When there seems no way out. A talk for Good Friday 2023

(This sermon is based on an idea in an online sermon, 'A Tale of Two Trees' by Robert Gelinas in Preaching Today)

Today we remember the day when not just one, but two people hung on a tree

The first is Jesus, and we will come to him in a moment

The second was Judas, who – possibly on Good Friday, maybe on the Saturday - hung himself.

The audio of the sermon can be found here.

Judas had betrayed Jesus

It could have been that he had been disappointed with Jesus
Politically disappointed: he may have thought that Jesus was going to lead the revolution against the Roman authorities, and nothing happened.

Or it could be that he felt let down by Jesus.
We are told that a woman, possibly Mary the sister of Lazarus, pours an eye-wateringly expensive perfume on Jesus’ feet

Matthew tells us that the disciples were angry when they saw it: ‘why didn’t they sell the perfume and give the money to the poor, rather than waste it’. And Matthew tells us that it is immediately after that, that Judas goes to betray Jesus.
Perhaps Judas thought that Jesus was overstepping the mark.

But John tells us a little bit more.
He tells us that Judas’ action was not just motivated by a strong sense of social justice, but rather that Judas was a thief: he was the treasurer, and he liked to put his hand into the till.
No doubt, he would have liked to have got his hands on the sale of that perfume.
No doubt, most of the proceeds of the sale would have been given to the poor, but some of them might have found their way into Judas’ pocket.  

Or maybe he was feeling excluded by the other disciples.
Maybe those rumours about him and money were spreading, and he knew that he wasn’t completely trusted.
I suspect that that may well have been the case – and Jesus went out of his way to include Judas. It was Judas who Jesus honours at the last supper.

Or it may just have been the attraction of the money.
30 pieces of silver – a significant sum. He was blinded by the money

Whatever, Judas betrays Jesus. On that Maundy Thursday night he leads the soldiers to the Garden of Gethsemane, a quiet place, where Jesus will be away from the crowds and he can be arrested without any trouble. Of course, in the darkness, it would have been hard to know which one was Jesus – he didn’t have a constant halo – and so Judas goes up to Jesus and identifies him to the soldiers by greeting him with the traditional kiss

He betrays him with a kiss.  

But when Judas sees Jesus condemned to death, he suddenly realises what he has done.

I suspect that he hadn’t really thought through what he was doing.

He simply wanted revenge. Revenge on Jesus because Jesus had let him down, maybe. Revenge on the disciples. He thought, ‘I’ll show them that I matter, that I can’t be ignored.’

But as Jesus is condemned to death – he suddenly realises with utter horror – what it is that he has done. Matthew tells us that he goes back to the authorities; he tells them that he has betrayed an innocent man; he asks them to take back the money – but they refuse. They say that has got nothing to do with them.

And so, we are told – and the stories are slightly different in Matthew and Luke/Acts - Judas left the money there, or he bought a field with the money, and Matthew tells us that he hung himself, whilst Luke doesn’t mention the hanging, but does say that his body bursts open in the field. Both of which are possible.

Why did Judas decide to hang himself?

He must have thought, ‘How can I live with myself after what I have done?’
How can I face the other disciples – when I have so obviously betrayed Jesus?
He lived in a shame culture, where reputation was everything. 

He saw no other way out. He had lost all hope.

And so he decided to try and take control of his sense of total desolation, of utter brokenness and deal with it himself. And the only way that he could even begin to think of taking control, was to kill himself, to hang himself on a tree.

IF ONLY JUDAS HAD WAITED THREE DAYS.

Jesus also hung on a tree.

In one sense, Jesus also took his own life.
When he went to Jerusalem that last time, it really was a suicide mission.
He knew he would be betrayed, arrested, falsely accused, sentenced to death and then crucified.

But there was a huge difference.

Jesus did not go to the cross as a way out.
He went to the cross to give a way out to people for whom there is no other way out.

He took into himself all the awfulness that is in us, all the terrible things we have done.
He took into himself our betrayals: our little betrayals, when we have gone back on our word to someone; and our big betrayals, when that has led to terrible consequences.

The problem of betrayal is that it destroys trust.

And without trust we are lost. Societies disintegrate, institutions crumble and families break apart.

That is why treason, betrayal of your country, usually is one of the most serious crimes that a person can commit.
It is why 'infidelity', unfaithfulness is the greatest destroyer of relationships. It is not only the physical act. It is also the fact that you cannot trust the word of the other person
And it is why betrayal by someone you thought of as a friend is so destructive.

But Jesus, who was betrayed – notice how we say in our communion prayer, ‘who on the same night that he was betrayed, took bread and broke it and gave it …’, took into himself the consequence of our betrayal.

He was completely obedient, absolutely faithful to his Father and the word of God.
And yet he died for us who are faithless to our words, who deny him, and who betray him in our words and actions.

That is why we can trust him

And because Jesus went to the cross not as a way out, but in order to give people a way out – there is forgiveness and there is hope.

Peter denied Jesus. In many ways what he did was no worse than what Judas did.
His denial was also a betrayal:

It was a betrayal of his word, a word that he had given in front of all the other disciples  – ‘I will never let you down’. He had let himself down. He had shamed himself in front of all the disciples. ‘Who would have known’, he could have imagined them saying, ‘that big brash Peter turned chicken’.
It was a betrayal of the other disciples.
And it was a betrayal of his friendship with Jesus.

And when Peter realised what he had done, when the cock crowed, he went out and he wept bitterly.

Perhaps Peter may have been tempted to take things into his own hands, to take the ultimate way out. We don’t know.

But we do know that he did wait for three days

And when he meets Jesus, there is no reproach from Jesus, no rebuke.
He simply asks Peter 3 times, ‘Do you love me – do you love me enough to trust your life to me; to take my way out, and not your way out – even though the end will be the same for you. You will die hanging on a tree’.
He is saying to Peter, ‘I know’. And he is saying, ‘You thought there was no way out, but I have given you a way out’.

My dear brothers and sisters, maybe you can see no way out.

It might be something that you have said or done that has caused incredible pain and suffering for others. It might be that you have abused someone. It might be that you have denied someone, betrayed someone by your word – and in front of others. It might be that all that you can see for yourself is shame.
Or it may be the actions of others leave you with the sense that there is no way out.

Perhaps, like Judas, you cannot bring yourself to trust Jesus.
You feel that you have to atone somehow for the hurt you have caused, or to find a way out of the pain that you feel.
And you decide to take things into your own hands

But there is a way out.

And yes, sometimes we need to wait – for three days, maybe for longer – but we wait in hope: because we know that if we are prepared to trust him, because he hung on a tree, he does give us a way out – a way to face our own pain, and live. A way to face the pain we have caused others, and live. A way to confront our own faithlessness, our own betrayals and denials – to receive God’s mercy and to live.