Holy/Spy Wednesday

Betrayal and Grace: both are in the story of Judas.  What can we learn from this disciple turned betrayer.  Join All Glory to God as we discuss how grace breaks through betrayal!

Transcript

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All glory to God. This is Amy Cockley Mulder. It's Holy Week. And so I'm so glad you chose to join me. Please continue to listen to my podcast every single day this week as we walk the last week of Jesus together. The last week where Jesus was on the earth before he was crucified. This Holy Week is a time for us to set aside moments where we really think about what Jesus did for us. Holy Week. Join me here at all glory to God.

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Doesn't matter if you're rich or poor, doesn't matter if you're young or alive. All that matters is you answer the door when Jesus comes to change your life. And I catch a free. All the glory to God. And let's give all the glory to God.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

I'm Amy Copley Mulder. Thank you for joining me on this Holy Wednesday. And the two events that we are going to focus on for Holy Wednesday are the woman that anointed Jesus' feet and this decision that Judas makes to betray Jesus. I also want to reflect on the part in John where Judas decides to leave the table and we know that he is going to betray Jesus. It's about betrayal and grace today. And I think all of us have probably been betrayed on some level by someone in our lives. And we all have received or grace is available to us. Grace is like this warm blanket that's weighted, that gives us comfort and kind of gives us a sense of calm and peace. And betrayal is sort of absolutely the opposite, is the ripping of the band-aid, is pain and fear, and betrayal has a lot. And so when we look at Judas, I think we like to use an incredibly harsh lens to look at him. Peter denied Jesus three times, publicly, did not stand by him. But Peter comes back to Jesus and gets forgiven and has like this restoration experience. And Judas, because he betrays Jesus and then kills himself, we don't really get the rest of the story with him. But I want to let you know as we look at Judas's betrayal this morning, that Judas, and I believe this with every fiber of my meaning, Judas could have been forgiven. If Judas would have looked around and really heard what Jesus did to this woman that anointed his feet and really remembered all the things that Jesus said, but his own pain, the power of his betrayal to have Jesus be arrested, Judas missed the resurrection and he missed the fact that the same God that he had been walking the earth with would have forgiven him. So let us go to Matthew chapter 26. We're also going to go to John chapter 13. And this is the moment, this is the moment we assume, because of the order of things, that this is the moment Judas decided to betray Jesus. Matthew 26, starting at verse 6. Now, while Jesus was at Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar, a very costly ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. But when the disciples saw it, they were angry and said, Why this waste? For this ointment could have been sold for a large sum, and the money given to the poor. But Jesus, aware of this, said to them, Why do you trouble the woman? She has performed a good service for me, for you always have the poor with you, and you will not always have me. By pouring this ointment on my body, she has prepared me for burial. Truly I tell you, wherever this good news is proclaimed in the whole world, what she has done will be told in remembrance of her. So here's this beautiful moment of a woman, you know, basically putting her retirement saving savings on Jesus' feet. And the discussion around this extravagant, grace-filled act is we could have used that money for other things, like you're Jesus, you're being a little too permissive. I mean, here's this woman crying and and bathing your feet with her hair. Like we could have done something else. Jesus knows their thoughts and then extends grace to her, but also rebukes them like, I am only here for a short time. No one really seems to have heard him, however. And it is right after that in Matthew 26 that we get the two verses that I kind of want to focus on this morning. And that is, then one of the twelve who was called Judas Iscariot went to the chief priest and said, What will you give me if I betray him to you? They paid him 30 pieces of silver. And from that moment, he began to look for an opportunity to betray him. So Judas is looking for this opportunity to betray. He has made the decision. And that's kind of what I want to talk to you about on this day on Holy Wednesday. We have a woman who is so overcome with her love for Jesus that she does a great sacrifice. She may not know it at the time that she's preparing Jesus' body for burial. The woman gives this act of extravagance and love in acknowledgement that Jesus is going to die. Now, I don't know if she really knows that Jesus is going to die. None of the disciples are getting it. And he's been talking about it for quite some time through the through this ministry that he will die, and on the third day, he will rise again. Holy Wednesday was also called Spy Wednesday because this was the day that Judas decided that he was going to betray Jesus and look for a place to betray him. He became a spy for the Pharisees and the chief priests. And he goes and makes a deal for 30 pieces of silver. That's a legend. And it's in response, in part, to this extravagant love that was shown to Jesus by this woman and that Jesus didn't rebuke her and act in a way that made sense for Judas. Judas wanted political power. He wanted Jesus to act a certain way. And because he was in charge of money for the group, he wanted it to be more logical or calculated, I think. He wanted Jesus to become the savior that he could put into a box and to isolate. But Jesus wasn't about political power or military might or even status at all. And Judas had been walking with him, but he had seen many powerful things. So the signs and wonders that we talked about yesterday, I think were becoming a problem for Judas. The signs and wonders, everybody saw the signs and wonders that said, oh, this person must come from God. Those were showing Judas that he was waiting for this powerful display. And when Jesus could not fit into a box, Judas was a part of this betrayal of Jesus that got him arrested in front of everyone. The scene of the disciples around the table, where Jesus says, one of you is going to betray me and I give him the bread. I