“Judas: When Human Strength Fails”
Matthew 26:17-30
March 20, 2008

The story is told of an eagle perched on a block of ice just above Niagra Falls.  The swift current carried the ice and its majestic passenger closer to the edge of the great precipice. The cries of other birds and animals warning the eagle of danger that lay ahead were to no avail.  “I have great and powerful wings,” he boasted.  “I can fly from my perch at any time.  I can handle it.”  Suddenly the edge of the falls was only a few feet away.  The torrent of water rushed the block of ice over the great falls.  The eagle spread his powerful wings to mount up over the impending doom only to discover too late that his claws had become frozen to the cake of ice.

During the Lenten season we are forced to look at our own human weakness, our brokenness, through the story of Jesus; but also, thankfully, we are reminded that God is an expert at using our brokenness for our healing. In the story of Judas, we see a man completely broken by his betrayal of Jesus.

The story of Judas breaks my heart.  For some reason I feel the need to defend him. We have all been a Peter—a great lover of what is right, a bold defender of the Christian way, at least in our minds; but when a tough challenge confronted us, we buckled, we cleared our throats and apologized, “Sorry, you must have the wrong number.” Later, we regretted it and resolved to do better next time. In our hearts we know what’s right, we beg forgiveness for messing up, and we pray for strength to do better next time.

But how many of us want to think of ourselves as a Judas? The turncoat, the Benedict Arnold, the traitor. Why would Jesus choose Judas as disciple? Jesus spent a night in prayer; then he called Judas to be in the inner circle, to be taught and then sent to minister with Jesus’ authority. He enjoyed the same success as the others on those missions to preach, to heal, to cast out demons, in every sense of the word an apostle. What happened?

Of course, we can’t know for sure. Many Biblical scholars theorize that Judas was a Zealot, a member of the revolutionary party seeking to overthrow Roman domination of their homeland, faithful Jews who were sure that God would send a messiah to raise the sword and defeat the enemy. Rome considered them terrorists. Perhaps Judas tried to force Jesus to take action, to call the troops together. Perhaps Judas was utterly committed - to the wrong cause. He was single-mindedly devoted to what he believed in - the wrong thing!  He wanted to squeeze Jesus into his mold. He could not see that Jesus had come to lead in an entirely different direction.

Judas may have gotten to the cross and known the despair and heartbreak. But he could not move beyond the cross to find the real message of his master - Easter—the empty tomb, resurrection, new life! Judas could only see the little picture.  He had no vision of what Christ could mean his life. He was hopeless.

“More than any other time in history, humankind faces a crossroads. One path leads to despair and utter hopelessness; the other to total extinction.  Let us pray we have the wisdom to choose correctly.”    -- Woody Allen

We betray God when we place our trust elsewhere. There are those of us who will only accept God on our terms. We fear change, we fear that God will act in new and different ways. We fear that life will not be predictable. We fear being challenged to grow and mature. We fear being moved outside our comfort zone.

What is the difference between Peter and Judas? They were both chosen by Jesus to be disciples. They both denied and betrayed their Lord. But one died and became synonymous with evil. The other founded the church and is remembered as a saint. Why?  Peter stuck around long enough to be forgiven. Peter repented and received the forgiveness of his Lord. Judas, according to Matthew, repented, threw the money back at the authorities, and went out and hung himself. He refused forgiveness. He refused forgiveness.

That’s the difference. Judas judged and condemned and executed himself. Peter threw himself at the mercy of God and received forgiveness and a new life. Judas insisted on his own way to the very end. Peter surrendered his way to the Lord’s way, and was saved. Both Judas and Peter took up the way of the sword. But Jesus’ way is to heal the damage done to an enemy by a friend’s sword. Peter changed. Judas didn’t.   

I hope you remember the story about the eagle frozen to the block of ice. That was Judas without forgiveness. Here is a story of another eagle, Judas with forgiveness, Peter.

It was raining in the forest. It had been raining for days, and all the birds and animals were drenched. The eagle, too, was drenched, and his spirits dampened as well, for his mate lay with a chill, a victim of the constant rain. There was no way to keep her dry, and the eagle looked on with despair as her life slowly drained away. His tears mingled with the rain when she died.