Holy Wednesday is sometimes known as Spy Wednesday. Today is the day during Holy Week that we remember Judas Iscariot’s betrayal of Jesus Christ. Spy Wednesday sounds a lot cooler than Betrayer Wednesday. If someone wanted me to participate in Spy Wednesday I’d be all about it but I’d think twice about participating in Betrayer Wednesday.
Here is the account of Judas’s betrayal of Jesus.
Then one of the Twelve – the one called Judas Iscariot – went to the chief priests and asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver. From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over.
Judas gets a bad rap, rightly so, but he still gets a bad rap. Just like no one is ever going to name his or her child Adolf, I don’t think Judas is going top a list of baby names any time soon. Judas obviously felt bad about betraying Jesus because he hanged himself. Though, if I had little child demons chasing me like Judas did in The Passion of the Christ, I’d be freaked out too.
No one wants to be a Judas or a Benedict Arnold. The thought of betraying our friends and loved ones makes us sick. I can’t even imagine betraying my closest friends. Not only was Jesus one of Judas’s closest friends, but he also happened to be the Messiah. We have a hard time comprehending what Judas did and do everything we can to avoid being like him.
Lando Calrissian is the Judas of the Star Wars universe. In The Empire Strikes Back Lando betrays Han, Leia, Chewie, Threepio, Artoo and Luke. He justifies the betrayal by saying he had no choice. Of course he had a choice, though, just like Judas had a choice. Just like we have a choice every time we choose to betray Jesus by giving into our sin.
We don’t like to think of our sin as a betrayal but it really is. Judas turned his back on Jesus to benefit himself. Lando turned his back on his friends to benefit himself. When we sin, we turn our back on Jesus in order to benefit ourselves. Jesus has done so much for us but we’re more than willing to ignore that for sin’s temporary satisfaction.
We don’t want to be a Judas. We know that Jesus is worth more than 30 pieces of silver. Sometimes, though, we forget that Jesus has infinitely more value than the sins we choose over him. Thankfully, like Lando, we get a chance to move beyond our betrayal. Because of the great work that Jesus has done we can go from betrayer to faithful, over and over again.
How could thinking of sin as betraying Jesus impact our lives?
I love it when I see the title for one of your posts, then see the picture, and know exactly where you’re going with it 🙂
i agree