mean, this is this is a point where Jesus knows that Judas is on a team of spying for betrayal. He already knows. The disciples don't know. And in Matthew and Luke, and in John, there's this statement about Judas that Satan entered into him and he decided to betray Jesus. Now I've been thinking about that because as I've been thinking about the character of Judas, it's very easy to put him into this category of betrayer. I would never do that. He's evil, you know, just kind of like a villain with a mustache. Let's just put him in a box. He's just over there. But the fact that the disciples, when they've written down the gospel, and each gospel has this phrase, Satan entered into him. So I'm wondering, I'm wondering where that came from, if it was sort of knowing that we we this one has walked among us and he wasn't himself when he decided to betray Jesus. And I think it's it's what it's doing is it's saying that Satan used Judas in this betrayal of Jesus for him to be crucified. It kind of takes the responsibility off of Judas. It takes the responsibility off of Judas. Like Satan entered into him, you know, and then he became the betrayer. But Judas had already decided that he was he was done with following Jesus around and listening to words he didn't understand. Judas wanted Jesus to be a certain way. It's something that we have to ask ourselves, am I trying to fit Jesus into a box? When my life doesn't turn out the way that I want it to? When I have issues and struggles and problems that I think are really unfair, or um when I have issues and problems that don't seem to make sense. Like, why do I have this problem? Why does this other person not have it? When I'm when I'm obsessed with my struggles. Am I putting Jesus into a box? Well, Lord, if you were really here with me, if Lord, you were really real, this wouldn't happen. And Jesus calls us to love our enemies, pray for people that persecute us, and look out for the least of these among us. Those are not powerful positions at all. Jesus does not come to us asking us to display power. Look at us, we're Christian. No, if we're really following Christ, we're reaching out to the least of these. We're looking at a woman who sacrificed her savings at our feet and saying, Thank you. Thank you for this sacrifice and surrender. And even around the table, when Jesus dips the bread and gives it to Judas, there is no condemnation. He simply says, Do what you need to do. Go ahead, do what you need to do. Jesus is so full of grace in all of these moments. He um ultimately forgives Peter for his denial. No, none of the disciples stood by him, and they are all forgiven. They all build the church. And so I think that Judas, after he had betrayed, he made the decision for 30 pieces of silver with the Pharisees and the chief priests. Then Jesus kind of calls him out at the Last Supper and says, One of you will betray me. In Matthew, it's even a little more exchanged, it's like, well, surely it isn't I, Lord, and Jesus is kind of like, Let's not play this game, Judas, go do what you need to do. Like there's there's a whole interplay of that Judas could have decided not to betray. But he goes ahead and he goes to the garden and kisses him, and Jesus gets arrested and ultimately crucified. When the realization hits Judas of what he has done, he can't take it. And he kills himself, hangs himself in Potter's Field. It's called that because the Pharisees and chief priests didn't want his 30 pieces of silver because it was blood money. So they bought it um for the community to bury people that couldn't afford to be buried. This whole this whole scene is just filled with betrayal. Judas betrays Jesus and then he can't even live with himself. He can't look himself in the mirror. I just have to think when I look at Judas, that if he just would have hung on past Friday, he would have seen the resurrected Jesus. If it if he just would have stayed on the outskirts and and talked to his friends one more time, maybe they would have said, Well, we all ran away too. If he just would have looked Jesus in the eyes again after the resurrection, or even after he came back the 900 times, he came back before he ascended. Maybe Judas would have seen grace there. Actually, I know he would have seen grace. In the eyes of Jesus saying, I know you did this, but it was all part of the plan. It's easy to vilify Judas and try to put Jesus in a box. But this morning, as you go throughout your busy holy week, can I encourage you to find the grace? But this day, as you go throughout Holy Week, can I encourage you to find grace? If you've been betrayed and people have not been loyal to you and you have not been respected where you should have been, well, just know when you pray to Jesus he was too. And if you are someone that likes to put people in categories, including Jesus, break those boxes down today and see the grace. Do you see the woman as she's breaking open the alabaster jar, giving the biggest sacrifice, wiping his feet with her hair? And everybody notices this sacrifice. It's it's very public and they they find fault with it. They they want to criticize it. They say she should have done something else with the money. Look at her, she's making a spectacle of herself. And Jesus says, What she has done this day will be remembered for all time. Or she did this out of love for me. It's about grace. And maybe you feel about yourself the way Judas probably felt after Jesus was arrested and crucified, you feel like you have done something that is unforgivable. You are filled with shame and you think you're nothing. Can I encourage you after you bow your head in humility to look up and see the eyes of Jesus calling you into relationship with him? Because Judas could have been forgiven. Peter was forgiven. And that forgiveness, that grace that Jesus has is available for you today. Let us pray. Lord, I call upon your name on this by Wednesday to help us to give our betrayals and our hurts in the times when people have not respected us to you. Lord, would you bind those up and heal our hearts? Thank you for being fully human and fully divine, Jesus. That when we have been betrayed and we and we pray to you, we know that you have been betrayed too. And help us respond with forgiveness and grace so that we can be open to the overflowing love that you have for us at the ready. Thank you for this day to remember that your grace never fails. Amen. Grace and peace with you. Join me for Monday, Thursday, tomorrow, and remember all glory to God.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

And to God, let's give all the glory. All the glory to God.