"Betrayal and Glory"

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gVpytfv_UDM

“Betrayal and Glory”

John 13:21-38

August 21, 2022

 

Read John 13:21-38

This is the Word of the LORD

There are three scenes today: Judas’ betrayal, Jesus’ proclamation that God has glorified him, and Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial.

We begin with Judas’ betrayal.  It was bad.  John reported that Jesus was “troubled in spirit;” just as he had been in the middle of Chapter 12 when he was describing what was about to happen to him in Jerusalem.  Here, Jesus knew what Judas was about to do.  Jesus knew.

As John wrote this scene in Chapter 13, it seems to speak for itself.  However, it may be even more profound than a surface reading allows.  For example, the host handing a piece of bread to a guest was a custom or tradition during the Passover meal as an act of honor.  Jesus had just said, “whoever receives me receives him who sent me.” Then, he spoke of the betrayal.  Then, Jesus handed the piece of bread to Judas. Judas received the bread, then turned.  Thus, Judas’ rejection of Jesus was heinous to the core.  Judas’ rejection of Jesus was a rejection of God – which was what John meant when he wrote, “Satan entered into him.”

Now, according to John, only John and Peter (maybe) knew that Judas was the betrayer.  All the rest assumed that Judas had been sent out on some chore.  Hold that thought until we get back to Peter.

A couple of quick things about Judas: there have been a lot of attempts in recent years to reclaim Judas’ reputation as if he were a tragic figure in this drama.  On the one hand, it is understandable because, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.”  That is actually more true than cliché.  It is only by the grace of God that we are not irretrievably broken, that we do not remain hostile, and that we are not subject to God’s wrath for our rebellion.  It is humbling to think of how awful it would be to stand outside the grace of God.

On the other hand, make no mistake that Judas was despicable.  I have remarked on a number of occasions how the temple authorities and religious elite should have recognized Jesus based upon all the things he was doing.  If they should, what do we say about Judas?  He saw everything up close and personal.  He watched the miracles, saw the power displayed, heard the teaching, and walked with Jesus every day.  How could he see what he saw; how could he hear what he heard; how could he experience all the wonder that he experienced and then categorically reject Jesus?

Friends, look around.  We see it every day in our world.  It is difficult to fathom the rejection of hope, the rejection of love, the rejection of life that we see in our world today – until you understand that the rejection stems from a foundation of rejecting Jesus.  And, if those who receive Jesus are those who receive God; those who reject Jesus are those who reject God.

To observe this is not the same as wishing or wanting it to be so.  We all have family or friends for whom we pray because they have walked away or rejected faith.  It grieves us.  It breaks our hearts because we do not want our loved ones to miss the live and love that we know in Christ.  We rejoice when one either proclaims Jesus as Savior and Lord for the first time, or – like the Prodigal Son – returns home from hopeless paths. But the Bible is not a fairytale, and it does not candy coat what is happening – it shows and tells us that there are people who genuinely reject Jesus and genuinely reject God.

That is all I am going to say about Judas because that is about all there is to say about Judas.  He saw, he knew, he rejected, and he incurred the consequences of facing the wrath of God without Jesus.  It is not a fate I recommend.  “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.”

          Giving glory to God

That said, the story did not stop with Judas.  Jesus declared that “now” the Son of Man had been “glorified and God has been glorified in him.”  It seems like a strange response to Judas’ betrayal.  What was so significant about Judas’ betrayal that Jesus could “now” declare victory?

 

Judas’ betrayal was the catalyst for the cross.  It was the mechanism by which atonement would be made.  Jesus – Emmanuel, God-with-us – was being thrust into the worldly judicial system for the ultimate judgment upon sin.  The wheels were set in motion for the one who was without sin to become sin for us.  He would take in his own body the consequences of our sinfulness and deal with those consequences completely.

Yet the disciples did not know that.  The disciples had not been through a Lenten season, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday.  They were experiencing it firsthand.  Jesus was telling them, “Even in the midst of the worst of situations, God is sovereign, and God’s glory will be revealed.”

The first part of this discussion talks about the Son of Man being glorified and God being glorified through him.  The Greek word is the same root as we use for the Doxology “Glory be to the Father, and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost.  As it was in the beginning, it is now and ever shall be; world without end. Amen.”  Glorifying means “to speak of something as being unusually fine and deserving honor – to praise, to glorify.”  “Something being glorified means “to be of exceptional value, with the implication of being particularly praiseworthy.”

The idea of always glorifying God is a little bit awkward for me.  It is not that God is not worth it; rather, it is that God makes a big deal about it.  I get embarrassed when people say nice things about me – I like to be affirmed, but not praised (if there is a difference).  I have often wondered if and why God wants us to spend so much time “praising,” “worshiping” and “glorifying” him.  It strikes me as a little childish, a little off-putting to demand that we pay so much attention, doesn’t it?  Maybe it is just me, but don’t you sometimes want to say to God, “Grow up?”

