Lent 2020--Mark 14:10-46--Betraying Eyes

Betrayal . . . just hearing the word makes one uneasy. Many of us have been betrayed, and it is never pleasant.

Text: , ,

Other Lessons: , antiphon: v. 4; ;

Sermon Goal: That hearers know and believe that, in spite of their own treacherous sins, God loves them and hands salvation over to them freely through the Means of Grace.

Liturgical Setting

Betrayal comes from one who we are close to. It usually comes out of the blue. But in the case of Judas, our Lord Jesus was not surprised; in fact, he knew all about it because He is God.

The First Sunday in Lent always focuses on Jesus’ temptation by Satan in the wilderness, when He refused to betray His Father’s will and Word or hand Himself over to the devil in exchange for worldly power and glory. Satan later continued his efforts to turn Jesus away from sacrificial death through the taunts of the Jewish leaders and the crowd at the foot of the cross.

The verb we translate as “betray” in this text can also have the simple meaning “to hand over.” The Readings have been chosen to tease out both senses of this verb. In , the betrayal of Jesus by Judas is highlighted: “Even My close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against Me” (v. 9; cited by Jesus in as being fulfilled by Judas). In , Stephen extends the guilt of Jesus’ betrayal to his Jewish audience: “the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered.” In , Paul highlights the ongoing treachery of mankind today, which reminds us of the treachery of our own hearts. The suggested hymn recounts the many things Jesus endured to save us, including “For us by wickedness betrayed” (LSB 544:5).

The context of Judas Iscariot’s traitorous act happened right after Jesus was anointed with a very costly perfume. Judas’ deed stands in glaring contrast.

Relevant Context

has established the Jewish leaders’ desire to destroy Jesus, which sets the stage for Judas seeking to betray Him. In , Jesus is anointed for His upcoming burial, pointing to His death under the Father’s wrath. After the Last Supper, the move to the Garden of Gethsemane (14:32) sets the stage for Judas’ arrival after Jesus prays. At some indeterminate point before this, Satan had “put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot” to betray Jesus (), which sets the stage for this week’s narrative. While Judas is a willing betrayer of Jesus, God was always in control and executing His saving plan: “this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men” ().

The point of this evening is this: Judas betrayed Jesus, and so do we by our sins, but the Father handed Him over to death to save us, and Jesus has handed the Lord’s Supper over to the Church in order to participate in the benefits of His death.

Textual Notes

“Judas Iscariot”—As we learn in and , Satan entered Judas and urged him on. However, this does not remove Judas’s guilt and willing participation. As Jesus will say in Gethsemane to Peter, James, and John, “Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation” (). Prayer is an effective tool against Satan, a tool Judas had not employed.

“in order to betray”—Literally, “in order to hand over.” Since the authorities were concerned to be discreet about the arrest of Jesus due to His popularity, the garden would provide an isolated place to arrest Him quickly.

v. 11: “money”—Judas was greedy and was even a thief (). He is a good negative example for this warning from the apostle Paul: “But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs” ().

v. 14: “say to the master of the house”—Jesus’ foreknowledge of all the details of the room’s arrangement and availability demonstrate His omniscience and control of the events leading up to His betrayal. It is important to be reminded that Jesus is not a helpless victim in His Passion but had a very specific purpose in mind: “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” ().

v. 17: “evening”—The Jewish way of reckoning time begins the day with evening, so the Passover would begin at sundown. This reflects the creation account: “And there was evening and there was morning,” each day.

“the twelve”—The mention of “the twelve” recalls Jesus’ original choosing of the apostles in , which had concluded with these ominous words: “and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Him” (v. 19).

v. 18: “one of you will betray Me”—Again, “betray” can be translated “hand over” or “deliver to.” Jesus had predicted that He would be delivered into the hands of those who would torture and kill Him (; ); now the fulfillment of His Word draws near.

“one who is eating with Me”—In , Jesus cites as the Scripture that is fulfilled by His betrayal by Judas: “Even My close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against Me.” In the culture of Jesus’ day, to break bread with someone was a sign of friendship, so for the original readers/hearers of Mark’s Gospel, the wickedness of Judas’ betrayal is heightened.

Main Sermon Theme: Judas betrayed Jesus, and so do we by our sins, but the Father handed Him over to death to save us, and Jesus has handed the Lord’s Supper over to the Church in order to participate in the benefits of His death.

v. 20: “dipping bread into the dish with Me”—In the way that we might dip bread in seasoned olive oil in an Italian restaurant. Judas is not identified as the “one of the twelve” until he accomplishes his betrayal in Gethsemane. In Mark’s Gospel, this anonymity serves to highlight the tension among the Twelve and cause them to examine their own loyalties. makes clear that Judas knew he was the one.

v. 21: “the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him”—In , Jesus has said that Scripture predicted His suffering, and in , He had spoken of His Passion as divinely necessary. While this verse certainly refers to all the Old Testament prophecies of the suffering of the Messiah, in this context, is most likely in view, due to its reference that He would be betrayed by an intimate friend. It also is worth noting that Jesus’ own predictions are on par with Scripture, since He is the Word of God made flesh.

