Sermon Tone Analysis

“I like bats much better than bureaucrats.”

C.S. Lewis writes, “I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of ‘Admin.’

The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid ‘dens of crime’ that Dickens loved to paint.

It is not done even in concentration camps and labor camps.

In those we see its final result.

But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut finger nails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice.”

That’s C.S. Lewis in his introduction to The Screwtape Letters.

I wonder if you agree with him - that the greatest evils and crimes that are happening in our day are not done in the dark allies, the slums, or on the streets - but in clean places, by nice people.

James Waller wrote a book called Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocine and Mass Killing.

Not your Sunday afternoon relaxation book.

It aims to show that the atrocities of the modern world were committed by ordinary people like you and me.

We tend to think that the great evils of human history were committed by people who were in a category of their own; there was something radically different about them.

Thomas Merton, a Catholic poet made the point that “calling Nazis insane or crazy permitted us the comfort that normal, ordinary people could never commit the crimes they’ve committed.”

In fact, a couple years ago, a man named Friedrich Karl Berger, who was living an ordinary life in Tenesee for the last few decades, was discovered to have actually served as a Nazi guard at one of the concentration camps that killed 43,000 innocent people.

An ordinary guy; the neighbors never even knew the atrocities he was guilty of.

In other words, it’s always tempting to think that such horrific evil can be done by psychopaths, mentally deranged individuals, the few extreme cases.

But C.S. Lewis, James Waller, Thomas Merton, and Friedrich Karl Berger suggest that perhaps evil is far more ordinary than we realize.

I wonder what you think - is it possible that ordinary people get caught up in extraordinary evil?

Could you?

The text we’re going to study this morning is Mark 14:43-52.

It tells how Jesus’ ministry came to an abrupt end.

He was betrayed and arrested - not by thugs, criminals, or thieves.

These were religious men, respected men, honored men.

But they are guilty of participating in the most memorable and despicable evils in the history of the world.

For context, it’s the last week of Jesus’ life.

Sunday, entered Jerusalem.

Monday, he cleansed the Temple, Tuesday he taught, Wednesday, probably more teaching.

On Thursday, they celebrate the last supper, they go to the Garden of Gethsemane, and as he’s praying, verse 41 says, “It is enough; the hour has come.

The Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners.”

And now we get to our text, where nice, religious men commit one of history’s greatest atrocities.

Make sure you get a copy of the Bible and follow along.

Of all the thousands of churches gathered to preach the resurrection, I wonder if we’re the only one that will mention the naked guy in the garden.

We’ll get to him later.

But you can see the big idea of this paragraph, can’t you?

This is how the ministry of Jesus came to an end.

For three years he had ministered all over Israel.

He preached the truth about God, he healed the sick, he cast out demons, he raised the dead, he calmed seas and multiplied loaves and fish, feeding thousands.

He was immensely popular; the great crowds followed him everywhere he went.

But it all comes to a screeching halt here, in the middle of the night, in a quiet, dark garden, as he gets arrested.

To study this text, I want to take a look at the evil of ordinary men.

First, let’s start with the evil of Judas Iscariot.

Judas Iscariot.

If you’ve never been to church in all your life until this morning, I’m sure you’ve heard the name.

This event is why you all know his name.

If we were to quantify how frequently the Bible mentions him, we’d realize it’s not much.

What sets him apart is not the number of things he did, but the magnitude of his betrayal.

He was chosen by Jesus back in 3:19, but there’s not much said about him until we get to the final week of Jesus’ life, where he begins to distinguish himself from the others.

14:10 describes his secret approach to the religious leaders, “in order to betray him to them.”

You see, the religious leaders wanted to arrest Jesus, but since tens of thousands of people had flooded Jerusalem during passover week, they wanted to wait until the people had gone.

But Judas gave them a way to arrest him that week without causing an uproar - he would set up his betrayal in the middle of the night, when the rest of the world was sleeping.

In fact, John 18 says that Judas knew that Jesus would be in the garden because he always went there to pray.

Judas arranged it all.

Why?

The closest we get to an answer is 14:11 when it says, “they promised to give him money.”

For three years Judas followed Jesus.

He listened to all of Jesus’ teachings.

He had access to private instruction.

He watched Jesus do miracle after miracle.

Judas even did ministry alongside the other apostles.

Judas even preached Jesus’ message.

But here, he betrays Jesus.

Verse 43 says, “And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve” - I think Mark reminds us that he was “one of the twelve” because it highlights the fact that he was on the inside.

He wasn’t a fringe follower.

He was a part of the group closest to Jesus.

“And with him a crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders.”

John mentions he had “procured a band of soldiers” - the word “band” is a technical military word denoting close to 500 soldiers.

Clearly Judas is a little concerned that Jesus might try to resist, so he brings a fully armed guard to capture him.

Verse 44: “Now the betrayer” - no longer named, but called by his most infamous act - “had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man.”

He uses the sign of a “kiss” - which was common those days, and in that culture.

One would greet the rabbi with a kiss, signifying respect and love.

There were no streetlights, it would have been dark, and Judas would have been more familiar than anyone else, and would be able to identify him easiest.

What’s the plan: “Seize him,” some translations say, “arrest him.”

The idea is a forced removal, a capture.

“and lead him away under guard.”

So what happens?

Verse 45 And when he came, he went up to him at once and said, ‘Rabbi!’

He calls him “Rabbi” - an honored title.

And he kissed him.”

The respect and affection is all feigned, it’s all a fraud.

The word “kissed” here is emphatic, he was over-the-top, trying to make it obvious to the guards.

The fact that Judas uses such friendly outward signs to indicate to the guards who they should arrest only heightens the abhorrence of the betrayal.

This, my friends, is flattery.

Outwardly showing expressions of kindness all for the sake of getting something you want.

I remember reading a poem once that was about Judas, that described what he was like as a boy.

The poem presented Judas as something of a demon-child, constantly disrupting and disobeying, greedy and devilish from the beginning.

I actually don’t think it was that way.

I think he was much more ordinary.

In fact, when Jesus predicted that one of the twelve would betray him, it’s not like they all knew who it would be.

None of them suspected Judas.

In other words, for three years he looked like an ordinary person, with ordinary aspirations, until eventually his love for money choked out his desire to follow Jesus.

He was ordinary, like you and me.

And he betrayed Jesus for money.

Judas heard all Jesus’ sermons.

And he betrayed him for money.

Judas saw all Jesus’ miracles.

And he betrayed him for money.

You might say, “But I would never commit the same sin as Judas!” Really?

Perhaps you were raised being taught of Jesus.

You were raised in church.

But in recent years, you betrayed Jesus for a career.