The last time that I had the honour of giving the sermon, I used the example of my Sunday school class that I taught. I taught a senior Sunday school group who were a bunch of teenagers. You know when you're on track there, because you have to have to keep their interest and keep them motivated, and sometimes this is a difficult thing to do. So if I go back to that and I can keep them interested, perhaps I can keep you interested as well. One year I did the disciples. We talked about all of the twelve disciples. We had to know who their names were, what they did, what they said, what they did after the crucifixion. That was a good time. We were able to capture the imagination of who they were really, and what did they do. So I'm going to do a little thing up here this morning, and the kids up here certainly knew my name (referring to the children's story) and they knew their names, I'd like to know who can tell me who the twelve disciples are.

I have a list here so I want to check it off (laughter from congregation) .. not everybody at once now, I think we can get this... no, not all the gospel writers were disciples... we do have Matthew, and we do have John, but there was no Luke... Yes, Peter, we've got (Simon) Peter.. Andrew...we have a couple of James, Judas. We have a couple of Judas's too... Did anyone mention Phillip? Bartholomew? Very good. And who was the doubting one? Thomas, and we have another Simon, not Simon Peter but Simon ... the Zealot. Well this is a trick question, because the gospels aren't consistent about who all of the disciples were. So it comes out that we have actually more than twelve because we have Thaddeus, Judas/Jude of James, and after Judas Iscariot left they had to appoint someone else. Does anyone know who came off the 'bench' to become the twelfth disciple?

It's kind of funny, because after Judas wasn't there, they got together and put nominations up on who was going to be the next disciple. It was pretty important. (Someone guesses it) Oh, Matthias, very good! He beat out Joseph, and there was another Joseph. Do you know how they did that? They didn't vote. They cast lots, they 'flipped a coin.' And given the United Church's position on gambling in church, its kind of funny that (laughter) the last disciple got in by choosing lots.

Well I'll tell you that the reason I did this was because when I was teaching the teenagers, the disciple that caused the most interest, that we spent the most time on, was actually Judas Iscariot. They were really grabbed by Judas, and that whole concept. Of course the question was "Why did he do it?" Why did Judas do what he did? What caused that betrayal? Even today the word Judas is kind of taken to be a traitor, someone who betrays. He was vilified, and if you look around at the birth rolls nobody names their child Judas. They'll name them Adolf, but not Judas. I don't know anyone called Judas, do you know anyone called Judas? I don't think so. The name Judas alone was treated with evil and disdain, despite the fact that Judas was a very popular name at the time; it was the masculine form of Judith. After Christianity came to the fore and started going around the world, even the Jews stopped naming their children Judas. That's pretty impressive.

We want to go back and the teenagers will say, "Well what was he thinking anyways; why did he do this?" What caused that betrayal? The Bible gives us an explanation. John says: "The devil had already put the thoughts of betraying Jesus into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot." [John 13:27] The devil made him do it. That's what the Bible says. I'm reminded of the "Laugh-in" programme with Flip Wilson. He'd play a joke on someone and stand back and say "the devil made me do it." It was kind of facile, like its not my fault... I'm not too blame, the devil made me do it. It’s kind of a getting out of it. I think in this case it is safe to say that there is a lot more going on. It’s a lot more complicated than saying the devil made him do it.

Some say it was greed, for the thirty pieces of silver; that he wanted the money and he went for the cash. He was looking for a second income, so he decided he would betray Jesus. Well you know, I don't think that's it either. One gospel says that they offered him the money and we read this morning that they promised it to him or they offered it to him. He certainly didn't go to the scribes and Pharisees because he was looking for the cash; he went to betray Jesus and the cash was there. It’s a puzzle. And the puzzle is this: did Jesus make a mistake? He was a pretty shrewd judge of character. I mean he could look through people and know what was in their heart. Wouldn't he have done that with Judas? Wouldn't he have known? If he knew, why didn't he do something about it? Jesus called him to be a disciple. He with him, he travelled, they were in poverty, they were around, they were abused, and Judas was too, and he was supposed to be Jesus' friend. And if Jesus knew what was in his heart, why didn't he do something? He cured the sick, he raised the dead, and surely he would know what was there. Why didn't Jesus help his friend? Why didn't he stop him from hanging himself?

But he didn't. Jesus knew of that betrayal. In fact he told his disciples as you recall at the Last Supper. He knew that betrayal was going on. He said that "One of you will betray me." They were all saying, Is it I? What am I going to do? And he said that "Some of you will deny me." "No, not me Jesus, I won't do that." In at least one of the gospels, John says that Jesus whispered to Judas and said, "Hurry, do what you must do." To Judas, that must have seemed like he was getting some kind of support - that Jesus knew about the plot and said, "Do what you have to do, go." Yet he didn't do anything. Jesus could have easily stopped this by not going to the Garden. This is what the purpose of the plot was: that they needed somebody to point out Jesus in the Garden, and he could have stopped the whole thing by not going to the Garden. But he did; he went.

I think the best thing to do to understand this is to understand the times that they were in. These were troubled times, very troubled times. I don't know how many of you have seen the rock opera and film by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice called Jesus Christ Superstar. It not only has great music, but the focus of the whole opera (and film) is the interplay between Jesus and Judas. It goes back and forth, back and forth and it brings out a lot of the issues. One of the ways I used to teach my students in Sunday school was to show them this rock opera. They were learning without even thinking about it. It was a time of war and rebellion and there were constant problems locally. In fact, 40 years after Jesus' crucifixion, the Romans had had enough of the Jews. They had just had enough. It culminated in the battle of Masada. The Romans came in, destroyed the nation, tore down the temple, they banished all the Jews from the Holy land, and the Jews didn't reclaim that part of the world until 1948, after World War 2. For almost two thousand years the Jews didn't return to the Holy Land as the nation of their own. So the Romans must have really been ticked to do that. Jesus was living at this time. It was a terrible time to live in.

Jesus was sometimes regarded as a leader; as a messiah. A lot of people, and perhaps Simon the Zealot, thought that Jesus would lead the people against the Romans and overthrow them. Of course some of the Pharisees and Sadduccees thought the same thing. You know: here is a leader, and you know what's going to happen if we don't shut him up; the Romans are going to come and crack down on us again. The religious leaders had an arrangement with the Romans that if they kept things calm they would leave them alone and Herod would still be King. The Jews had the Temple as long as they did what they were supposed to do, and the Romans left them alone. All this unrest... Of course they became concerned when Jesus had all these followers, and he was talking against them (the religious leaders). Oh, watch out!

In Jesus Christ Superstar, Judas is portrayed as Jesus' true friend, as a follower. He worked with him but he saw this growing unrest as well. He was afraid for Jesus, Jesus seemed a little bit naive - he would go out there and take on the Pharisees and he would flaunt all the rules. He used to hang around with prostitutes and tax collectors. This was not a good image for a movement. Judas was afraid for what they had accomplished. They were a growing group, they had lots of followers, people were turning to them. It was a good thing, but Judas was afraid. He felt that perhaps Jesus was going too fast. In fact in Jesus Christ Superstar Judas, right at the beginning, has these great lines. He says, "Listen Jesus, I don't like what I see, all I ask is that you listen to me. And remember, I've been your right hand man all along. Listen Jesus, do you care for your race? Don't you see that we must keep in our place? We are occupied. Have you forgotten how put down we are? I am frightened by the crowd. For me, we are getting much too loud and they'll crush us if we go too far. And they'll crush us if we go too far." So it is this spirit in his heart to keep Jesus safe and keep the movement going Judas went off to see Caiphas and Annas. They ran the temple police. This police had a local constabulary. Judas knew that they didn't have the real power. The Jews didn't have the right to inflict punishment and certainly not the right for capital punishment. He thought well, if I go to see the priests here, maybe what they'll do is they'll throw him in chains for a few days, throw him in jail, calm him down and at least the Romans will see what we're dealing with here. He thought he was perhaps doing Jesus a favour. Perhaps he said to himself, "If you can't save yourself, then I'll help." But of course, it all goes wrong.

As Judas said, it all goes wrong and the plan is destroyed. Jesus doesn't defend himself; in fact he kind of helps Judas along. He says, "Hurry, go do what you must." He's taken into custody, the temple police don't have much power, but they persuade the Romans. The priests get the rabble going and Jesus is facing death. The plan all goes wrong and Judas is distraught. He is beside himself and feels terrible. What does he do? He goes back to the priests and he begs for Jesus' life. He said, "This is an innocent man." We heard this morning, ‘I have sinned by betraying an innocent man.’ Did the other disciples go? Did any of the other disciples go to priests or the Romans and say, "You've go the wrong guy here. I can vouch for him. I'm his friend, I know what happened." They even denied him, they ran away. When the temple police came to the garden, they ran away, they disappeared. Nobody, not even Peter went to save his friend, but Judas did. Judas went back and begged for Jesus' life and said "Forgive me." He sought forgiveness. But in the end he couldn't take it. He was truly repentant but he hanged himself. In the film, Judas ends his life with these words: "God, I am sick. I've been used. As you know all along God, I'll never know why you chose me for your crime." At least in the film, Judas believed that he had been used. He had been betrayed, he was the one who was set up because Jesus knew, he said. "Hurry, do what you must." He could have not gone to the garden. He had these powers and could have stopped it. I'm his friend and he knew all along. He set me up.

This is what's in the film. He goes to his death believing that he was being used. Yet I don't think that that's the whole case either. What was Judas' fatal flaw? What made him the key instrument of the whole play? Well, it is something small, and it is something we do all the time. We often believe that we know better. We don't listen for and we don't hear the Word of God. It is often our own voice we listen to, not God's voice. You see, Judas lacked faith. He believed in Jesus as a man, but he didn't really believe that Jesus was the Son of God. There's that refrain that goes through the whole film. It appears all the time and it is, "Jesus Christ, Superstar are you really who you say you are?" Are you really the son of God? Judas loved Christ and followed him like a brother, and he tried to help, but he couldn't in the end accept Jesus as God. In the end he sings, "He's just a man, he's just a man."

Judas thinks he knows better and he tries to save Jesus from himself and the times, and this is what puts Judas in the role of traitor and betrayer.

There's a lesson here for us - and despite the vilification of Judas as probably the most evil person there ever was, he's not so very far from us. He tried to do his best, but he failed to believe. Let us pray that we are never put into a situation that will test our faith in such an earth-shattering moment as that one faced by Judas. Let us pray to God that we never have to face a decision like Judas. Let us thank God for the example of Judas that we may learn to look at our own selves; and to listen for and to listen to the Word of God. Praise be to God.

Prayer -

Dear Lord,
You receive us in grace, even in our failure. You welcome us in forgiveness even in our hardest of hearts. You lead us to hope even in our despair, we confess that we have often dwelt on our failures and despair. Open our hearts so that we may see the grace and the hope which You shine as a light before us. Amen.