Jonah Albrecht

Lent 2

March 16th, 2025

Matthew 26:47-50

On the Road to Easter…Jesus was Betrayed by Judas

47While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48 Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” 49 And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. 50 Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him.

INJ Whose footsteps we are following on the road to Easter DFR:

Next to Jesus, he is the most well-known person in the passion account. But because of what he did, he will always be remembered with contempt. Not just because he became a traitor, but the fact that he turned his back on all the blessings he had as Jesus’ disciple.

Judas from Kerioth, the only disciple from the land of Judah, spent three years at Jesus’ side. He had seen Jesus’ miracles. He had heard profound wisdom flow from Jesus’; mouth. He had seen Jesus treat others with a love and compassion no one had witnessed before. On one occasion he even received power from Jesus to cure diseases and drive out demons, and by Jesus’ power he had done both. He was one of the select, one of the Twelve, and his fellow disciples trusted him so completely that they elected him to be the keeper of the money bag; he was the treasurer for the group.

Yet, nearly every time his name is mentioned in the roster of apostles, it is done so with an asterisk. Matthew and Mark call him the betrayer, but Luke and John are more straightforward and call him a traitor. Judas was a common name in Jesus’ day. His brother and another disciple all shared the same name. But there is not a single man or woman in our congregation that bears that name. We avoid it like the plague.

So how could this happen? How did one who was called by Jesus, beloved by Him and the disciples, fall so far and quickly away from the Lord? As we continue on the Road to Easter we see Jesus was betrayed by Judas. 1. The love of money is a deadly spiritual trap. 2. The love of Christ alone can set us free.

1.  Picture the scene: Jesus and His 11 disciples are standing in the garden when a large company of men carrying clubs, swords, and torches approach. And at the front of the group is one of their own, Judas. He approaches Jesus and kisses Him – not something unusual as he had probably done that often before. But this was a deceiving kiss. It probably was to put the disciples at ease like nothing was wrong, but it was also a prearranged signal that this was the man to arrest. Under the guise of a brotherly kiss, Judas fully turned his back on his Savior.

Where had Judas gone wrong? I’m sure many of the disciples were thinking the same thing. You know the feeling – when you run into someone you haven’t seen for a long time and you say, “Man, it’s been years. How you been?” But to your surprise they begin to list of the tragedies their life had taken over the years. He tells you of the divorce, the drug abuse and alcoholism, the lost jobs. You just wonder to yourself, “How could this have happened? What brought him to this? Where did he go wrong?”

Where did Judas go wrong? What brought him to be willing to betray, for 30 pieces of silver, his Lord and Savior? Plain and simple, it’s greed! Judas loved money more than he loved Jesus. But he wasn’t always like that. It began slowly, but surely. Satan planted the seed in his heart to fall for sinful greed. It began small. Judas was put in charge of the moneybag for the whole group because the disciples trusted him with their lives. But Judas began to steal. It was likely small amounts at first and only every once in a while. But soon the temptation came to take more; and more often. Soon his conscience had become so dull to stealing that when Mary anointed the feet of Jesus, he had the nerve to object and claim that it should have been sold and given to the poor.

Eventually Judas’ heart only had one passion and that was money. It was all he cared about. Even so that he went to the chief priests and said, “How much is He worth to you if I betray Him?” 30 pieces of silver, that was all it took for Judas to betray Jesus.

It was estimated that in 2024, 65 million households owned at least one dog. They are one of the most common pets in America. And yet, for many reasons, 30-50 times a year someone dies by a dog attack. No one expects it to happen, but it does. The same thing happens with sin. That’s the way it is with the love of money. A little seems harmless. It seems that you can follow Jesus and secretly love money at the same time. It seems that you can remain in control, but sin always keeps growing until it takes on a life of its own.

Remember what Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “Let him who thinks he stands, take heed lest he fall.” There is a great danger in thinking that certain sins are beyond our capability. There is a danger in examining ourselves and then, on the basis of our own personal strength, concluding that we are safe in the Christian faith and life — that we have won the battle. And yet, that’s very easy to do. It’s so easy to look at what the world would consider good and commendable in our lives, to compare ourselves with other people who are greater sinners than we and feel pretty good about ourselves. It is so easy to look at the kind of things we do — our attendance here today, our offerings, the way we behave in our homes, and how we live in our community — and feel rather satisfied and quite confident that there are certain sins we could never commit. It is so easy to think that we are strong enough and good enough to be the kind of people that could never turn away from Jesus. But that is precisely when the devil in us a position to trap us. There isn’t a person alive who by nature has the power to stand firm. Therefore, only the love of Christ can set us free.

2.  There was nothing Jesus wanted more than to have Judas with Him in heaven. We see the evidence of that in what he taught. Think of how often Jesus had warned His disciples against the love of money. “A man’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses, ”Jesus said. “What does it profit a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul?” Jesus asked. Jesus saw so much danger involved with the love of money that He spent more time talking about money than He did about prayer.

In the upper room, Jesus handed Judas the morsel of bread, identifying him as the betrayer. And again, later that night in the garden, Jesus asked him, “Judas, do you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” These moments reveal to us Jesus’ heavy soul. He knew what would lay ahead for Judas if he did not repent of his sin. He saw the danger that Judas’ soul was in. Jesus was continually reaching out to Judas to lead him to repentance. He was calling him to repent of his greed and betrayal; to shed those sins that would condemn his soul to hell and find hope in Jesus. Find forgiveness in God’s love.

As Judas was spiraling down and walking himself out of the kingdom of God, Jesus was walking towards the cross to pay for Judas’ sin. Complete forgiveness was there for Judas, but he lost it. He lost it, not because he was not good enough to have it, but because he rejected it, held on to his work righteous attitude, and considered his sin too great to be undone.

These blessings Jesus provides are for every one of us. Not because we are good enough to deserve them, but because we are not good enough to earn them on our own. They come to use through Word and sacraments, through which God sets us free from every sin we have committed.

You have a Savior who reaches out to you the same way He reached out to Judas. When we depart from God’s will and let sin have dominion, it is your Savior who reaches out to bring you to repentance. He is the one who reminds you to look to His cross and see the innocent blood shed to pay for your sins. He shows you His empty tomb to remind you that God’s forgiveness is guaranteed. It isn’t about you being strong enough, or good enough. God knows that you and I will fail. It is about trusting in God’s grace and His love.

That Judas repent — that was Jesus’ will. While Judas did feel sorrow for what he had done, he failed to look in faith to Jesus as his Savior. This is what God wants us to avoid. The devil’s biggest lie is that your sins are too great to forgive. Don’t ever let guilt remain and drive you to despair. Don’t ever look within yourself for a reason why God should love you. Look to the cross of Jesus. In that cross lies the answer to whether we will fall or not. If you keep your eyes there, you will not fall. The message of the cross never changes. It tells you: Your sins are gone. Your slate is clean. Your past if forgiven and forgotten. God will keep you as His own in Christ. Amen