Would you ever consider naming one of your children Judas?

We name our children James and John and Matthew and Peter and Andrew and Thaddeus. You may not have thought of the apostles of Jesus when you gave these names to your sons. You may have been thinking of a father, or grandfather, but the names go beyond that, back to those disciples of Jesus.

But Judas! The name is not in our repertoire of treasured names for our sons. Yet, the name was common among the Jews. There are several Judas’ in the Bible. The name originally meant “Praise to the Lord.” But not anymore. It has become an accused name, always linked with what Judas Iscariot did. It is synonymous with traitor. It’s a label of contempt.

Today and the next two Sundays we are going to look at a person the drama of the crucifixion.

Well this is the man we are going to look at today. Of all the faces surrounding Jesus and playing a significant role in his last days, Judas’ face is the most tragic. Not only is it the most tragic, it is the most baffling and the most perplexing.

Those who have looked at Judas through the years have not come away with the same impression. But that’s true to life isn’t it?

People don’t always see things the same way. Therefore, I would like to begin by disclaiming a perception of Judas that is rather common. I’d like to disclaim the notion held by a lot of folks that Judas was a puppet, predestined to play this certain role as the betrayer of Christ, with no personal choice in the matter.

Now I know that notion is partially supported by Scripture. Jesus referred to Judas as the “son of Perdition.” It is very easy to settle on the notion that Judas was a pawn in a plan devised either by Satan or by God and there are those who believe it was Satan’s work, while others believe it was the work of God. John, in his Gospel, introduces the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet by saying “And during supper, when the drink had already put it into the heart of Judas…to betray Jesus.”

This is an issue to think about because it says a lot about Biblical interpretation and a terrible lot about theology. I believe that the Bible must be interpreted by the Bible. If there are apparent discrepancies in Scripture, then those must be resolved by the total witness of Scripture. I believe the ultimate principle of judging Biblical teaching is the character of God revealed in Jesus Christ.

There are some people who have to have God’s activity, in healing for the salvation of man, outlined so well that every move made by every person is that awesome drama of love and sacrifice played out during Holy Week, and Easter was predetermined decreed beforehand, with no possibility for deviation from some script written by God before the foundation of the world.

Don’t mishear what I am saying, or am about to say. The drama of salvation, at the center stage of which is Jesus Christ hanging on a ghastly cross — that’s God’s drama. He did write the script, and in fact it is God who dies on that cross.

But it is important as we grapple with the mind and heart and character of God that we do not impose on God our human limitations of thinking. What do we do to our understanding of God when we make the sin of Judas a divine necessity? What do we do to God when we presume the script was written so tightly that Judas had no choice, that he was a puppet and a pawn? Can we hold Judas responsible for what he had no choice in doing? And what does this say about human freedom, and the basis on which Scripture tells us we will all be judged, our free response to the cross of Christ as our only means of salvation?

Do you see why I say we must judge Scripture by Scripture, and that the ultimate principle of Biblical interpretation is the character of God revealed in Jesus Christ? Do you see why a look at Judas is a theological exercise that is terribly important?

Let me simply underscore four important theological principles now and move on to look at what I believe Judas teaches us.

The first principle is this: God allows but does not design evil. Think about the Judas drama in relation to this.

“To suggest that it was God’s intention that a man in a divine drama should do evil, and, indeed, that he had no real freedom to do otherwise, makes God a partaker in evil, which is impossible, and makes Judas free from blame.”

That leads to the second principle: We are free in our response to God and we are responsible for our freedom. “Judas, like all person, within certain limits was a free agent, else the will of God and the will of Judas would be the same thing, which again is impossible.” (Ibid., p. 27)

Ponder the question: “if Judas was not free in his decision to betray our Lord, can he be held responsible?”

The third principle: There is a difference between God’s foreknowing and His predetermining. Now I know this is a fine line, but I am not splitting hairs. This says so much about the character of God.

“The fact that the whole drama of the Crucifixion was known to God from all eternity does not spell determinism. It means that He knew what men would do with their free will.” (Ibid p. 27)

Four, the Cross for our redemption was in the heart of God, long before Jesus was slung on that cross on Golgotha’s hill.

Calvary speaks to us, not through those who plotted and schemed to bring it about, but through him who hung upon it, through what he accomplished there, and because he who won that victory was the unique Son of God.” (Ibid., p.27-28)

Let’s look at Judas, not as a puppet, not as a mere necessary pawn in a game in which he has no freedom to move on his own will or to make decisions, but as a free person who is called to decide and is responsible for the choices he makes.

