knowing i am: gospel of john “the way of judas” [slide...

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Knowing I AM: Gospel of John “The Way of Judas” Kevin Haah John 13:18-30 February 1, 2015

[Slide 1] Vision Statement: Gospel-Centered

I. Introduction and Passage

[Slide 2] We are in the middle of the series on the Gospel of John entitled,

Knowing I AM. We are looking at the last week of Jesus’ life. [Slide 3] Today’s sermon

is entitled, The Way of Judas.

Before we read the passage, let me give you a little background. This is the week

of his death. It started with a triumphant entry into Jerusalem. The religious leaders want

to arrest and kill Jesus. Jesus is having his last supper with his disciples. It is a Passover

meal. He started the meal with washing his disciples’ feet. That’s what TC preached

about last week. (He did a great job!) Today, we are continuing the saga of what

happened at the last supper.

[Slide 4] Let’s pick up the story at John 13:18-30.

18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to

fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

[If you look at Psalm 41:9 where this is from, the first part of the verse says: Even

my close friend someone I trusted, one who shared my bread has turned against

me. You’ll see this motif a few times in this passage: Intimacy and betrayal.]

19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will

believe that I am who I am. [It literally says, you will believe that I AM. Again,

open and clear reference to the identity of Jesus: he is God in human form]

20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever

accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” [When you understand who he is, this

verse is very clear]

[Slide 5] 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified,

“Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” [Once again, you see the

heartbreak of Jesus. Jesus was a man who felt everything. His heart was broken as

he thought about Judas who would betray him.]

22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.

23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

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24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he

means.”

25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

[Slide 6] 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread

when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to

Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan

entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”

28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas

had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was

needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had

taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

[I want you to imagine this dinner. The people at that time reclined in low tables.

You used your left arm to prop yourself up and ate with your right hand. And it

seems from the way the conversation took place above that the disciple Jesus

loved (some people speculate that this is John himself) reclined next to Jesus on

his right side and Judas reclined next to him on the left side. That’s why Judas

and Jesus were able to have a private conversation. This means that Judas was

reclining close to the bosom of Jesus. And he dipped a piece of bread and gave it

to Judas. This was an act of intimate friendship. It is an act of love. Remember,

Jesus knew that Judas was planning to betray him. Yet, there is this intimacy and

love to the end. Yet, Judas allowed Satan to enter into him. We’ll talk a little

more about what this means later. Then, Jesus put him on the spot: What you are

about to do, do quickly. As soon as he took the bread, he went out. And it was

night. The author is very careful to tell us that there is spiritual darkness here.]

I was always curious about Judas. For today, I want us to dig in a little about Judas and

see what we can learn.

[Slide 7] So, what do we know about Judas?

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His name is followed by the word Iscariot. That’s not his last name. People

didn’t have last names. One theory is that it means in Hebrew, a man from Karriot.

Another theory is that he was a Sicari, which means a dagger hider, a band of Jewish

rebel-assassins who assassinate Roman officials with a hidden dagger.

He was one of the twelve, a part of the inner circle. This means he followed Jesus

for 3 years. He saw Jesus’ love. He saw how he embraced the social outcasts of society.

He saw the power of Jesus to heal and even bring dead to life. He saw how he multiplied

bread and fed thousands of people. He saw how he walked on water. He heard his

teachings about the Kingdom of God. He was there.

He was also the keeper of the money bag; and embezzled money from the bag; he

was a thief; he objected to Mary when she poured expensive perfume on Jesus. The Bible

says that right after that incident, Judas went to the high priest to ask them how much

they would give for turning Jesus over (Mark 14:10).

Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, including the feet of Judas.

And from the passage today, we know that they were close. Jesus loved Judas to

the end. We also know that he betrayed Jesus with a kiss when he brought guards with

clubs to arrest him. When Jesus was crucified, Judas was filled with remorse and

returned the 30 pieces of silver he got for betraying Jesus. Then, he hung himself.

Judas is one of the most mysterious persons in the Bible.

I think the biggest question is:

[Slide 8] Why did he betray Jesus?

There are a lot of theories:

-He was greedy

• There is strong support for this view; but, I think there was more going on

because he ended up returning the money.

-He was told by Jesus to do so.

• Gospel of Judas

• Jesus says: “But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man

that clothes me.”

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• The manuscript just came out about 8 years ago. It is one of the celebrated

non-biblical text discoveries in the last 60 years after they discovered some of

the other Gnostic Gospels.

