Download Were You There When He Was Betray

Sermon
Rev. Lang Yang
“Were You There When He Was Betray”
Ash Wednesday
St. Michael’s Lutheran Church – Richville, MI
2-10-16
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Matthew 26:48-49, Luke 22:47-48 “Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the
man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. While he
was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them.
He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
This is the Word of the Lord. (Cross reference – Matthew 26:47, Mark 14:43, Luke 22:48, John 18:3, Acts 1:16)
Illustration
“Betrayal”
(Show Marcus Junius Brutus betray Caesar)
Betrayal is a word that no one like to hear or no one want others to betray them.
No treachery is worse than betrayal by a family member or friend. Julius
Caesar knew such treachery. Among the conspirators who assassinated the
Roman leader on March 15, 44 B.C. was Marcus Junius Brutus. Caesar
not only trusted Brutus, he had favored him as a son. According to Roman
historians, Caesar first resisted the onslaught of the assassins. But when he
saw Brutus among them with his dagger drawn, Caesar ceased to struggle
and pulling the top part of his robe over his face, asked the famous
question, “You too, Brutus?” (Today in the Word, August 13, 1992.)
(Show William Tyndale, strangle and burn at stake)
William Tyndale, first translated the Bible from Hebrew and Greek into English,
making a Bible for the common people. In 1535 he was betrayed by a friend,
taken prisoner to the castle of Vilford and continued to work on his translation.
He was unable to finish his work because he was sentenced to die a heretic's
death: Strangulation and burning at the stake. On October 6, 1536 he cried out his
last words. (Source Unknown)
I.
That bring us to the questions, “Where You There When He (Jesus) Was Betray?” (Show Judas kiss)
Judas was there. Judas, the man from Kerioth, was one of the twelve men
chosen by Jesus to be His disciples. Jesus loved him as much as He loved
the others, in fact, Judas held a special office in the group; he was the
treasurer. But the Scripture also tells us Judas was a thief. Greed,
covetousness, finally drove him to betray his Lord to His enemies for 30
pieces of silver – not a large sum. Our text tonight read, “While he was
still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of
the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus
asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
The question remain, “How could Judas, who had lived and walked and talked with the Savior, do
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such a thing? This may not be so very difficult to answer. (Show Judas hang himself)
Judas had a weakness and when Satan entered into his heart and maneuvered him
into striking the fatal bargain. Bitter remorse later on did not help Judas, but drove
him to hopeless despair and self-murder as Matthew recorded “…he went and
hanged himself.” (Matthew 27:5) Judas did not realize that when he first gave in
to temptation and ignored Christ, he thereby placed the noose around his neck.
Later events only helped to tighten the noose. It is an old, old story.
Brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus, let us look back into the shadows of the Garden of Gethsemane
again to see what had happen. Were you there when Jesus was betrayal? (Show Jesus arrest)
You will see that the chief priest and elders of the people were there.
These were the people who gladly paid Judas to betray Jesus to them in
the Garden. Why did they hate Jesus so? Why did they want him out of the
way? Again the answer is not difficult. They were jealous of Him. They
resented and feared his rising popularity with the people. In the Gospel of
John they said, “….Look the whole word has gone after him.” (John
12:19) The people, chief priest and elders had resentment, envy, jealousy
so overwhelmed their hearts that they plotted the death of Jesus and
looked for someone to blame. So they blame Jesus but if we look it carefully we see that these were the
religious leaders who claim to be God’s spokesmen. (Show bringing sword and stick to arrest Jesus)
The chief priests, elders and Judas were the chief conspirators in the betrayal. But
others were indirectly involved. There was the mob of temple police, henchmen
and hangers, who came with swords and sticks or brickbats. For the most part,
they did not know what it was all about. They probably did not care. They were
blindly following their leaders. They unthinkingly helped add to the suffering of
the innocent Christ.
II.
The others disciples were there. (Show Jesus rebuke Peter for cutting a servant right ear)
Although they had nothing directly to do with betraying Jesus, they did
not help Him either. Simon Peter drew his sword to defend his Lord by
force. On behalf of Jesus, Peter cut the right ear of the servant of the high
priest. Jesus rebuked His disciples, healed His enemy. Then Peter and the
other disciples, filled with bewilderment and fear, forsook Him and fled.
Now, let’s for a moment forget who was there and consider what was
there – what was in the hearts and minds of these people, what were their
attitudes and motives. And what we find there is not so very strange to us
today. (Show Jesus arrested)
There was greed and covetousness that betrayed Jesus. We may call it
materialism, that is, an undue regard for money and material things. It is
the spirit that puts things before principles, that put success and the
physical comforts of life before the love of God and His holy will. When
we do this then we also betraying Christ for a price. Can you say that you
have never at any time in your life come to terms with the world at
Christ’s expense? No? Then you were there in the garden.
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What else was there? There was envy and jealousy that betrayed Christ. Brothers and sisters in Christ
Jesus, have you been envious or jealous of anyone in such a way that you begrudged the other person
what he had. Disliked and perhaps even secretly hated that person? If so, then you were there in the
gardens. Whatever hurts one of God’s children hurts Him too. (Show YOU)
At the garden people were blindly following leaders that
helped betray Jesus. Many in the mob were just “following
the crowd.” Have you ever thoughtlessly “following the
crowd” in something that you later felt was an insult and
offense to Christ? If you did this then you were there in the
garden. In some way or other we can see ourselves in the behavior of all those who were with Him in the
garden in the night in which He was betrayed. We cannot feel ourselves with pride as we read the
history of the passion of our Lord. You were there. I was there. If we were there, we too are responsible
for what went on there.
III.
And this brings us to Him who was betrayed in the Garden, Jesus, the Lamb of God that taketh away the
sin of the world. And in Him, too, we see ourselves intimately related to what took place in the garden
and in the judgment hall and on Calvary. (Show Isaiah 53)
We are, then, not only connected with the betrayers but also with Him
who was betrayed. This is what the prophet Isaiah said, “Surely he took up
our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us
peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep,
have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way; and the LORD has
laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isaiah 53:4-6) (Show suffered)
In these words the prophet connects the whole human race with the
suffering of Christ, because Christ is the sinner’s substitute. So we were
“there” in the garden in the person of Christ, our Substitute. A substitute is
one who takes another’s place, does for another what that one is unable to
do. By His perfect obedience to His Father’s will He kept God’s will for
us. And more, with His innocent suffering and death He paid for the sins
of those who made Him suffer. As He in the garden healed the ear of the
servant of the high priest, His enemy, so has He cleansed us from our
transgressions and restored us to life and true children with God our Father. (Show John 14:3)
It is, then, in Him alone that we find the power today to overcome those
sinful attitudes and motives that still trouble the world. How often
covetousness, jealousy, envy and fear still come between us and our God
and between us and our fellow men in home, in business, in politics, and
in school that cause us to betray others instead of showing mercy and love.
Christ has atoned for our sin, He will also help us to overcome our
weaknesses so that we don’t betray other. By Christ mercy our sins against
Him in the Garden have been forgiven us. God for Jesus sake remembers our sin no more. We are His own
forever. We look with eager hope to see Him again in glory and to share His love forever. Remember as Jesus
promises, “…. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (John 14:3) Now
may the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your heart and mind in Christ Jesus. Amen.
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