II

I titled the sermon Judas: a person like us? That’s a question. I put it that way because Judas is not a person with whom most of us easily identify. The reason is we stay focused on his dastardly deed – his betrayal of our Lord – not on Judas as a person and how he came to his point of betrayal.

I believe that what led Judas to this extreme act is an issue in all out lives. I believe Judas’ core sin was that of taking things into his own hands. He wanted to do it his way. And that is where most of us can identify.

I don’t believe there is any question as to whether Judas loved Jesus. I believe he was loyal and passionately committed. Jesus was obviously attracted to him; He gave him a responsible position in that little band — made him the treasurer.

There is some evidence of greed in Judas, but it couldn’t have been greed that led to betrayal. He could have demanded far more than 30 pieces of silver. Perhaps he was jealous. There were tensions among the twelve, jockeying for positions and power. I doubt if Judas escaped that. So, undoubtedly, ambition was a factor in Judas’ life.

He’s a person like us, isn’t he? Covetousness and greed, jealousy and ambition - none of these is foreign to us.

But, these were not what drove Judas to his tragic end. His core sin was his desire to control — to take things into his own hands.

Look at Judas with this factor as a backdrop. Judas was a Jewish nationalist in whom burned the fires of longing for the Messiah to come and raise the forces of God’s people and lead them to victory, restore Jerusalem to her former glory, and give the Jews freedom forever. The Messiah would lead Israel to her supreme place among all the nations of the world.

Judas saw Jesus as this Messiah — the one person who could make his dreams of national power and glory come true. But that vision didn’t move along as Judas imagined it might. Jesus resisted the model of a militant Messiah, and refused to talk about an earthly kingdom.

Judas saw Jesus drifting to death on a cross. So we can image that in one last attempt to make his dream come true, he betrayed Jesus in order to force Jesus’ hand He delivered Him to the authorities with the idea that now Jesus would be compelled to act in order to save Himself, and that that action would be the beginning of the victorious campaign he dreamed of.” (Wm. Barclay, The Gospel of Mark The St. Andrew Press, Edinburgh, p. 346)

Judas was forcing Jesus’ hand.

Now doesn’t Judas look like us? Or, don’t we look like Judas? How often do we take things into our own hands? We want to be in control.

“The obsession to demand that things go the way we want them to go is one of the greatest bondages in human society today People will spend weeks, months, even years in a perpetual stew because some little thing did not go as they wished. They will fuss and fume. They will get mad about it. They will act as if their very life hangs on the issue. They may even get an ulcer over it (Richard Foster, Celebration of Discipline p.97).

That’s the reason submission is an important spiritual discipline. Paul urged us to “be subject to one another out of reverence to Christ” (Eph. 5: 21)

What a burden it is the terrible burden of always needing to get our own way, to be in control. It will lead us certainly to distraction if not to destruction.

III

Judas’ sin of taking things into his won hands led him to betray Christ. His greatest sin was his refusal to seek and receive Jesus’ forgiveness.

A couple of weeks ago, I was talking by phone to a fellow at the funeral home in another city where his father lay in state. Half jokingly, and with love, he said, “we were just talking about whether Pop was too mean to get into heaven or not.” I knew he was speaking in jest, but I was working on this sermon and I responded with a serious word. “While you are thinking about that, remember that the answer as to whether he gets to heaven or not is more dependent upon who Christ is than who your father was.”

Judas didn’t remember that, so he flung himself into outer darkness, taking his own life.

Matthew tells us that Judas repented, brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and cried in anguish, “I have sinned in betraying innocent blood”, but they mocked him, and he threw the silver at their feet in the temple.

I don’t want to argue the nature of Judas’ repentance, or to speculate about his eternal destiny. But we must remember this: If Judas had gone to Jesus with his confession and repentance, I believe he would have never committed suicide. Jesus would have forgiven, and who knows how the history of Christ’s cause might have been written after that. I can imagine there would have been a Gospel according to Judas. What a witness Judas would have been of what the cross is all about, God’s unmerited unconditional love poured out for all of us.

It’s that Christ, who loves in that fashion, to whom we are called to give our lives. Why can’t we be secure in letting him have control, rather than always needing to take things in our own hands? When will we learn from Judas?