God doesn’t move how we want.
Moments where we grow frustrated, disconnected, or discontent.
Moments where we start reaching for control - one small compromise at a time…our own “pieces of silver.” 

In this episode, we take a hard but honest look inward. Not to sit in shame - but to recognize the subtle ways our hearts can drift. 

And yet - even here - grace is still present. Because even after the betrayal is set in motion, Jesus still invites Judas to the table.

The same invitation stands for us today. No matter how far we’ve wandered, we are not beyond the reach of the Father's love for the prodigal. 

As we continue this Holy Week journey, may this moment lead us not to despair - but to surrender. 

Keep walking towards the cross.

Song Credit:
This episode includes a brief acoustic portion of the hymn “I Surrender All.”  Used here for devotional and illustrative purposes.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:05

Welcome to Holy Week with Sermons on the Side.

SPEAKER_01 0:09

This week, we're doing something a little bit different.

SPEAKER_02 0:12

Each day, Monday through Friday, we're walking through Holy Week together, slowing down to follow the final days of Jesus' life, leading up to the cross and ultimately the resurrection.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

From the celebration of Palm Sunday to the quiet weight of the upper room to the sorrow of Good Friday.

SPEAKER_02 0:34

We want to sit in each moment and see what it reveals about who Jesus is and what it means for us right here, right now.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

So whether you're listening in the car, on a walk, or in a quiet moment alone, our hope is simple.

SPEAKER_02 0:50

That this week wouldn't just be something you remember, but something you experience.

SPEAKER_01 0:57

So let's step into today's part of the story. We sure are. And man, it has been, I think a journey is an appropriate word because even the first two days of this week spending together, it's been so incredible. It's been encouraging, it's been so reflective. Yeah. And uh I'm I'm I'm looking forward to today as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:34

Man, I love doing this every day. Yeah, this is and and having these moments. But as we've said all week, this is just the perfect week to do some time together like this with our sermons on the side, listeners, preparing our hearts for Easter Sunday morning.

SPEAKER_01 1:51

I know, and when that that that right there is what just gets me so excited. I mean, to see the the different interactions that we have in the in the week to week and especially in these last couple of weeks with the start of the year, just seeing some some really cool growth with the podcast. And I just think of all of those people that are going to be in their local communities Sunday mornings. Maybe some of them are serving on a on a worship team or on a service team or in the kids' children's ministry or whatever that looks like. And or maybe it's just an opportunity for them to sit and to be a part of the congregation and to sing as a whole. But I mean, this Sunday is just, it's obviously it's one of my favorite Sundays in the entire year. Oh my goodness. But I especially love it thinking about the different cities, the different states, the different countries of the world, yes, our listeners are listening to and going to be worshiping the Lord. Um so yeah, anyways, so cool. We're journeying together this week, friends. And and Richard, I just haven't got a chance to thank you for all of the work that you've done in preparation for this. And and brother, I'm looking forward to I see all those notes right there for this episode. So let's dive in, man. Let's do it.

SPEAKER_02 3:00

It would I would be remiss if I just didn't mention how what a blessing it is for you bringing uh your guitar into these sessions and leading us in worship coming out of our time of prayer. It has been, gosh, it's so uplifting. And I find myself singing the songs, uh, the song that you bring, I sing it throughout the day, and it's just it's it's carrying my worship. So you're you're really creating a container for our worship. So thank you for that, man. Praise God. Well, as you said, we're right in the middle of Holy Week. It is Wednesday, and this, as far as what we're gonna concentrate on each day when we're together, this is where things kind of take a turn. You know, we started on Monday thinking about the Palm Sunday thing and the worship and the crying out to the Lord, Hosanna, which means Lord save us. And then we had such a cool time together yesterday, gathering our thoughts and our hearts around what we're thankful for. And man, what a what a special moment that was. Well, things get a little heavy today, starting today, because today we're actually going to talk about Judas, the one disciple, follower of Jesus, who decided to betray the Lord. And he was the one who helped get him arrested, which led to all the events of Good Friday and the crucifixion. We find this simple little two-verse statement in the in the narrative story of Jesus' last week. And this is found in Matthew chapter 26, and it's verse 14. I'm actually 14 through 16. It says, Then Judas Isariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you? And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus. Right? I mean, that it's like that that is just such a uh a dark three verse uh statement there. Yeah. Where G Judas makes the decision to do this, makes the move to go talk to the high priests who were Jesus. To them, Jesus was public enemy number one. Oh, and they were looking for an opportunity to to arrest him, to kill him. Exactly. They needed to get rid of this this guy who was causing this new movement to catch so much momentum. And so he made Judas made the decision, went to them, started like enacting a plan, took their money, and then started scheming for the moment when he would make it happen. Yeah and he would turn Jesus in. Now, obviously, Judas is the ultimate bad guy because of this decision. Yeah, he represents that for sure. Oh, doesn't he? And you know, in the Old Testament, there was even prophecies that one of Jesus' closest.

SPEAKER_01 6:17

One of the Messiah's followers was gonna do this horrible thing.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

But you know what? Most people who read the Bible and study the life of Jesus in the scriptures and are aware of what was going on in Israel at that time, they understand a lot of what motivated Judas to do this. And that's actually important for us to consider on Wednesday of Holy Week. Because bottom line, Judas believed Jesus was the Messiah. He really did. But Judas, like many people, I would I would say the majority of people who really did think Jesus was the man, most of them assumed that the Messiah who was gonna come save us, they really thought that it was a political and nationalistic kind of thing. Right. They believed that the Messiah was gonna take the nation of Israel and set them free and rescue them from their oppressors.

