Richard Davenport
June 1, 2025 – Seventh Sunday of Easter
Acts 1:12-26
There are a lot of people in the Bible that we study and learn from because of the messages they give or examples they give us to emulate. Jesus, of course, the prophets throughout the Old Testament, the righteous kings, the humble and dedicated women, the stalwart apostles, all of them say and do things worthy of reflection.
Judas Iscariot gets a lot of that kind of attention too, but for very different reasons. Judas’ tale is a sad one, but it isn’t the same kind of sadness as Job’s. No, Judas comes to a rather unfortunate end and it is one that’s entirely self-inflicted. By and large, God doesn’t publicize the eternal destination of the people in our lives. He reserves the right to judge that for himself. We don’t know precisely what’s in another person’s heart and so we don’t truly know where the people in our lives will end up. All we have is God’s promise and we know it applies to everyone.
Still, there are a few whose ends we know. Enoch and Elijah are taken up bodily to be with God. Moses and Elijah are talking to Jesus during his transfiguration. There are a number of others that are at least strongly implied. The same is true on the other side. Judas is one of those few we don’t really have to guess at. Jesus makes his fate pretty clear even before he actually goes through with his betrayal. In Dante’s fictional depiction of hell, Judas finds himself at the very center. Truly the worst of the worst.
I wonder about that though. Obviously, Judas had a unique place in the story of salvation. God doesn’t force anyone to do evil. But God does know what’s in his heart and plans accordingly. God knew Judas would never trust Jesus, not in any way that mattered. But does he really deserve the distinction of being the worst?
What about Adam and Eve? Without them, we wouldn’t have sin in the world to begin with. Every bad thing that has ever happened goes all the way back to that one moment in the garden. It’s implied that they repented and were faithful after that, at least as faithful as sinners can be, but still, there’s a lot of pain and misery that can be laid at their feet.
Then you have guys like the Pharaoh during the days of the plagues. It’s hard to say with 100% certainty which pharaoh it was, but most historians settle on Ramses II. In some ways he was worse than Judas. He wasn’t just greedy. He was outright murderous. If he had been successful, God’s promise to Abraham would have ended right there. No nation of Israel, no Jerusalem, no temple, no savior. The plagues, the Passover, the Crossing of the Red Sea would establish the relationship between God and his people for centuries.
There are all sorts of more modern examples of people who do some openly evil things too, so which one is really the worst? Well, it’s not really a competition and winning it wouldn’t exactly be something to be proud of. So, why spend much time even thinking about it? Why pay attention to Judas at all?
Judas is kind of a scary figure. There are plenty of bad people in the Bible. There are plenty more in the modern world. There are the folks like Pharaoh who make no attempt to hide who they are and what they believe. They are openly hostile toward God and his people. People like this have done terrible things to God’s people throughout history. They have attacked the church and frightened people into abandoning the faith. The only real good thing about them is that they’re obvious. Everyone knows exactly who the enemy is. If Pharaoh falls, as he inevitably must, then the church rejoices that God has triumphed over another of his enemies.
Judas is a bit different. We aren’t really told a lot about Judas until late in Jesus’ ministry. Judas is obviously one of those numbered among the 12. He’s called by Jesus, but he doesn’t really stand out until the end. Nevertheless, he’s a part of everything Jesus is doing. Despite all of this, he is not truly a disciple. He is called. He follows, but not because he trusts. He follows because he expects to get something out of the process. He cares nothing for the teacher or what he might learn. He looks and acts like a disciple enough to fool most people, but he is only there for himself. In his actions, he will destroy everything around him for his own benefit, even if that means selling out the savior of the world for a few measly coins.
I think Judas is scarier for those of us who cling to the faith because he is more insidious. He could be anywhere. The people you meet, the friends you make, the nice people you get to know, any one of the could be a Judas without you knowing it until it’s too late. They act nice. They’re friendly. They’ll help you out when you need it, but at some point when they have to make a decision between doing the good and godly thing and doing the selfish thing, they take the selfish option and destroy everything around them, including you. At least when the enemy comes at you loud and confident, you know who he is and you know to stay away from him as best you can. But when the enemy is lurking right in your midst, you’ll never see him coming.
