Betrayed
Luke 22:47-53
©Copyright May 29, 2011 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche SERIES:
WALKING WITH JESUS
At some point in
life you may have experienced the pain of betrayal. Someone you thought you trusted
turned against you. Perhaps it was a spouse, someone you called a friend, an
employer, a classmate, a co-worker, or some family member. Betrayals wound
deeply but they never wound as much as when a person betrays you to your face.
Think of the
common High School experience. You believe someone is your friend and you run
into them at the mall. Unfortunately they are with people who are apparently
“cooler” than you are. Not only does your so-called friend ignore you (which is hurtful enough) but you hear them make some negative
comment about you. Such things wound us. Sometimes deeply.
This morning we
look at Jesus as He confronts His betrayer in the Garden of Gethsemane. If you
understand the dynamics of the story it is a story that will lead us to shake
our head in disbelief at the heartless nature of what takes place.
The setting is the
Garden of Gethsemane on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. Jesus
had spent a few agonizing hours in prayer and had found strength and peace
regarding the events that were to come. We left Him talking to His disciples
about the need to pray. This is where we pick up the text.
The Betrayal and Arrest
of Jesus
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up,
and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He
approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are
you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
We know Judas knew
the place because we have been told Jesus came here often. As we compare this
text with the other gospels we learn that Judas was accompanied by a band of soldiers and some officers from the
chief priests and the Pharisees, who came out with lanterns and torches and
weapons. In other words there was a posse. The soldiers could have been temple
police or they may have included Roman soldiers.
Judas stepped forward and probably reached
for Jesus to kiss Him. Undoubtedly it was the sign to identify Jesus in the
darkness of the night.
Kissing a teacher on the cheek or cheeks was
not uncommon. We know this is a Middle Eastern custom yet today. It is the fact
of Judas was there to betray Jesus that makes the kiss so distasteful today.
We wonder: how it is possible for one to grow
so hardened? We will never know for sure but we can safely surmise that Judas
grew hard a little at a time. Perhaps he didn’t like the direction of the
ministry. Maybe he felt he should have a greater role in the group. Maybe the
teaching of Jesus was becoming too convicting.
Think about it,
· Rather than seek forgiveness, Judas chose to
try to eliminate Jesus
· Rather than confess His dependency, He chose
to betray the Lord
· Rather than wait for God’s timing, Judas
chose to “make things happen”
· Rather than receive Christ’s love; He chose
to act as a traitor.
Do you know some people who are doing the
same thing? Is this what you are doing? Would you rather hide or justify your
sin than confess it? Would you rather continue to live in denial than to live
in the freedom of forgiveness?
John tells us that Jesus stepped forward and
said,
Whom
do you seek?” 5 They
answered him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I am he.” Judas, who
betrayed him, was standing with them. 6
When Jesus said to them, “I am he,” they drew back and fell to the ground. 7 So he asked them again,
“Whom do you seek?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” 8 Jesus answered, “I told you that I am he. So, if you
seek me, let these men go (John 18: 4-8)
Understand the scene. It’s the huge posse
coming to get the one man, Jesus. Yet, when Jesus speaks the crowd “drew back
and fell to the ground”. The calm authority of the Son of God was something
before which these men could not stand apart from permission from the Son
Himself.
A Surprising Miracle
If you remember,
in verses 36-37 Jesus had warned the disciples that because of the coming
betrayal they needed to “sell their cloak to buy a sword” because things were
going to get rough. With those words
fresh in their ears Peter responded to those who stepped forward to take Jesus
into custody.
49 When Jesus’
followers saw what was going to happen, they said, “Lord, should we strike with
our swords?” 50 And one of them struck the servant of the high
priest, cutting off his right ear.
Peter thought He
was defending the Lord. We don’t know whether he aimed for the ear or just
swung and got the ear. John tells us that the man who lost his ear was the
servant of the High Priest named Malchus. I believe
John gives the servant’s name so his reader could verify his story.
This act of aggression
could have started a massacre. Jesus quickly diffused what could have been
terrible.
51 But Jesus
answered, “No more of this!” And he touched the man’s ear and healed him.