• An authentic manuscript was found in the 1970’s and was floating around

dealers of antiquities for a long time. I think National Geographic got a grant

to translate it and make it available to the public.

• It was probably written around 150 AD.

• This does not appear to be a fake. The manuscript dates to around 300 AD.

• It is one of the Gnostic Gospels written around that time

• Gnostics who were Christians believed either that Jesus was not really a

human or that he was clothed with human body that he wanted to get rid of.

Essentially, they believed that spirit was good and body was bad.

• For centuries, scholars had known about the existence of this Gnostic gospel

because Irenaeus (who was a disciple of Polycarp, who was a disciple of John

and wrote a book called, Against Heresies, around 180): “They declare that

Judas the traitor was thoroughly acquainted with these things, and that he

alone, knowing the truth as no others did, accomplished the mystery of the

betrayal; by him all things, both earthly and heavenly, were thus thrown into

confusion. They produce a fictitious history of this kind, which they style the

Gospel of Judas.”

• But, we never had the actual Gospel of Judas until now.

• CT says: “Don't get confused by mentions of Jesus and Judas. This is no

Christian text. The Gospel of Judas did not circulate until about 150 years

after Jesus died. Let's put it this way: This new text tells us nothing more

about Jesus' relationship with Judas than does Jesus Christ Superstar.”

The third theory: He wanted to force Jesus’ hand

• If you look at Matthew 27:3, it says: “When Judas, who had betrayed him,

saw that Jesus was condemned he was seized with remorse and returned the

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thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders.” It looks like he

didn’t expect Jesus to be crucified.

• Maybe he had an agenda and wanted to force Jesus’ hand into his agenda.

• He knew the power of Jesus. He saw the miracles he performed. Healing the

sick, raising the dead, calming the storm, casting out the demons, feeding the

thousands.

• It was the desire of virtually all of the disciples (maybe except Matthew who

was a tax collector) that the Messiah would come and overthrow the Romans

and inaugurate the Kingdom of God. Some at the time believed that if Jews

would rise up and fight, God would send legions of angels to fight for them,

and the Messiah would come and lead the nation into victory.

• It was so obvious to them what the Messiah was supposed to do. That’s why

they couldn't get it when Jesus talked about suffering and the cross. It went in

one ear and went out the other. That’s why Peter tried to stop Jesus when he

said that. And Jesus responded to him at that time and said, Satan, get behind

me! When we do not believe in the power of the cross, the power of cross-

shaped love, the power of love, the power of grace and servanthood, and

instead buy into the power-over version of victory, we take the place of Satan,

we are influenced by Satan to that extent who is the prince of this power-over

world. That’s why when Judas decided to betray Jesus, he took the place of

Satan again. It is interesting that even after the resurrection and before the

ascension in Acts 1, his disciples asked him in Acts 1:8: Lord, are you at this

time going to restore the kingdom to Israel? They still don't get it.

• So, Judas, who was nationalistic and possibly a rebel himself before he started

to follow Jesus, knew Jesus had the power to not only escape but also to

inaugurate his kingdom right then. Maybe if I force him by getting him

arrested. Establish power and kick some Roman butt! Freedom from the

tyranny of the Romans!

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• His agenda was to force Jesus to use power-over people, the power to compel

behavior by the use of force or threat or coercion, and inaugurate the Kingdom

of God.

• But, Jesus had a different agenda. To die for our sins. To demonstrate his

love and justice on the cross. To reconcile us to a relationship with God. To

defeat Satan by the power of the cross, the power of love, and to free us from

the bondage of Satan. He came to defeat Satan so that he can save both the

Jews and the Romans and everyone on earth, and bring them together in the

New Jerusalem, a New City, as one.

[Slide 9] What does it look like to follow the way of Judas?

What does it look like to follow the ways of Judas instead of the ways of Jesus?

Whenever we use violent, power-over, coercive methods to accomplish what we

obvious believe are God’s will, we are dabbling in Judas way.

There is always some good purpose we are trying to accomplish. A more moral

world, for example. If we try to accomplish what we believe to be a more moral world

through the power of the sword, the power of violence, the power of coersion, we are

dabbling in the ways of Judas. We are called to the way of Jesus, which is the way of the

cross, the way of self-sacrificial love, servanthood, and mercy, the way of love even for

our enemies.

You have to remember that when we take what we believe is good, and that can

be right, but seek to use the power of this world, the power of the sword, violence,

coercion, we are in essence standing in the place of Satan, just like Peter, just like Judas.

