{"id":227,"date":"2019-04-07T21:22:12","date_gmt":"2019-04-07T21:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/?p=227"},"modified":"2019-04-08T14:24:47","modified_gmt":"2019-04-08T14:24:47","slug":"fifth-sunday-in-lent","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/2019\/04\/07\/fifth-sunday-in-lent\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifth Sunday in Lent"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

John\n12:1-8<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grace to you and peace\nfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Judas,\nis portrayed, by the author of John, both as a thief and the betrayer of Jesus.\nNo one who is living today knows the truth or falsity of whether Judas was a\nthief. Maybe the writer of John did know, but the other Gospels never call\nJudas a thief. And at least one of the Gospels identifies another disciple as\nthe one who handled the groups purse. I wonder sometimes if the author of John\ndidn\u2019t do, as is the current practice in today\u2019s legal system. An arrested murder\nsuspect, for example, will likely be charged with 1st<\/sup> degree murder,\nmaybe 2nd degree murder, also attempted murder, maybe assault, and any number\nof lesser crimes associated with the circumstances of the murder. The idea is\nthat the suspect is a bad guy and so, if per chance he beats the one charge,\nthey want to make sure he is convicted of something. Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas\ncould not have done that and be considered to be a good guy. So, the author of\nJohn also portrayed Judas as a thief. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\ndoubt this charge was necessary, you would think being identified as Jesus\u2019\nbetrayer would be enough. But then again, there are those who would explain\nJudas\u2019 betrayal as something that was needed to fulfill God\u2019s plan, and so maybe\nthen, being a part of God\u2019s plan, a good thing, and especially because it led\nto our forgiveness and salvation. Even if God called Judas to betray Jesus for\nGod\u2019s own purpose, I\u2019m not sure that I would want to let Judas off the hook for\nthis betrayal. And maybe we shouldn\u2019t. But we also make a mistake if we hold\nJudas solely responsible for Jesus\u2019 suffering and death. That Judas was\ndescribed as complaining about Mary\u2019s act of compassion for Jesus, and John\u2019s\nstatement that Judas was a thief, have unfortunately led many to feel that\nJudas was solely<\/strong> responsible. Without\na doubt Judas played a pivotal role in Jesus\u2019 arrest, but, so did the Temple authorities\nand the Roman governor and soldiers, and here is the nasty little secret that\nwe all try to cover up, we are each of us responsible for the suffering and\ndeath of Jesus. Our betrayal of Jesus, through our sin, is what makes us responsible.\nYes! Our sin! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consider\nthe following. Remember that one time, when you were a kid, when you didn\u2019t pay\nfor that piece of candy you stuffed into your pocket as you left that store. Remember\nthat time when you lied about where you were and what you were doing to your\nparents. Remember how you shared that gossip with a friend or a neighbor. Remember\nwhen you were asked for help and you made up an excuse so that you wouldn\u2019t\nhave to help. Remember when you accidently (on purpose) tripped that person\nthat you were angry with, or laughed at that person when he\/she fell and got (a\nlittle) hurt. You say that you haven\u2019t done any of these things, okay, what sins\nhave you committed? Remember, if you as much as thought about committing a sin,\nyou are guilty of the sin. We are, all of us, sinners, admit it or not, and so\nwe are, all of us, responsible, with Judas, for Jesus\u2019 suffering and death. Judas\nmay have been the one who led the soldiers to where Jesus was praying, betrayed\nJesus with a kiss and then took the thirty pieces of silver in payment, but,\nyou and I, are as responsible for the scourging Jesus suffered, for the nails hammered\nthrough Jesus hands and feet, for the crucifixion as was Judas, as were the\nRoman soldiers and the Temple authorities. Not a pleasant thought, is it? We cannot\nand should not make Judas into a scapegoat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So,\nwhat is it that we can do about it? I would like to say that confession and\nrepentance, which might include some acts of contrition, would settle the\nscore. But there is nothing that we can do to make up for our sin and for the\nsuffering that we caused Jesus. Nothing! That is the hard truth about sin, our\nsin! Are you feeling bad? Well you should! But that is not the end of it. While\nGod\u2019s plan did not include a calling for us to sin, or, for that matter, for the\npeople all the way back to Adam to sin, including Judas and the other disciples.\nIt seems that Judas\u2019 act of betrayal of Jesus did fit into God\u2019s plan, but that\ndoes not make it right.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(Well)\nThis is the good news, God\u2019s plan was for Jesus\u2019 suffering and death, to provide\nfor us, bless us with the gift of faith, forgiveness and salvation. That is\nsome gift! That\u2019s the good news! We don\u2019t deserve it, but then again gifts are\nnot earned and they are not necessarily deserved. Whatever Judas\u2019 motivation,\nwhether he felt a call from God or was just a bad guy, the point is that Judas\u2019\nsin, just like ours, made it necessary for Jesus to die. Mary, the sister of\nLazarus and Martha, was doing a good thing by anointing Jesus feet, but she was\nas guilty of sin as you and I. More important she along with all of us are the beneficiaries\nof Jesus\u2019 sacrifice and God\u2019s gifts. We are blessed and it is all Jesus\u2019 doing;\nit is all because God loves us more than we deserve. For this we say \u201cThank you\nJesus, Thank you God!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John 12:1-8 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Judas, is portrayed, by the author of John, both as a thief and the betrayer of Jesus. No one who is living today knows the truth or falsity of whether Judas was a thief. Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}