That’s not even the biggest problem with Judas though. Judas does get singled out in the Bible. We hear more about his eternal fate than we do about nearly everyone else. He does do a really, really terrible thing, and because he does, we like to treat him a little differently than everyone else we see in the Bible. Unfortunately for us, he’s not. Judas just what any sinner would do. Given the choice between salvation or a little cash, a little fleeting pleasure, he chooses the pleasure. This is sin laid bare, sin without anything to hide it. He isn’t a demon. He isn’t some other great supernatural being. He isn’t some crazed supervillain or psychopath. He’s just a sinner.
If Judas is just a sinner, that means he isn’t just a guy out there doing really awful things, he’s right here too. I’m Judas, and so are you. Every time we sin, we are making the same choice, rejecting our Creator and all of his gifts and choosing some fleeting pleasure instead. The only difference between us and Judas is that our sin hasn’t made an end of us just yet, but it will eventually. At some point our sins will catch up to us and we’ll end up buried and lifeless.
By itself, Judas’ story would be an utterly hopeless one. If even someone who spends all of this time in the presence of the savior himself is lost, what hope do any of us have? Thankfully, Judas isn’t alone. Yes, anyone called by the savior can choose to reject him, but not everyone does.
Despite all of the temptations, despite the horrors of Good Friday and the gloom of Holy Saturday, despite the apparent hopelessness, the disciples had not truly abandoned the faith. They were tempted, yes. Sin directed their actions for a while, but they had not yet left the sheepfold to wander away on their own. The Good Shepherd returned and rounded them up once more and reminded them that they are perfectly safe.
As Luther is reading through the Bible, wrestling with the realities of sin and the power of God’s grace, he sees how incongruous our lives are. We sin. We sin daily, even hourly. Everything we do is affected by that sin. There is no doubt we are sinners. Those who claim that faithful Christians no longer sin are deluding themselves and not taking the power and damage of sin seriously. With the exception of Jesus, every person who has ever lived or will ever live on this earth is a sinner.
At the same time, God’s promise stands. It must stand, because every promise of God is meant to be taken seriously and God has proven he means what he says. Thus, if God promises to forgive all sins, if he promises to wash us clean, make us holy, and not just capable but worthy to be in his presence, then that must be true. The only way we can safely be in his presence is if our sin is washed away and we can stand before him pure and clean.
For all the damage that Judas did, he could not stop Jesus. Jesus is stronger than Judas, stronger than sin, stronger than death. Christ triumphs and brings the fruits of that victory to his disciples. God’s word continues to be preached to the nations. God’s grace continues to flow to sinners who need it. God’s kingdom is undeterred by the power of sin. The disciples fill the empty spot, bringing back to their full number and they continue on with the task of sharing the good news of forgiveness and life.
Judas, for all of his creeping, insidious evil, didn’t win. He did what he set out to do and he couldn’t bring an end to Jesus. He only destroyed himself. He couldn’t bring an end to the church. The church kept right on rolling.
We can’t deny our own sin. Every day we present new evidence to that fact. Yet, even at our worst, God’s grace is still there to make us clean again. Whenever we present our sin before him, his response is never wrath, but grace. We confess our sins to him and he responds with absolution, declaring those sins forgiven. We pray, “Lord have mercy,” as we hear his Word and the penalties of the Law, and he responds with Baptism, washing us clean and making us holy. We pray, “Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil,” and he responds with the Body and Blood of Christ, given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
Judas didn’t win, and neither will your sin. You are a sinner, yes, but God has also made you a saint, his grace sufficient to cover all of your sins. Trust in the one who has faced all of that and emerged victorious. Trust in the one who sin could not corrupt and death could not defeat. Trust in Christ and his promise that your sins are truly washed away, you are made holy and pure, and given life through the body and blood of the one who lives and reigns forever and ever.