If you think about it, the way of Judas is very common. It look like just another

version of what is out there, where it’s about winning, being the top dog, and we just

Christianize it. Is there a difference between Jesus and the god of this world or have we

just Christianized a pagan warrior God?

When we think about Western history, we have to acknowledge that the way of

Judas has infiltrated into the church at least from the 4th Century. In the name of God and

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the will of God, we have killed people, burn people at the stakes, invaded nations in the

name of God. It’s terrible. We may have gotten our victories and our 30 pieces of silver,

but we failed to live out the Calvary like love, we failed to live out cross-shaped love,

which is real power.

It’s not just on societal scale. It happens in our personal lives as well.

We follow the ways of Judas all the time.

In the context of our personal lives, we try to coerce people through the power of

this world. We try to coerce people through threat of violence or violence. Maybe it’s

not a gun or a fist, but maybe it is through verbal assaults. Maybe it is through our anger,

yelling, cursing. Often times, what we are trying to accomplish is obvious good as what

Judas was trying to accomplish. But, the methods we use are the methods of this world.

When we do that we line up with the ways of Judas.

I used to believe when I was practicing law that successful lawyers have a killing

instinct. I remember having lunch with summer associates, really nice Christian summer

associates, and telling them that if they want to be a successful lawyer, they need killer

instinct. I told them you have to know how to attack mercilessly so that they are afraid of

you. As I think about that now, there is something wrong with that. That’s more in line

with the ways of Judas, not the ways of Jesus.

We try to coerce people, pressure people to become Christians. We do so in such

way that we turn them off to the gospel of Jesus. [the story of the retreat if we have time]

I thought the purpose of my life was to make it in the world, reach the top of the

world, the American dream, and break glass-ceilings of discrimination, and give credit to

God for blessing me. I thought that would be a great testimony. When I get my fist

Mercedes, I will declare that God blessed me and give glory to God. I was dabbling in

the ways of Judas, instead of the way of Jesus. Judas had his own agenda, and tried to get

Jesus to bless it. I had my selfish agenda, and I tried to get Jesus to bless it in the name of

his glory. I was trying to manipulate God for my own gain.

I think we have to ask the question:

• Are we in this so that God will bless our careers?

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• Are we in this so that God will bless our marriages, or help us find our

future spouse?

• Are we in this so that God will bless our children?

• Is God like a vending machine or a Genie?

• Are we following the way of Judas and trying to use God for our

agenda, what we believe are good things that would bring us

happiness?

• Or are we ready to submit to the way of Jesus?

• Take some time to reflect: Who is your true God? Are you really

following yourself or are you following God?

When we try to put our plan above the plan of God, this is what happens:

(1) Things work out. We continue to act as God of our lives. It is all about how

my religion can help me succeed or how my religion can help me make the next

sales or etc.

(2) Things don’t work out. Some of us blame God and walk away from God.

(3) Things don’t work out. Some of us are honest enough to admit that we

screwed up. We try to make it right. But if we can’t fix it, ultimately, we give

ourselves the punishment we deserve.

o That’s what happened to Judas

o It didn’t work out.

o He admitted that he screwed up

o He tried to make it right by returning the money and asking them to stop the

condemnation

o When he couldn’t resolve it, he gave himself the punishment he deserve. He

hung himself.

o How do we punish ourselves?

• I think we do it emotionally by condemning ourselves

• You are no good

• You can’t do this

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• You call yourself a Christian?

• I think sometimes we punish ourselves physically, by not taking care

of our bodies, or killing ourselves through drinking, drugs, or even

suicide

[Slide 10] What is the solution?

• The solution is not to take our agenda above God’s plan, but to submit ourselves

to the way of Jesus.

o He leads us to die so that we can really live

o He leads us to follow the way of the cross, servanthood, mercy, humility,

and grace

o He leads us to give up everything so that we can gain everything

o He leads us to be weak so that we can be powerful

o If we made a mistake in our lives, we come to God asking for forgiveness

• How? Where do we get the power to do this?

o It is the grace of God.

o If Judas repented as he did and came to Jesus seeking his forgiveness, he

would have experienced this tremendous forgiveness from Jesus. This

experience would have radically changed him. He would have submitted

to the plan of Jesus willingly and happily.

o That’s the only way to do it. Christianity is about inner transformation

affecting outer life. It’s not trying to change our outer life when nothing is

going on in the inside.

I want us to remember that we can feel close to Jesus, but completely miss the way of the

cross. Because the way of Judas is so much more obvious than the way of Jesus. But,

remember he is the way, the trust, and the life.

knowing i am: gospel of john “the way of judas” [slide...

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