Sermon Tone Analysis
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What is the most tragic story in the Bible?
This story is tragic on so many levels…
We have Judas, who obviously was not seeing the outcome he expected… Look at his words (27:4)… If we back up to 26:15, we find something interesting…
The word “deliver” — sometimes “Betray” — is paradidomi - “to give over”
Could Judas have had something else he was trying to accomplish.
2. The Priests rejected him…
Why did Judas go back to the priests?
— They were in the line of the High Priest… They were subject to the High Priest… indicating that he was involved…
— They reject Judas… they reject his attempt at repentance…
WHY?
— They had built a box… and Christ didn’t fit in it — therefore — Judas couldn’t either…
We don’t do that… do we?!?
Yes!
(build box) [ideas about — God, scripture, language use, faith, actions, …]
We build a box.... and when “they” … don’t fit, we reject them.
Think about it — “How do we treat Judas?”
(commentaries)
Holman says:
Judas was once again labeled as the one who had betrayed him.
Judas learned of the verdict (that Jesus was condemned) and possibly watched as Jesus was led away to Pilate.
This caused him to feel remorse.
This did not necessarily mean that Judas came to a saving faith in the Messiah, but it certainly indicated that he wished he had not betrayed him.
It also implied deep emotional distress.
At the very least he realized he had been instrumental in the death of an innocent man.
This was too much for Judas to bear.
Messiah or not, this man had been his friend and teacher.
Because of his remorse, Judas carried out the two final actions of his life.
The Sanhedrin had just sent Jesus off to Pilate, accompanied by a select contingency from their number.
Others went to the temple to carry out their duties on this Passover day.
There Judas met them and attempted to return the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders.
He confessed to them, I have sinned … for I have betrayed innocent blood.
Judas’s adjective, “innocent,” is found elsewhere in the New Testament only in Pilate’s claim of innocence in regards to Jesus’ blood (27:24).
The New Bible Commentary: (Comparing Peter’s denial)
That story of temporary failure under stress ended with Peter’s tears of repentance, and his restoration is later implied.
But Judas, by contrast, had taken a clear decision against Jesus, and his remorse when he realized his mistake led not to true repentance but to despair and suicide.
Weirsbe:
Judas’ response was one of remorse and regret.
The Greek word translated “repented himself” in Matthew 27:3 indicates, not a sorrow for sin that leads to a change of mind and action, but a regret at being caught, a remorse that leads to despair.
Peter truly repented, and Jesus restored him.
But Judas did not repent, and this led him to suicide.
We deflect Judas’s repentance in the same way that we deflect the Jewish people’s guilt in Christ’s crucifixion… by placing the blame on Pilate…
Yet… When pilate said “I am innocent of this man’s blood” he spoke the truth… the Jews were to blame, he was just their weapon… no more able to do different than a computer or car can disobey our directions.
Notice — Strong’s gives us two meanings for the word translated “regret” or “remorse”…
“Metamelomai” — 1. “to feel sad, regret”
(some say the use is the same here)
2. “Change one’s mind, repent”
— Some say that Judas merely regretted being caught… being found out… not what he actually did… But…
If it merely means “regret”, then why did he return the money?
Why did he then go and hang himself?
— That act signifies something deeper…
— Judas seems to be truly repentant and seeking forgiveness… Why else would he go to the Temple — to the Priests?
— Yet he was rejected!
WHY?!?!
Because… to acknowledge his repentance would mean they had to face their own sin and guilt…
— They knew what they had done…
— Rather than face it… they rejected it…
We are guilty of that…
Rather than face our own guilt, we tend to do just what they did… we condemn rather than forgive!
Think about it…
We do the same thing with Pilate.
— We condemn him, rather then acknowledge the truth… and forgive…
Yet Jesus tells us to…
“Love our neighbor as ourselves”
“To care for others”
“Love our enemies and pray for them”
“do not judge”
Even Jesus didn’t judge Judas.
— Jesus chose him as a disciple, as one of the twelve…
— Jesus gave him control of His purse — his treasury — knowing his nature...
— Jesus included him in the last supper…
Listen to the whole story:
Do you hear condemnation anywhere in Jesus’s words?
— Notice —
Jesus calls Judas “Friend”!
This is awesome!
That word literally means “companion… comrade”!
— Jesus is reminding him who he is… That he is a friend… that he is one of them… that he is chosen…
— This is the exact same thing Jesus did with Peter later.
But wait a minute pastor.... Jesus says in John 17:
What about that?!
That doesn’t mean that Jesus condemned Judas… It just means that He knew what was going to happen…
He knew both what Judas was going to do, AND what the Priests were going to do…
Jesus does not condemn Judas, nor does He condemn us!
There is NO condemnation in Christ!
Only forgiveness…
The Church is supposed to be a place where forgiveness can be found… where freedom from guilt is discovered… that starts with us!
— What are you carrying with you?
— What is it that you have been trying to give to Christ?
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