It has taken me a long time to realize this: God does not need our worship.  God demands our worship because we need to worship God.  Let me say that again, God does not need our worship.

We need to worship God.

God is not waiting around for our approval.  We need to praise God because we are creation.  We need to praise God because God has already acted.  Giving glory to God is an act of remembering, an act of perspective, an act of being alive.  Our existence – personally, physically, relationally – is entirely due to God’s action.  For that – and that alone – the perspective that is in our own best interest is one of praise and adoration to God.  Worship benefits us.  (That is not to say that worship is always pleasing to us; it is to say that worship benefits us.)

But it is not just our existence – it also is our redemption that is entirely due to God’s action.  God is awesome.  What Jesus was saying here was that the mission of salvation was being accomplished – and how incredible it was.  Jesus was revealing to the disciples what had been happening and what was about to happen – not because God needed to feel good about himself, but because we needed to know how amazing it is that God cares for us.

          There is only one

Look carefully at what Jesus was saying to the disciples here.  “Little children, I am with you only a little longer.  You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”

When I was a kid, we used to go to the Jersey shore every summer for a week or two of vacation.  In our family, it was almost a ritual.  We would load up the brown paneled Pontiac station wagon, get in and stick to the vinyl seats, and fidget for two hours until we saw the causeway – the bridge – to Long Beach Island.  We had specific nights of the week when we would do specific activities: trampolines one night, the Flamingo miniature golf course another, and Hartman’s amusement park – probably one of the last nights we were there.  At Hartman’s were the big slide and other rides, the saltwater taffy and the fudge shop.  We would go late in the week because Mom did not want the sweets hanging around too much earlier in the week, both because of the sugar high we would get from eating too much, and for the sand that would inevitably invade everything that was not tightly sealed.

I remember the summer trip when I was about nine years old.  My dad had the idea that he wanted to try sailing on the 14-16 foot Sunfish.  None of us had done this before.  I remember being so excited as we went from shop to shop.  The three of us kids wandered through the shops as my dad talked to the staff about lessons.  The notion of being on the high seas (that is, the bay) was just so exciting.  My dad finally made a reservation for the lesson.

The next morning, I was up early.  I made my own breakfast, I put away my dishes, I did everything I needed to do to be ready.  At last, there was movement towards the car.  And then it happened, “Oh, Bobby, I’m sorry, only Jimmy is going.”  Oh, the unfairness of it all!   I was crushed.  “Why?” I cried out.  “Well,” my mom said, “He is older, he is bigger, and only one can go.”  On top of not being able to go, I ended up having to vacuum the rental house and take out the trash.

I know – you can feel my pain.  As much as I enjoy your sympathy, I also want you to hear this: not everyone can do everything all the time.  Sometimes, there is only one. As much as I wanted to go sailing, only one of us could go.  As much as the disciples wanted to go the whole distance, only Jesus could go.  

Jesus was telling the disciples that he was going to the cross alone.  In order to fulfill prophecy, in order to fulfill the priestly function, in order to complete the royal task given to Israel, Jesus had to walk the road to the cross alone.

Even Peter could not go with Jesus.  Blustery Peter -- who comes across in Scripture as a blue collar, hard-working, courageous, powerful, bull of a man – Peter, who probably knew that Judas had just betrayed Jesus and wanted to make clear that he was loyal -- this Peter told Jesus that he would lay down his life for him.  And Jesus, knowing that he would be abandoned by all of them, Jesus told Peter plainly that he would deny him three times before the next morning.  Jesus would walk this road – alone.

There is some high theology involved here – specifically, how Jesus fulfilling the messianic roles of prophet, priest and king – but the bigger point for our purposes this morning is that only Jesus could accomplish this purpose.  There was no one else in history who could have gone to the cross for us; nor will there ever be a need for anyone else to go for us.  Jesus was the one.  Jesus is unique.

Jesus was a descendant of – and greater type of – Boaz.  This was our Old Testament reading.  Boaz was a kinsman-redeemer.  That was the formal legal title, but hear it as a description: kinsman-redeemer.  He was the one with standing – the only one who could legitimately – purchase the land and take into his family Naomi and Ruth.  He was their savior.  He undertook that responsibility with love.  He took the women from hopelessness and despair to rejoicing and new life.  In God’s plan and providence, Boaz and Ruth gave birth to Obed, who later fathered Jesse, who was the father of David, “A man after God’s own heart.”  Generations later, in the City of David, Jesus was born.

The uniqueness of Christ is important for us to recognize . In our pluralistic culture, you will hear things like “every road leads to heaven,” or “it’s all good,” or, as I did at one neighborhood party years ago, “The Jews have Moses, Muslims have Mohammed, Buddhists have Siddhartha, and Christians have Jesus,” as if Jesus was a leader just like all others.  Not so.  Jesus was unique.

