The whole foot washing was meant to address this issue as well. Table seating was a symbol of who was who in the group. John, who only refers to himself as the disciple whom Jesus loved does not even mention his own name, even though he is seated at one of the positions of honor. Peter apparently sat in the very least position, the position of the one who was to have washed the feet of the others. Peter did what Jesus commanded in Luke, to seek out the least place at the table. If the host wished to promote him he would say “Friend, come up higher.” Judas sat at the other seat of honor, to whom Jesus would say, “Friend, are you betraying me with a kiss?” Simon, despite his upcoming and dismal failure would be restored and promoted to a higher place. Judas would descend in shame to the lowest. In his betrayal, Judas is like Lucifer who held a place of high authority in heaven. Yet this position of honor was not good enough. He betrayed God and started a rebellion. As punishment, Lucifer would be cast down from his position to earth. He tempted Adam and Eve in the garden and brought misery and ruin to the human race. Judas took the bitter pill handed him from Jesus, his treachery known only to Jesus, John, and himself. It says that Satan himself entered Judas. It was not an ordinary devil, it was Satan himself. None of the others knew what Jesus meant when he dismissed Judas and beckoning him to make haste. They just thought that Jesus sent the treasurer out to buy more food. They were still in the dark of unbelief. But they would come to the light soon. But of Judas it is said that he went out, and it was night. The word “was” here is an imperfect verb in Greek which can be used as it is of the Word in John 1:1 to denote a continuous state. In this sense, John is telling us of the eternal night that Judas had condemned himself to. Certainly it can also be used as a statement of fact, that it was nighttime in Jerusalem. This is certainly the fact as the meal would have started at sunset, and now it was later. But the way John uses double meanings, something more than just a statement of fact is indicated. Judas was eternally lost and would be called by Peter in Acts 1, the “son of perdition”. His name would forever be one of infamy. He had refused all of the opportunities Jesus had presented to him to repent. Homily We can now see that the teaching of Scripture is entirely opposed to the modern attempt to justify what Judas did. The Scripture clearly shows that Judas willfully betrayed Jesus, even after Jesus’ attempts to get Judas to repent of his action. The remorse that Judas had afterward in throwing the money back at the priests and going out and hanging himself does not change the fact that Peter calls him the “son of perdition” in Acts, and follows with that Judas went to his own place. This means that Judas is in hell. Any other portrayal of Judas is in complete denial of the Scripture. The opponents would claim that the vengeful disciples deliberately colored their accounts to castigate the memory of Judas as a traitor. These same opponents would try to take later accounts of Jesus and Judah, such as the Gospel of Judas, as being the accurate reflection of the events as though they were unbiased accounts. The modern critic assumes that the Scripture is wrong and biased, and that any other writing referring to Jesus but refused by the church to be accurate. Does this mean that the modern critic is an unbiased seeker of the truth? Are they rather not trying for whatever reason to destroy Christianity and its message. As we can see from the text this morning, to deny the message of Scripture is to reject the Lord Jesus as well as to reject the one who sent Jesus. In other words, it is to put one’s self in the place of Judas. The warnings which Jesus gave to Judas are the warnings that Christ’s disciples must bring to the skeptics today. They must be told that they know the truth because God has already told them. This is what Romans 1 says. They must be told that they willingly repress this truth. They must be told that they must repent of this and believe on Jesus or be eternally lost.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Aug 2013 21:34:03 +0000
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