Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
John 13:26 NIVUK
There is a classic joke about a Catholic bank robber who visits his priest during confession and asks him, ‘Father, would God forgive me if I stole a million dollars?’
‘My child, God’s grace is beyond our imagination. He can forgive even that.’ the priest told him.
‘In that case, forgive me, father, for I have sinned. I robbed a bank of half a million dollars this morning.’ the bank robber confessed.
‘You are forgiven, my child.’ the priest reassured him. ‘But I'm a little confused. You asked if God would forgive you if you’d stolen a million dollars, but you only asked for forgiveness for half that amount.’
The bank robber wasn’t slow in replying. ‘That’s because I'm stealing the rest tomorrow.’
We laugh at the joke, but at the same time we have to acknowledge that there is a lot of humanity in it. We often ask for forgiveness for some sin or other, and then do the same thing all over again, and need more grace.
Then we come to Judas.
This encounter with Jesus seems quite banal to a Western eye. But between these few words are subtle nuances that make this one of the most outstanding acts of sovereign grace outside of the cross itself. It is utterly extraordinary.
To explore this subtle drama we must first understand the context.
One day, when we were walking in Perthshire in Scotland, we came across something my wife was convinced didn’t actually exist. No, it wasn’t a fairy or a leprechaun.
It was a black sheep.
My wife had heard of them, but didn’t think they were real.
Judas was, without a shadow of a doubt, the black sheep of the disciples. Every single Gospel writer introduces him as the betrayer (Matthew 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16; John 12:4). Not one of them had a single good thing about him, other than the fact that he had followed Jesus. We don't even have a record of what happened when Jesus called him. Like Heman in the book of Esther, he is the villain of the story.
Even when Jesus talks about him in His final prayer, He mentions him as lost and doomed to destruction (John 17:12). The Bible is clear and unequivocal: he betrayed Jesus and paid the price.
He was also a thief and embezzler (John 12:6).
Imagine being so utterly warped that you stole from Jesus!
Which makes his presence at this Passover meal all the more incredible. The Passover meal was reserved for your family and your household, or your neighbour at most (Exodus 12:3-4).
It would be a strange thing to celebrate such a significant feast with a stranger.
It would be even stranger to celebrate it with a man who is deliberately making an enemy of you.
But that brings us on to look at Jesus’ actions.
And they are utterly extraordinary.
Jesus is fully aware that Judas will betray Him, yet Jesus washes his feet (John 13:1-5)!
Also, commentators have suggested that the fact that Jesus was able to give him food implies that Judas was sitting close to Jesus, in a privileged position, possibly right next to him and on the opposite side of Him as John.
So you have a betrayer – a man who never understood Jesus’ ministry from the beginning, and is seeking His death – given a privileged job as keeper of the money, given a privileged position as sitting close to Jesus and having his feet washed by Jesus.
Do you see what I mean about extraordinary?
It gets even more extraordinary. As Randolph Tasker comments, ‘When Jesus offers Judas a special morsel from the common dish, such as it was customary for a host to offer to an honoured guest, it is a mark of divine love which ever seeks to overcome evil with good.’
You see, not only did Judas have a privileged position, he is now the recipient of a special gesture from Jesus. This gesture is aimed at somehow reaching out to him and pulling him back from the brink of his tailspin towards betrayal, remorse and suicide.
Utterly extraordinary that Jesus would reach out in this way to someone who was about to cause Him immeasurable pain.
In this we truly see the heart and mind of Christ. Judas would seem – and was – utterly irredeemable, but that did not stop Jesus from reaching out to Him regardless. Why?
The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.
2 Peter 3:9 NIVUK
One day, of course, that patience will expire. But until that day:
All day long I have held out my hands to an obstinate people.
Isaiah 65:2 NIVUK
To quote the hymn writer, ‘Hallelujah! What a Saviour!’
So how did Judas react to this amazing grace?
He sold Jesus out for the price of a female slave.
And Jesus knew he was going to do it. He predicted Judas’ betrayal (John 13:21). He even seems to know what is happening as satan enters into Judas (John 13:27).
In one, highly visual, verse John sums up what had happened in four dreadful words:
And it was night.
John 13:30 NIVUK
You see, the grace of God is inexhaustible, but it is not, by any means, irresistible. Jesus extends the hand of grace to Judas. Judas takes the bread, just as he took the three years of friendship and fellowship and personal investment, just as he took the companionship and teaching, and he still betrayed Jesus nonetheless.
There is a stark, terrifying truth here. The Grace of God saves us from our sin, but it can’t save us from ourselves. If we, by sheer obstinacy, refuse to bend and surrender to the call of the Grace of God, then only we are responsible for the outcome, no-one else.
Judas faced that outcome: in his case, deep remorse (Matthew 27:3) and bloody suicide (Matthew 27:5; Acts 1:18).
Never, ever, ever presume on the Grace of God. It is an awful thing to resist it and bear the consequences.
The Mind of Christ, as demonstrated in these verses and His extraordinary relationship with a man determined to destroy Him, is almost beyond human comprehension. How He could call, and then tolerate, a man who would seek His destruction for three years just shows the full extent of His grace.
How that grace could then be extended one last time to try and save the son of perdition from himself is truly wonderful.
And this is the mind we are to have.
Quite the task, isn’t it?
Questions
1. Why did Jesus call Judas to be His disciple in the first place? How do you think it felt being around someone He knew would betray Him for three years?
2. Jesus’ gesture in the Upper Room is extraordinary. Could you do something like that for someone who was seeking to harm you?
3. How can you show this element of the Mind of Christ in your daily life? Do you have to change your attitude towards anyone?
Comments