Jesus revealed his unique nature to the disciples here by telling them what was going to happen before it happened, doing what could not be humanly done, and manifesting power through absolute submission.  He declared victory over sin and death before he went to the cross; and then was confirmed in his resurrection.  Having done it, we need no other.

Why is Jesus’ uniqueness important to you and to me?  It means that we have a righteousness that is not dependent upon ourselves; a great relief if you are like me and realize that you cannot be righteous even when you try. God has taken the initiative to pull me out of my sin and claim me as his own.  You hear this from me on communion Sundays – I have not earned it, I have not worked for it, I have not achieved it; it was given to me.  Jesus is able to achieve the salvation God has intended for me.

Jesus’ uniqueness is important to you and me because it means we have hope in the form of a concrete answer to what happens when we die; Jesus rose, verifying that he has the power to raise those who are found in him.  He has called his disciples “little children,” showing how much he loves and cares for them.  He is taking care of his responsibilities; and even in doing that alone, he is demonstrating how much he loves and cares for them.

When my father and brother came back from sailing, the first thing they did was take me to go back out with them.  They knew how much I had wanted to be with them.  They learned what they needed to know in order to have me go with them – and then they came back for me.

          The new commandment

After telling the disciples that he was not going to be with them, and after declaring that they could not come with him, Jesus gives them a command, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another.  Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.”

On the surface, it does not seem like there would be much to add to that; nor does it seem particularly complex to understand.

Yet there is something really profound that Jesus is telling them; no longer is he simply repeating the command to “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself”; instead, he is telling them to love one another as he has loved them.

How has Jesus loved them?  It is difficult to improve on Paul’s description in Philippians 2,

…who, though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave, being born in human likeness.  And being found in human form, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death— even death on a cross.  

Paul also bookended Jesus’ command; framing the explanation of what Christ accomplished for us.

Let each of you look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others.

Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus…

Therefore, my beloved, just as you have always obeyed me, not only in my presence, but much more now in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

The danger for a preacher at this point is to get too much “you oughta,” or Hallmark-y. But Jesus was talking about something very specific.  Loving one another is not foremost a feeling.  It is not an emotion.  It is a tangible commitment to one another. It is a bonding together so that the success of one is joy for all; the loss of one causes us to grieve together.  Jesus’ “new” command to love one another as he has loved us requires us to live differently.

Loving as Jesus loved them means taking the initiative to be responsible for each other. It means that we are accountable for each other’s growth, development, and maturity as children of God.  We are not to live isolated or alone.  It means that we need to encourage one another to know God, to remember God, to worship God and to pray for one another.  We are responsible for each other just as Jesus took responsibility for us.

What does that look like practically?

First, it means that we need to know the Scriptures so we can encourage one another in the Word.  Jesus often taught them by pointing to Scripture.  He dwelled on it, meditated on it, prayed on it, lived on it. In order to love each other as Jesus loved them, we need to know Scripture.

Second, Jesus lived with the disciples.  That is, he ate with them, walked with them, talked about God with them, argued with them, laughed with them and cried with them.  They did things together.  There were some difficult personalities in that group, but Jesus stuck with them.  In order to love each other as Jesus loved them, we need to be devoted to each other – through thick and thin.

Third, Jesus sacrificed himself for them.  In no way did Jesus consider himself a victim. He did not “guilt” them into following him to the cross; in fact, he told them they could not follow him there.  He saw their need, knew what he had to do to help address it, and took action.  How well do we see each other’s needs, how can we look to help address those needs, and are we willing to risk everything as we take action?

Fourth, Jesus prayed for them.  Specifically. By name.  And not just when they asked, but consistently.  That’s part of the reason why we are pray through the names of our military service men and women each Sunday; why we pray for those who need to come to Jesus for salvation . In order to love one another as Jesus loved them, we need to be praying for each other constantly.

In other words, loving each other as Jesus loved them means to be the people of Acts 2:42 – who devote themselves to the Apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, the breaking of bread together and the prayers.

Jesus exhorted them to be good to each other.  He did not leave them to their own devices, to their own personal preferences, as if what they did and how they treated each other did not matter.  He commanded them.  Most people think that church and faith would be pretty easy without all the other people; Jesus did not give us that option.  We are to love one another even as he loved us.  Think about it: we’re not the most loveable lot and yet God stuck with us.

Conclusion

Jesus’ new commandment is a command: love one another.  Act lovingly even if you do not feel like it.  Act lovingly even if it is costly.  Act lovingly because the other needs it.  “By this,” Jesus said, everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Obeying the new command is an act of discipleship.  It also is an act of evangelism and witness.  It answers the question, “Who do you say I am?”  Loving each other as Jesus loved them says, “You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.” Amen?  Amen.

 

Questions:

1. Why is there humility in looking at Judas and seeing, “There – but for the grace of God – go I?”
2. Why do we need to worship?
3. What does it look like in your life to “love one another as I have loved you?”