At this act everyone
stopped. They had witnessed the miracle of Jesus first hand. A bleeding ear was
suddenly back to normal. A man screaming in pain
suddenly felt fine. Anger was replaced with confusion. What kind of battle is
this? Who brings immediate healing to their enemies?
Matthew amplified
the rebuke to the disciples.
52 “Put your sword
back in its place,” Jesus said to him, “for all who draw the sword will die by
the sword. 53 Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will
at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels? 54 But
how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it
must happen in this way?” (Matthew 26:52-54)
We’re still
confused, aren’t we? I’m sure the disciples wondered: were they supposed to use
swords or not use swords? When we looked at this text initially we said the
words of Jesus were metaphorical. What He was trying to tell the disciples was
they needed to be ready for action. They needed to be on their toes because
things were going to be fierce.
Jesus reminded
them that He didn’t need men to protect Him. The angels would protect Him. He
did not need their “help”. Jesus could have called on an army of angels (much
like those who surrounded the house of Elisha). He didn’t do so because this
was all part of God’s plan and Jesus embraced that plan without fear or
intimidation.
A Stern Rebuke
Next Jesus turned to the leaders. Jesus knew
what had to happen but he also needed to reveal the hypocrisy of these leaders,
52 Then Jesus said
to the chief priests, the officers of the temple guard, and the elders, who had
come for him, “Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come with swords and
clubs? 53 Every day I was with you in the temple courts, and you did
not lay a hand on me. But this is your hour—when darkness reigns.”
Jesus pointed out to these guys that the
clash in the Garden was overkill. Jesus never fought them. He wasn’t in hiding.
They could have arrested Him at any time. Jesus knew the truth: these men did
not arrest Him when He was at the temple because they knew they had no real
case against Him. Their only hope against Jesus was to arrest Him and have an
illegal trial (at night) before anyone was the wiser.
Second, they did not arrest Him publicly
because they knew the crowds would be on His side. They would face a riot and
questions that would feed today’s investigative reporters for weeks. They did
not need that kind of publicity.
Jesus knew what they were doing and knew He
could defeat the whole posse but He willingly went with them because it was the
only way to accomplish the work He came to do: pay the price of our sinfulness.
Lessons
It’s a fascinating account that’s
straightforward. We are interested by the details but must also dig into the
account and ask the simple question: What is it that God might want us to
learn?
First,
God loves You. Jesus was in perfect control. These people sensed His authority. The
one who healed the ear of Malchus could also strike
them all with blindness, deafness or worse! Yet He did not do so. He exposed
their sinister plot and yet chose to go along with it. The question we must ask
is “Why?”
The answer to the question is: God loves us.
Jesus willingly went to cross as a payment for our sin. He was the only one
qualified to do so. Jesus chose you and me over His earthly life. He chose to
face the just wrath of God so that we wouldn’t have to do so.
Do you get it?
· You who feel so invisible; God sees you and
loves you
· You who have failed so deeply; God opens His
arms of forgiveness
· You who fall into the same sin again and
again; God wants to set you free
· You who have ruined your marriage by really
bad choices; God wants to help you to begin again.
The Lord loves you and amazingly, He also
loves me. As we read this account, I hope you also hear the invitation of the
Lord calling you to His embrace. Run to Him. Follow
Him. Trust Him. He loves you!
Second,
We need to examine our motives in what we do for the Lord. Some of the worst acts can be carried out
under the guise of love and devotion. Judas came up to Jesus and betrayed him with
a kiss; like he was a friend of Jesus. It makes us sick!
We have all read stories about the person
charged with murdering a former girlfriend who says, “I loved her so much that
I couldn’t bear to see her with another man.” The human mind has a great
capacity to justify wrong-doing; even to the point of making it noble.
There are media people who make a living at
“spinning” bad information into something that sounds good.
· Abortion is no longer ending a life, it is
about the right to choose
· Homosexuality is no longer sin it is a “gift
from God” that should be embraced
· Materialism is no longer greed it is a sign
of God’s approval;
· People no longer violate the Sabbath they
simply putting their family first (known theologically as idolatry)
· It is no longer Gossip , it is sharing our
concern with others
Once we stop looking at our motives, we can
justify anything. Stop and take a look at your heart and life today. Are you
feeling justified in your sinfulness? Have you somehow convinced yourself that
what is wrong is actually noble? Confront your justifications before something
really bad takes place!