“woe to that man . . . better for that man if he had not been born”—These foreboding words point to Judas’ ultimate downfall and death, which is not recorded in Mark, but is found in and .

v. 32: “Gethsemane”—This verse is included in the Reading because it shows Jesus’ movement from the Upper Room to the garden. This was a regular meeting place for Jesus with His disciples (; ; ), so Judas would have known it well and expected that Jesus would be there.

v. 41 “the hour has come”—Jesus had prayed in “that, if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him.” Now the Father’s prayer has been answered: “My will is that the hour of Your suffering must come,” and Jesus has faithfully accepted His Father’s will. “The hour” is also a prominent theme throughout John’s Gospel, pointing forward to the time of His suffering and subsequent glorification.

“betrayed into the hands of sinners”—While the description of His enemies as “sinners” is a judgment upon them as impenitent evildoers, this phrase serves to highlight the Great Exchange of the Gospel: the Sinless One suffers at the hands of sinful men in order to die for the sins of all mankind, even those who hated Him.

v. 43: “Judas came”—In 14:43–45, Judas briefly takes center stage but then quickly recedes into the background as Jesus stands alone for the rest of the Passion, abandoned by friends and surrounded by enemies.

v. 44: “sign . . . kiss”—It was dark, so a means of identifying Jesus was necessary. A kiss was a normal social greeting, so it was an inconspicuous form of betrayal.

v. 45: “Rabbi!”—The depth of betrayal is heightened by this term of intimacy and respect, and the irony also is obvious: Judas had been taught the way of love by Jesus but had rejected it.

v. 46: “seized Him”—In 14:43, Mark noted that Judas had come with a crowd brandishing swords and clubs. In the following verses (vv. 48–49), Jesus will point out the absurdity of this action, since He was no robber but had taught in the temple day after day, which would have provided the opportunity for them to arrest Him. Then He concludes with these words: “But let the Scriptures be fulfilled.” At Calvary, He would be crucified between two robbers, the Innocent One dying on behalf of the guilty.

Sermon Outline

Main Sermon Theme: Judas betrayed Jesus, and so do we by our sins, but the Father handed Him over to death to save us, and Jesus has handed the Lord’s Supper over to the Church in order to participate in the benefits of His death.

Sermon

Judas will forever be a name associated with betrayal, with treachery, with handing over the innocent Jesus to sinful men who would see to His death. Tonight we will look at and through the betraying eyes of Judas, but what I want to lead you to is the recognition that it’s most important for us to take a hard look at ourselves and then fix our Eyes on Jesus.

St. Mark writes, “Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray Him to them” (14:10). Mark’s mention that Judas was “one of the twelve” highlights the deeply personal nature of his treachery and the brazenness of his betrayal. Judas had been chosen out of countless Jewish men to be one of the twelve apostles, a select group who had the privilege of being in the inner circle of God’s Son for three years.

Judas knew firsthand the love and mercy of Jesus and had witnessed His powerful miracles. He had heard the Beatitudes again and again; he had had the parable of the rich fool and warnings about greed drummed into his ears; he had gone out and preached in Jesus’ name; he had heard the warnings about those who preached in the Lord’s name but are shocked on Judgment Day to find out that their faithlessness has landed them in hell. If you want to see Exhibit 1 of someone who had all the right things taught to him but then rebelled against it, it’s Judas.

Judas had sought out the chief priests with an offer to hand Jesus over to them, “And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money.” The Jewish leaders were seeking an inconspicuous location to arrest Jesus, and Judas would provide them with an ideal opportunity—a kairos moment in time—which takes some screaming because you have to be on the lookout for when the time is right. And as we know from the other Gospels, Judas was a greedy man, even a thief, so he must have looked at this betrayal as an opportunity to line his pockets.

Judas’ plan was in place, but first he had to wait through the preparation for the Passover meal and the meal itself. At dinner, Jesus drops this bomb on the twelve apostles: “As they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me, one who is eating with Me’” (). Try to picture what the twenty-six eyes at that table were doing. Jesus seems to be calmly looking around, knowing by His divine omniscience exactly who it is but not giving anything away. Mark says that “they began to be sorrowful and to say to [Jesus] one after another, ‘Is it I?’” You can picture them looking around the room with suspicion, wondering, “Who must it be?” You can picture the tears streaming down some of the faces to express their grief at what Jesus was predicting.

