7th Day of Lent
Dear friends in Christ. In tonight’s reading from the Passion history of our Lord we see Jesus at the Passover. Although Jesus sends two of His disciples to prepare the upper room and the Passover, it is Jesus who is really the host and the Twelve who are the guests. Jesus shows this most clearly as He serves the Twelve by washing their feet. By this act, Jesus was not only showing what the original Passover was all about—God serving the Israelites by delivering them out of slavery in Egypt, but He was pointing forward to His own work that He would do over the next number of hours—serve all people by suffering and dying for them and bringing them the forgiveness of sin and peace with God, rescuing all people from sin, death, devil and hell. Here Jesus carries out what He said He came to do [Mt.28.20]: He did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many. So, yes, here Jesus is serving and let us also never forget that Jesus continues to serve us as He gives us in His holy word and sacraments that very forgiveness and peace He won for us by His holy life and innocent suffering and death.
What a beautiful image the holy Evangelist paints before our eyes with the first verse of our text: When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. What a common scene we find here—Jesus gathered around and eating with a group of sinners, here the Twelve, who that very evening were arguing about which one of them was the greatest. Elsewhere in Scripture we see the same scene [Mt. 9.10]: Jesus sat at the table in the house [and] behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with Him and His disciples. Here is a glorious picture of the Church—sinners coming and gathering around Jesus. That’s us. When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.
But the scene unfolds further: And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” Here Lent calls to us. Like the Twelve we are gathered around Jesus; we are part of Jesus’ visible Church here on earth; Jesus is the host and He is serving us. But what does Jesus say to the Twelve? “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And Jesus’ words continue to resound in our ears. And that is Lent’s call to us. Notice, Jesus’ words: one of you will betray me. He doesn’t say which one. He doesn’t name Judas. Instead, each one is in the shadow of guilt. The pall of doubt and guilt falls upon each of them.
Yes, these words sound very ominous. They sound very much like sharp thunderbolts of Law, of doom and gloom. And as well they should! We all need to hear them, we always need to hear the sharp preaching of God’s holy Law. We all need that wakeup call and that’s what Lent should do each year. Why? Because we are all sinners; we are in that shadow of guilt, living under that pall. One of you will betray me. We are all capable of that sin. There has never been a sin committed—think of the worst you can—that we ourselves are not capable of committing. That is a very sobering thought because we are of the same sinful flesh and blood and endure the same temptations from the devil and have the same sinful desires and allures from the world around us.
But, upon further review, further reflection, Lent and our Lord’s words here, one of you will betray me, are a great grace. Lent’s call to self-examination and repentance is a good thing. Yes, discovering sin, and by the strength and power of the Holy Spirit trying to root out sin, is hard and painful. No person of good will wants to hear: “You are a sinner! And by your sin you only earn/ deserve God’s wrath and damnation.”
So what was Jesus trying to do with His statement to the Twelve that night: One of you will betray me? He was warning Judas that He knew his plans and Jesus was giving Judas the chance to repent, to turn away from what he was planning. It was Jesus trying to get Judas to reexamine his heart and intentions. Jesus didn’t just call him out and say: Judas, you will betray me. That would have certainly hardened Judas and made him all the more determined.
Not only was Jesus by His sharp statement of Law, one of you will betray me, showing grace to Judas and giving him a chance to repent, but He was also inviting the others each to examine his own heart. Again, that’s the grace of Lent’s call to repent. What good does it do not to point out sin, not to recognize sin and so continue on the path of sin leading to hell? To be sure, you may feel really good about yourself; have that ever so vital high self-esteem, but what about the ultimate end? Jesus tells us [Mt. 16.26], for what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul?
And with the Eleven, Jesus’ words had a good effect. And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” Each of them doubted himself. Each one had reason to mistrust himself and to examine himself to see if he was still in the faith. One after the other began asking Him “Is it I, Lord?” Of course, they were expecting the answer, “no!”, but they couldn’t be sure. These were the same ones who were arguing about which was the greatest and Jesus had to bring them to repentance. Freshly rebuked for this sin, there was great doubt in their minds: they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”
Does Jesus still the doubts of the Eleven? Hardly! In response to their questioning, He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me.” The problem with that? They all dipped their hand with Jesus into the dish. Jesus was the host; they were celebrating the Passover together at Jesus’ invitation. By saying this, Jesus was basically saying, one of you, my friends, will betray Me.