Third,
We must recognize that the most dangerous temptations
sneak up on us and we should remain vigilant. Bishop J.C. Ryle has written,
To suffer patiently for Christ is far more
difficult than to work actively. To sit still and endure calmly is far harder
than to fight a battle. Crusaders will always be found more numerous than
martyrs. The passive graces of religion are far rarer and precious than the active
graces. Work for Christ may be done from many spurious motives—from excitement,
from competition, from jealousy, or from love of praise. Suffering for Christ
will seldom be endured from any but one motive, and that motive is the grace of
God.[1]
We will see this illustrated
most clearly in the life of Peter next week. He was ready for battle when the
posse entered the Garden. Peter was at that moment, I believe,
ready to die for the Lord. He was ready for the direct assault but completely
unprepared for the subtle attack that came in the courtyard.
The same is true
in our lives. The great attacks on our faith are things that rally us to
faithfulness. We would likely rally together if our church building was
destroyed, if persecution was threatened, or if a false teacher stood up and
denied basic Christian teaching. In a crisis we are awakened to action.
However, the
temptations that often fell a believer are those that,
Satan knows better
than to come at us with a direct attack. He operates more like a terrorist who
sneaks up on us when our guard is down. Our job is to remain vigilant. We must
be aware of his schemes and remain close to the Lord. So how do we do that?
1.
We must remain consistent and persistent in prayer
and Bible Study.
2.
We rigorously eliminate any compromise with sin. Even little lies provide an opening for
Satan to gain access to our heart. We must be honest about our motives and work
hard to tell ourselves the truth
rather than spinning the truth to make us feel better.
3.
We should listen to others who are more mature in
the faith. Rather than react when someone tries to point out a problem in our
lives, we need to be ready and willing to hear and listen. Sometimes our
friends and family see problems coming before they happen. Look for people who
will be honest with you about what they see happening in your life.
Fourth, We need to take courage from the fact that the time during
which evil is permitted to triumph is fixed and limited by God. Jesus told the group that had come out to get him: “this is your hour –
when darkness reigns”. The reign of evil is limited. It is temporary and it
takes place when light is absent.
It’s a message that we must rehearse to ourselves again and again: The rule
of Satan and the power of sin is temporary! Evil is indulged at present but
will not be tolerated forever. This is NOT the end of the story!
A good television drama will inevitably find the hero in some kind of
danger. Often at the end of the season there is a cliffhanger. A situation is created
that is bleak. A main character perhaps dying is lying in the arms of someone. You
could turn off the program and despair that your favorite character has faced
their end. Instead you eagerly await the new season. Why?
Because you know that the show isn’t over. You believe the situation will somehow
be resolved.
Life is like this. We can throw up our hands and walk away in the times
of difficulty. We can conclude that all is lost. However, the better course is
to wait and see how God will use these circumstances for His glory and for our
ultimate good.
Finally,
we are cautioned that we must proceed by faith and not by force. We see this point made even at the end of the
text. The disciples were ready to fight but Jesus told them to put the swords
away. It is a reminder that the Kingdom of God is not going to be advanced by
our wars and our aggression but by our wrestling in prayer, by our faithful
testimonies, and by holy living.
Think about the ugliest black marks on the
history of Christendom: the Crusades, the Inquisition, and the Salem Witch
Trials. In each case the church chose to use the sword as the means for
advancing the gospel. The temporary gains were offset by the many losses that
came from the method rather than the message.
We need to remember this as we seek to bring
about change in our own country. Revival will come about through God’s power
and not ours. We should be faithful, we should speak boldly, but we must never
be militant. God has ten thousand angels at His disposal! He does not call us
to do what we cannot do . . . He calls us to trust Him and serve Him faithfully.
He can do more with a word than we can do with a lifetime of battle.
We would see this power of God at work if we
would choose to pray instead of complain, to love rather than hate, and to
teach rather than condemn. If we would do these things we would be less like
Judas and more like Jesus. Deep down I hope that is what all of us want.
©Copyright May 29, 2011 by Rev. Bruce Goettsche SERIES:
WALKING WITH JESUS