What were Judas’ eyes doing? Did he look down in shame? Did he nervously glance around to see if he was suspected? Did he put on a good show and act like the rest of them? We can’t know for sure, but I’d bet on the latter.

What’s striking about Mark’s account of this scene is that Jesus doesn’t name Judas. We don’t hear that the traitor is Judas until the Garden of Gethsemane. Why do you suppose that is?

Perhaps Jesus wanted each of the Twelve to examine himself and see if he had the capability to betray innocent blood, to commit treason against his Lord. Likewise, Jesus wants each of us to examine our own loyalty to the Lord.

Johann Sebastian Bach’s St. Matthew Passion takes that fateful scene at the Last Supper and sets it to sublime music. When it gets to the section in which Jesus announces that the betrayer is at the table, part of the chorus sings the words of each of the disciples, asking if he is the traitor. The text is in German: “Herr, bin ichs?” (This is straight out of Luther’s German Bible.) Translation: “Lord, is it I?” And then comes a confession to Jesus in the form of a chorale, sung by the whole chorus. It begins: Ich bin’s. “It is I.” Here is the English translation of the chorale verse, addressed (and confessed) to Jesus:

It is I, I should atone,

bound hand and foot

in hell.

The scourges and the bonds

and what You endured,

my soul has earned.

“It is I.” Bach gets the Judas story right, highlighting that all of us have participated in the sin of Judas; we all have committed treason, turning against our Lord; that’s what our sin is: betrayal of our King of grace. And if we were to die in our sin, it certainly would have been better for us not to have been born.

an Händen und an Füßen gebunden

in der Höll’.

Die Geißeln und die Banden,

und was du ausgestanden,

das hat verdienet meine Seel’.] (public domain)

“It is I.” Bach gets the Judas story right, highlighting that all of us have participated in the sin of Judas; we all have committed treason, turning against our Lord; that’s what our sin is: betrayal of our King of grace. And if we were to die in our sin, it certainly would have been better for us not to have been born.

That’s why it’s such good news when Jesus says in the Upper Room, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him” (), and then in the garden, “The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners” (v. 41). Jesus came specifically for this purpose, to be betrayed and to pour out His holy, precious blood and suffer an innocent death to atone for your sin, for Judas’ sin, for the sin of the whole world. “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many” ().

There are deep mysteries here. Judas was morally culpable for his betrayal of Jesus and justly paid the price for his sin and impenitence, even though the Scriptures had foretold this would happen. God did not force Judas to do anything, but it was Judas’ sinful will, along with the devil’s prompting, that led him to this. Yet behind the scenes, God used this tragic event to accomplish His greater purpose: to punish His Son for our sake. The Father handed over His Son to this death, and the Son went willingly, out of love for you and all sinners.

The verb we translate as “betray” in this text can also have the simple meaning “to hand over” or “to deliver.” says that faith will be counted for righteousness “to us who believe in Him who raised from the dead Jesus our Lord, who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.” Who did the handing over? Judas, to be sure, but above all, God the Father loved the world this way: He gave His only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. So fix your eyes on the One who for you became a curse on the tree of the cross, and find salvation in Him.

You traitors, you Judases, in Baptism you have been washed in the blood of the Lamb of God, the same One you betrayed. Don’t try to hide your crimes; confess them. He is not surprised that you are sinners; He knew that as He went to the cross to establish His kingdom of grace, and He knows that now even as He forgives the sins of all who repent. For every time that you have betrayed Him; for every time that you have made promises to Him you couldn’t keep; for all of the commitments to your Lord you have failed to keep, remember this: there is forgiveness for you. There is forgiveness for you even as the words of Absolution drum into your ears, as the grace of Baptism comes to your remembrance, as the forgiving, life-giving body and blood of Jesus is given into your mouth. Amen.

That verb we translate as “betraying” but that also can mean “handing over” or “delivering” is used by St. Paul in a remarkable place in his writings, in . He uses the verb twice there, writing, “For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when He was delivered took bread . . .” Yes, we are accustomed to hearing “on the night when He was betrayed,” and that is certainly correct, but what is most important is that God the Father handed Jesus over to death in our place; the apostles handed down to us the Words of Institution for the Lord’s Supper; and in that Meal, Jesus hands His body and blood over to us for forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation.

Remember this every time as you see and hear those precious words: “Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night when He was betrayed, took bread . . .” And then you can sing with joy, “Lamb of God, you take away the sin of the world; have mercy on us.” Amen.

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Betraying Eyes