How all the more must they have been sorrowful! Each knew his weakness and his sinfulness—after all it was in full display with their argument about greatness. Certainly each of the Eleven had no intention of betraying Jesus, but it was not out of the realm of possibility—they all knew and recognized their sin. On top of that—and this to their credit as an evidence of their faith in Jesus—they believed Jesus’ words—one of you will betray me—more than their own conscience.
Here is a vital lesson for us especially now in this Lent season: when the holy Law of God accuses us of sin, when we hear/ feel the voice of the Law condemning, let us listen to it; let it condemn us. –Yes, it is unpleasant/ uncomfortable, but certainly more pleasant/ comfortable than an eternity in hell for continuing on in unrepented sin. —Sadly, the natural sinful reaction of people is to try to explain away the sin, minimize it, reject God’s Law, or refuse to hear the messenger of the Law. Our corrupt sinful nature is very quick, and finds it very easy to condemn others and is ever so quick to excuse and defend our own sins. But today, this Lent, let us be strengthened by the Holy Spirit to be like the Eleven and to trust the voice of God in His holy Law more than our self, which tries to make us out to be the saints we are not. May our prayer of repentance this Lent, and always, be: “Is it I, Lord?”
Jesus then continues in our text: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Jesus takes it a step further. Although He does not explicitly accuse/ expose Judas, Jesus does reveal what Judas would do and He reveals the effect of Judas’ betrayal on Judas, what it would earn him: woe; it would have been better for that man if he had not been born. And this, too, is Jesus’ grace to Judas—warning him what his willful, unrepented sin will lead to.
The same thing applies to us. In His holy word God warns us that our sins earn/ bring us nothing but woe, nothing but His wrath both now and forever. But our sin corrupted self and society’s ever changing definition of what is right and wrong want us to think that sin is no big deal, that it might be a minor blemish but nothing more, certainly nothing worthy of God’s wrath and earning damnation in hell. In grace, Jesus warns Judas of the effect of his sin with the hope/ intent that that would stop him. Jesus does the same for us in every warning of punishment of our sin. In fact, Jesus’ words here also apply to us: woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. To be sure, we don’t pull a Judas and get 30 pieces of silver but each of our sins is a handing of Jesus over to the cross, each of our sins is us betraying Jesus.
Long story short—what we see in the Upper Room that first Maundy Thursday with Jesus’ announcement: Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, is a warning and call to us against unbelief and complacency in the faith. It is much the same thing as what the Blessed Apostle writes: Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. This Lent and beyond, let us take the holy Law of God in hand and ask: “Is it I, Lord?”
But throughout our account, what do we see Jesus doing? Calling Judas to recognize his sin, regret it and turn in faith to Him. The point is simply this: Judas was not condemned because his sin of betraying Jesus was so bad, so heinous, but because he did not repent of his sin. That’s the point for us to remember: Jesus calls us to recognize our sin, to sorrow over our sin, and to turn to Him for forgiveness of that sin. It doesn’t matter how great the sin is. There is forgiveness for it. Think of it: in all of this Jesus was trying to get Judas to repent of his sin. And why? So Jesus could forgive him. “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.” Judas was damned because he died without faith in Jesus, faith that receives the forgiveness Jesus got for us on the cross, faith that clings to Jesus and His merit and righteousness. The Eleven disciples recognized Jesus, by faith, rightly as the Lord, the true God: “Is it I, Lord?” Whereas in his hypocrisy, the best Judas could manage was: Is it I, Rabbi /teacher?
The call of Lent is not just to self-examination and recognizing sins. It is also the call to run to Jesus. Jesus wanted Judas to recognize/ sorrow over his sin and to run to Him for forgiveness. Right before pronouncing the woe on Judas, Jesus said of Himself: The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, that is, Jesus is on the way to the cross to die for the sins of the world; He would bring about the salvation of the world, reconciling the whole sinful world to the holy God—just as it was prophesied in the OT. The sin of a Judas, all of your sin and my sin, is forgiven because of who it was who paid the price for our sin: Jesus, the God-man Himself. His was divine blood that was shed and so it had infinite worth and value for all sins—no matter how horrible—of all people.
The call of Lent to self-examination is to lead us to run to Jesus for our comfort, for forgiveness of sin and life. In our text, Jesus says: “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” That’s the call to self-examination and to sorrow over sin.
But right after our text, as the Eleven as rattled and torn to the heart, Jesus gives them and us the Blessed Sacrament of His body and blood for the forgiveness of our sin, for our comfort.
May our pondering of Jesus’ sufferings this Lent deepen knowledge of our sin so that without reservation and with full confidence we confess: “Is it I, Lord?” and then run to Jesus, His word, absolution and Sacrament for forgiveness and life. INJ Amen.