What a Night: A Night of Betrayal

Matthew 26:20-24

The Judas account may be the saddest account in all of the Bible. Maybe only Adam and Eve grabbing the fruit from the tree is worse. Think of what Judas saw. With his own eyes, Judas saw Jesus, feed the 5,000, feed the 4,000. With his own eyes, Judas saw Jesus, steal the storm on the Sea of Galilee. With his own eyes, Judas saw Jesus, raise Lazarus from the dead. With his own ears, he heard Jesus teach all these wonderful things. Sermon on the Mount, the parable of the lost Son. He saw, he heard. And what did he do? He sold. He sold the Savior for 30 pieces of silver. He was warned. He hardened. And Judas went to hell. The book of Acts talks about that, that he went to his own place. That’s not heaven. My brothers and sisters, you and I have not seen Jesus do any of that stuff with our physical eyes. Nor have we ever heard Jesus speak with our physical ears the way Judas did. If Judas could betray the Savior, might I suggest that the danger is even more present for you and me? You know a lot of times we mock the disciples, make fun of them. How could they not understand it? This is one of those times when every, where the disciples, we got to give them kudos. One of you will betray me. And one after the other, the disciples were saying what? Surely not I, Lord. Because they all seem to recognize that they had the ability to do it. And so do I. And so do you. In fact, in a sense, we could say any time we sin, we’re really betraying Jesus, aren’t we? Whenever we’re impatient, whenever we’re unkind, whenever we fail to make God our first priority, whenever we fail to listen to God and put his word into action, add your own thought, whatever it is. You and I are betraying Jesus too. Oh, what a night. Oh, what a sad, sad night on which God was betrayed by a human. Amen.