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+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
So far in our hearing of St.Matthew’s Divinely-inspired account of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, the one-time apostle Judas has figured prominently in connection with the first three of St. Matthew’s seven unique contributions to the whole narrative of our Lord’s Passion for us. The first unique contribution was Jesus’s pretty-directly telling Judas that Judas would betray Him (Matthew 26:25); the second unique contribution was Jesus’s essentially saying, at that betrayal by Judas (Matthew 26:47), that neither swords nor angels would prevent Scripture’s fulfillment (Matthew 26:52b-54); and in the third unique contribution, which we consider tonight, “The priests commit malpractice, and Judas commits suicide”.
To some extent along with the other Gospel accounts, St. Matthew’s account has previously told us that Judas had gone to the chief priests and asked what they would give him to deliver Jesus over to them, that the chief priests had paid Judas thirty pieces of silver, that from that moment Judas sought an opportunity to betray Jesus (Matthew 26:14-16; confer Mark 14:10-11; Luke 22:3-6); and that, on the night when Jesus was betrayed, Jesus had exclaimed a “woe”, a warning of a sort, to the one who would betray him, that it would have been better for that man if he had not been born (Matthew 26:24; confer Mark 14:21; Luke 22:22). Later that same night, as St. Matthew uniquely narrates, Judas’s return to the chief priests and elders, how they neglected their responsibility, and how Judas in some sense took care of his responsibility.
As we heard moments ago, Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, or at least realized that Jesus was as good as condemned, what the Jewish leaders intended to do to Jesus; we do not know what Judas previously thought would happen, though some speculate that Judas may have thought that, as He had to some extent before, Jesus would make use of His Divine power to escape (Kretzmann, ad loc Matthew 27:3-5, p.153). When Judas saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind, or maybe we should say he “felt remorse”; the Greek text does not use its usual word for “repentance” but a word usually thought to refer to an emotional regret of choice (ESL #5862). Judas brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, perhaps he thought that by returning what he was paid he could undo the betrayal or somehow make restitution for what he had done. Judas confessed that he had sinned by betraying innocent blood, arguably seeking absolution from the chief priests and elders (TLSB, ad loc Matthew 27:4, p.1644; compare Kretzmann, ad loc Matthew 27:3-5, pp.153-154), such as that absolution that David received from Nathan after David confessed his sin (2 Samuel 12:13), though, of course, Judas would have been better off confessing to and seeking absolution from Jesus. The chief priests and elders asked Judas what his sin was to them, and, instead of pointing him to God’s mercy and grace or even suggesting a sacrifice, they told Judas to see to it himself. So, Judas threw down the pieces of silver, the Greek text suggests into the temple building itself, and Judas departed, and he went and hanged himself, perhaps thinking of King David’s advisor Ahithophel, who took his own life after committing high treason by counseling Absalom in his rebellion against his father (2 Samuel 17:23), or perhaps Judas recognized that, since he took a bribe to shed innocent blood, he was cursed (Deuteronomy 27:25) and deserved to die (Leviticus 24:21) and to die an accursed death at that (Deuteronomy 21:23). Unmoved by Judas’s confession yet by calling the silver “blood money”, the chief priests arguably admitted their wrong (confer Deuteronomy 23:18), and they used the money to buy a burial place for strangers (confer Acts 1:18-19), fulfilling “prophecy” spoken by both the minor prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 11:12-13) and the major prophet Jeremiah (see Jeremiah 18:2-3; 19:11; 32:6-11).
Hearing St. Matthew’s unique report of the priests’ committing malpractice and Judas’s committing suicide, we should think also of ourselves: our betrayals of Jesus, our regret over sin that falls short of repentance, our attempts to undo our sin and maybe redeem ourselves, our failures to confess our sin and to seek absolution in the right place, our despair of God’s mercy and grace in the face of our sin, our despair in the face of other things that threaten us (such as the coronavirus), and our sinful nature and all of our other sin. God calls and thereby enables us not only to have sorrow over our sin, such as that sorrow that both King Saul (1 Samuel 31:4-6) and Judas had that led to their despair and suicides, but also to combine that sorrow with trust that God forgives that sin, such as the trust that both King David (2 Samuel 12:13) and Peter had (Matthew 26:75; confer 2 Corinthians 7:10; Apology of the Augsburg Confession XII:36; Smalcald Articles III:iii:7; TLSB, ad loc Matthew 27:5, p.1644). When we so repent, then God forgives our sinful nature and all of our sin, whatever it may be, for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
The God-man Jesus Christ was betrayed for the purpose of suffering and dying for our sins. In keeping with those prophecies of Zechariah and Jeremiah, the One Whom the Lord appointed to be Shepherd was rejected by them and given the price of a slave (Roehrs-Franzmann, ad loc Matthew 27:9, p.40, with reference to Exodus 21:32). In a different way than Judas, Jesus was hung on a different tree, bearing the curse of our sin and dying the death that we deserved, so that we might be redeemed through faith in His so paying the price for our redemption (Galatians 3:13-14). Ultimately not Judas but Jesus shed His own blood, poured for us the life-blood from His sacred veins, in which blood we find grace and life eternal (Lutheran Service Book 433:1,2). Jesus’s blood our guilt releases; His death is the perfect sacrifice that has paid the all sufficient price (LSB 568:3, 4). No sacrifice that Judas himself could have made, but Christ the heav’nly Lamb takes all our sins away (LSB 431:2).
Unlike the priests’ malpractice that arguably played a role in Judas’s despair and suicide, we are blessed with hope and life as we faithfully receive the pure preaching of God’s Gospel and the right administration of all of His Sacraments—Holy Baptism, individual Holy Absolution, and the Sacrament of the Altar, in which we receive bread that is the Body of Christ given for us and wine that is the Blood of Christ shed for us, for the forgiveness of our sins, life, and salvation. Judas betrayed Jesus’s innocent blood and, without faith was damned. Not every suicide so damns, but nearly every Sunday we still pray that we and all the baptized might not succumb to temptation to despair, as Judas did. And we know, as the Divinely‑inspired author of Hebrews says, that similar punishment is deserved by those who profane the blood of the covenant by which we are sanctified (Hebrews 10:29; confer Roehrs-Franzmann, ad loc Matthew 27:1-31, p.40). With daily repentance we live in the forgiveness of sins that we receive from God, and we share God’s and our own forgiveness with those He places in our lives, our brothers and sisters in Christ and all others.
As we tonight continued hearing St.Matthew’s Divinely-inspired account of the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, we heard the third of St. Matthew’s seven unique contributions to our Lord’s Passion for us: “The priests commit malpractice, and Judas commits suicide”. However, as we noted, we are blessed with faithful ministry and do not despair but believe and so are forgiven and have the sure and certain hope of everlasting life. Thanks be to God, through Jesus Christ our Lord!
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +