First Presbyterian Church, Good Friday, March 25^th 2005

 

Trauma of Betrayal

 

Isaiah 53:1-9

John 18:1-11

 

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm,

The instruments of darkness tell us truths,

Win us with honest trifles, to betray’s

In deepest consequence.         William Shakespeare. 1564-1616 from Macbeth I, iii, 123

 

I once told a minister friend of mine, Dr. Jim Evans that I thought Shakespeare was Biblical in how he communicated great truth. I was surprised and grateful that he thought that same thing.

 

In this short verse from Macbeth Shakespeare says that to harm us, evil will use simple truths in order to falsely connect with us, to win us over, so that we can then be betrayed in the deepest of ways. This message could even be called, “Simple Truths; Deep Betrayals.”

 

Have any of us or any one we know not experienced betrayal? Do we experience more betrayal in our lives then we do, sincere love?

 

As Shakespeare pointed out, “we have to be hooked” in order to be betrayed. We have to think that we can trust someone, or we have to think that a person is good and trustworthy and cares for us in order to lay the foundation for a betrayal to happen. Anyone can assault anyone else, but there has to be a trusting connection for the reality of a betrayal to happen, as Shakespeare said, of the “deepest consequence.”

 

Judas was connected to Jesus in a trusting way. He was part of his inner circle; one the twelve members of his most private supportive group. Judas was even the treasurer and we all know that you don’t choose a treasurer unless you really trust that person. Judas would be privy to everything that went on, every plan that was made, and every appointment that was made, and would know everyone as to who they are and what significance they had to the operation’s activity.

 

Judas was the perfect person to betray Jesus.

 

He had a character flaw concerning money and Jesus’ enemies would be able to exploit that flaw. Judas was a man who could be bought for a price. For thirty pieces of silver he would betray the Son of Man.

 

Jesus and his disciples went across the Kidron Valley and they met in a garden. Judas knew where that secret garden was and how to find it. He knew they would all be there. The text tells us, “Now Judas… also knew the place, because Jesus often met there with his disciples.”

 

Some texts tell us that Judas betrayed Jesus with a kiss; an intimate sign of greeting. I don’t think that there are any cultures where you walk up and kiss a stranger; a kiss shows intimate connection.

 

In the Gospel of John, when Judas led “a detachment of soldiers together with the police  from the chief priests and the Pharisees and they came there with lanterns and torches and weapons,” we read, “Then Jesus knowing all that was to happen to him came forward and asked them, ‘Whom are you looking for?’”

 

When they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” He simply said, “I am he.”

 

Our betrayals are usually shockingly unexpected. Sometimes we know when we are being betrayed, and in this case, Jesus did know he was going to be betrayed.

 

This betrayal by Judas, leading his enemies, in great number, armed with force was the pivotal lynch pin for Jesus’ crucifixion, his murder, his brutal public execution.

 

This betrayal must have been painful.

 

This betrayal was traumatic, life defining, and meant to be “life ending.”

 

We know that this is not the end of the story and we will hear more about that on Sunday, but the betrayal of Jesus by Judas and also by both the political and religious establishment of the day has profound significance for us here today. The abandonment and powerlessness of his friends and colleagues also has something to say to us.

 

We know that betrayal is traumatic and life defining. The grief of betrayal is painful, upsetting and will always change our lives and set us on a new course.

 

What we need to know is that when this kind of trauma hurts us, is that our Jesus is in solidarity with our experience, with our shock, our pain, and with our grief.

 

Jesus, the son of God, the Saviour, our friend, knows what it is to be betrayed because he himself was not exempt from the very thing we fear and what tears us apart when it happens to us.

 

When we are in great pain from the trauma of betrayal, it is usually impossible for us to push it aside and remember that God’s principle in Creation is resurrection.

 

 

When we are thrust into our dark nights of the soul, there is no light; no light that we can see.

 

But just maybe… we can remember Jesus in the Garden, meeting privately with his most trusted friends, thinking he was safe and secure, with his guard down, with his defenses in sleep mode, that when the police and soldiers came for him, he was you and you were him.

 

Most of all, Jesus was with us, in our humanity, our vulnerability, our fears, our pain and our grief.

 

This reason we have smaller crowds on Good Friday than on Easter Sunday is because people generally don’t want to face grief. We just don’t want to deal with it. We want to avoid it. We want to deny it. We want someone else to take care of it. We want to deal with it later at a time in never-never land.

 

But the betrayal of our friend Jesus and the fact that he was not exempt from feeling what we feel tells us that our wounds are precious to God and that healing and resurrection are there for us to experience because God in Christ indeed knows how it feels. “He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity;” as Isaiah would prophecy.

 

Back in the Garden when Peter pulled out his sword to protect Jesus, “Jesus said to Peter, ‘Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the father has given me?’”

 

The most profound question is, “What was that cup?” What was the cup that the Father gave the son to drink?

 

The cup that the Father gave Jesus to drink was our cup; the cup of the suffering, the pain, the grief, the sin, and the trauma of humanity.

 

“The Word became flesh and dwelt among us.”

 

The “good” thing about this Friday is that the God of love came to us, as us, in Jesus.

 

To know that God came to us as we are, in Jesus Christ is the biggest gift we could ever receive.

 

I invite you to know and accept that Gift from God in your heart today, because if you do you will receive another gift.

 

If you can receive that gift, you will then know that you are the beloved of God.

 

AMEN                Rev. Alan Stewart