SPEAKER_01 7:27

Yeah, overthrow the Roman government.

SPEAKER_02 7:29

Exactly. That's what Judas and most people kind of assumed, and they also knew that based on Jesus' actions, it wasn't just gonna be political and military. It was also gonna have this wonderful help the downcast, heal the sick, take care of the oppressed, help the feed the poor. It was gonna have all of that. But for most of them, the defining characteristic of a Messiah was a political and military nationalistic kind of thing. So Judas was following Jesus, and there was a sacrifice involved in following Jesus, by the way. I mean, they traveled with him, that was their full-time gig for three years, most of them. And so they were invested, and they believed, Judas in particular believed in Jesus doing the saving of Israel thing. And when it became apparent that he wasn't, and he was making more enemies, the people in power were becoming Jesus' enemy, and Judas was starting to think, oh dear, this is not gonna work out. He's I don't think Jesus is doing what he should be doing to be Messiah-ish. Does that make sense? Oh, yeah. He was disappointed, he was disillusioned. He was like, Yeah, Jesus, that's great. Feed the poor, do all the nice things, teach us to love one another. Sure. Make us better people. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

But when do we hire our army?

SPEAKER_02 9:13

Exactly. Yeah. We got to get our political structure going. We got to run for office. We got to take over. When's the takeover gonna happen? And when Judah started putting two and two together and realized this takeover is looking not looking good, he decided to do this. Disillusionment, disappointment, anger. So here's a pretty wild question I want to ask of all of ourselves and all our listeners today. Can you ever see can we find the Judas in us? That sounds a little wild to be asking that. Here's what I mean by that. Can we find the parts of our heart that are a little disappointed in the way that God is doing things? Disillusioned at how long it's taking for God to maybe answer our prayers, for God to empower my life to make a difference, to fulfill some kind of higher purpose? Are we disappointed and disillusioned at any at any level about maybe what are good things and good prayers and really noble hopes? But if God isn't coming through the way we wanted Him to, or in the timetable we wished for, does something take root in our heart where we're a little upset about that? That's what I mean by where's the Judas in us? I think if we're honest, all of us are vulnerable to those kind of disappointments.

SPEAKER_00 11:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

And it is pretty, I don't know, man, it's pretty heavy and dangerous.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

It is, yeah. I can definitely relate to the, I don't know, just the disconnect between what my expectations were, what my hopes were that God would intervene or that God would show up in a specific situation. And it clearly wasn't either happening or happening the way that I wanted to. And I think it's so easy for me to fall into this judgment of, oh my goodness, I can't believe Judas would ever do something as so horrible as that. Yeah, we do that. But the little decisions and those little moments that you're talking about, those disconnects, those disillusion, disillusionments, those those disappointments. Yeah, all of a sudden that's one or two pieces of silver. All of a sudden that's three or four more pieces of silver that we're we're letting God have like 98% of our life, but I'm I'm really upset about this one or two percent. And so I'm gonna take control and I'm gonna do my own thing because I think I know best. And all of a sudden I've put myself on a pedestal.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Oh, goodness.

SPEAKER_01 12:06

And I'll tell you what, if I'm being honest, on the Wednesday of Holy Week, there's a lot more of Judas in me than I'm I want to admit.

SPEAKER_02 12:17

Brother, I thank you for saying it that way. And I agree, I agree that there is a lot more Judas vibes in me than I wish there were. I'm right there with you.

SPEAKER_01 12:34

And and you know what? I just on the on the heels of this sort of vulnerable moment that I feel like maybe all of us are are wrestling with, I think the beautiful thing is even after this moment, Jesus still opened the door to Judas to that last supper. He still invited him in, still gave him a way out. And so although we might be wrestling with this heavy truth, that there is a little bit of Judas in us all that does not close the door to God's grace, that does not close the door to God's goodness for our life. And we have the opportunity, like Judas did, to let go of those pieces of silver and to turn back to Jesus. Oh my goodness. In every area of our life, not the 98% that you're doing great on that everybody sees, but the 2% that maybe you're not doing so great on that nobody sees. That's the area right now on this podcast that I'm releasing over to the Lord, saying, Lord, I'm I'm no longer like Judas. I'm releasing that back to you.

SPEAKER_02 13:46

And honestly, man, I I really think that is what we want our prayer time to be today. So I'm gonna ask everybody, join me in this prayer of letting go, of being honest with the Lord and really surrendering those disappointments and those areas that go to him. So as we start our prayer today, I'm asking you to consider what are the parts of my heart that hold some disappointment or disillusionment with God's plan. Maybe we are very frustrated with the how of how God is working. So please think on those things for just a moment. And let's bring that to the Lord. And let's speak those disappointments out to him. Do that right now. And in this moment, speak out a prayer from your heart, telling the Lord you want to lay that down, and you want to let it go. Lord, please help us to trust your good heart for us and to trust in your plan. Lord, we don't want to hold back anything from you out of fear, disappointment, or anger. On this day, we bring all our hearts to you, best we can, and we say, I surrender to you.

SPEAKER_00 17:07

I will ever love and trust him in his presence daily.