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<\/a>Judas. The one disciple we don\u2019t want to be like. The one whose name is a by-word, slang for a turncoat, synonymous with self-interest, and equivalent with dishonour. To describe the man, we use words like \u201cchoice\u201d\u2014other traditions would use \u201cpredestined\u201d\u2014and phrases like, \u201che allowed Satan into his heart\u201d. Who was this man that is vilified and painted as among the most vile and reprehensible to ever breathe our air and walk our paths?<\/p>\n
What is it about Judas that we find incomprehensible? Was he so different to his colleagues and to ourselves that he is a puzzle? Is he a conundrum so intractable and complex that it renders him an enigma?<\/p>\n
Like the others<\/strong><\/p>\n Let\u2019s suppose for a moment that Judas was much like the others. Like them, he was looking for the Messiah. Like them, he thought that Jesus of Nazareth might be \u201cthe One\u201d.<\/p>\n Like the others, Judas was willing to follow despite the hardships and difficulties faced. He slept rough like all the others, nibbled wheat grains on a Sabbath afternoon, and found himself obliged, perhaps, to eat Samaritan bread on occasion. Like the others, his life flashed before his eyes as they battled the Galilean storm while Jesus slept. And like them, he was astounded \u201cthat even the winds and waves obey his voice\u201d (Matthew 8:27; Mark 4:41). He was among the twelve, sent out and given power and authority to drive out demons and cure diseases (Luke 9). And like the others, he assumed that Jesus would launch a kingdom to overthrow and replace the Roman occupation and the corrupt Herodian Regime.<\/p>\n Having the trust of his peers, at least for most of their shared lived experience, he served as their treasurer. What made him more trustworthy in this regard than say, Matthew who had worked with money at government levels? OK! Perhaps that<\/em> was the reason\u2026<\/p>\n It is also probable that Judas began from a place of weakness \u2013 in the same way each of the apostles came with feet of clay, unrealistic expectations of themselves, misconceptions of Jesus, and a sense of \u2018being in the know\u2019 when it came to the things of God. The idea that they had an \u2018inside track\u2019 often led them to misstep and misapprehend.<\/p>\n This place of weakness for Judas seems to relate to his ability to control. In our scripture passage, he is objecting to the actions\u2014and lavish gift\u2014made by Mary. He speaks of it as wasteful, charging that the resources could be better utilised and channelled if managed centrally. And of course, there is a great deal of merit in that perspective!<\/p>\n But Jesus is not easily managed or controlled.<\/p>\n The plan to which Jesus appears to be working is not efficient. It is not predictable, and there are no guaranteed outcomes Judas can perceive. At least, no outcomes that appear to be advantageous for the group and their messianic expectations. Jesus talks about death (which would be tantamount to failure) when they would rather hear about rebellion and decisive action! In Matthew\u2019s Gospel, James and John are concurrently making their plans for positions in Jesus\u2019 Kingdom \u2013 brokered no less by their mother.<\/p>\n Judas is becoming anxious. Not just about any potential position of influence in this coming kingdom of Jesus, but about the possibility that the kingdom might be too far in the future, or worse still, put at risk by a leader who does not seem to care deeply enough about the thing on which everything could rise and fall.<\/p>\n Impact!<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cJudas wanted the impact of the Kingdom now.\u201d[i]<\/a> Now is the time! Passover is the Kairos moment!\u00a0 The people can be swayed. A few good public moments at a time of heightened national awareness and festive gathering could give Jesus just the kind of exposure that would usually take months to generate by walking the length and breadth of Palestine. Already there had been a very warm reception as Jesus, seated on a donkey had entered Jerusalem to cries of \u201cHosannah to the Son of David! Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest heaven!\u201d (Matthew 21:9). This was not a time for morose musings. It was time for action! Time to set Israel free from the yoke of Rome! Time for prestige, power, and positional influence to be conferred!<\/p>\n The problem with Jesus <\/strong><\/p>\n Jesus was getting off-track, and the desired momentum was slowing down. Judas could feel it all slipping away as Jesus did more to divide opinion, offend religious leaders, affirm the right of Rome to impose taxes, while his regular reference to his death did little to raise the level of morale. The anointing at Bethany seemed to settle the next step in his mind. In Matthew\u2019s Gospel his decision to negotiate with the chief priests immediately follows the events in Bethany (Matt 26:6-16).<\/p>\n \u201cJudas has disdain for the snail\u2019s pace at which the Messiah stirred up change against the oppressive empire\u201d[ii]<\/a> and he decides to catalyse what Jesus will not. His actions may be seen as a last, desperate move to speed things up and force a more favourable outcome. He is taking control. Managing threats. Guaranteeing an outcome. The go-getter, pragmatist sought a radical return on their investment.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t we all\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n Perhaps there is more \u201cJudas-junk\u201d within us all than we are prepared or able to admit. \u201cIt is easy to scapegoat Judas for his actions of betrayal, but the path that led him there was paved by unchecked, unexposed, unrestrained ambition.\u201d[iii]<\/a><\/p>\n Recently I co-led a weekend retreat entitled, \u201cSmall Church, BIG Impact\u201d \u2013 an attempt at a clever title designed to speak about contrasts, discuss potential, and encourage leaders of our numerous small congregations to know that small is not the<\/strong> measure of the Kingdom<\/strong><\/em>. And I stand by that.\u00a0 I just wish I hadn\u2019t used the word \u201cimpact\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cImpact\u201d carries a plethora of images and meanings, connoting a meteor slamming into a place. It shows up and there is no mistaking it arrived. Nothing is quite the same again. Dan White suggests that \u201cour powerful portraits of making an impact have done just that \u2013 left us with gaping holes, craters in the formation of community and in our presence in places.\u201d[iv]<\/a><\/p>\n Judas wanted something big for the kingdom. He wanted it to make a splash. More than that, its impact needed to displace and dismantle the Roman Empire and its presence in Palestine and its hold on Judas and his people. But Judas also wanted what the Empire could engineer: an ability to control, to manage threats, and guarantee outcomes. \u201cHow quickly our good intentions, our desires for kingdom impact easily get mixed in with our personal and church ambitions\u201d[v]<\/a>, with our measures of success, our need to prove our worth, to report on impact. \u201cAttaching Jesus\u2019s name to these desires doesn\u2019t change the fact that they look just like the craving of the world.\u201d[vi]<\/a> White continues, \u201cA church with the faithful qualities of the fruits of the Spirit simply does not go viral, and I\u2019m not sure these virtues lead to rapid expansion.\u201d[vii]<\/a><\/p>\n Some years back I purchased a book on the recommendation of a good friend. \u201cThe Imperfect Pastor\u201d by Zack Eswine contains these lines that I share with you.<\/p>\n \u201cAs you enter ministry, you will be tempted to orient your desires toward doing large things in famous ways as fast and as efficiently as you can. But take note.\u00a0 A crossroads waits for you. Jesus is that crossroads. Because anything in life that truly matters will require you to do small, mostly overlooked things, over a long period of time with him.\u00a0 The pastoral vocation, because it focuses on helping people cultivate what truly matters, is therefore no exception.\u201d[viii]<\/a><\/p>\n Jesus and our \u201cJudas-Junk\u201d?<\/strong><\/p>\n Desire for the Kingdom burns within us. We\u2019ve been trained to dream of doing large things in famous ways as fast we can for God’s glory – selected, elected, and charged to make an impact in the name of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. And at some point, a committee somewhere will measure us all.<\/p>\n But before we were administrators, directors, overseers, and staff, we were \u2018called\u2019. We were called to the kind of spiritual leadership that keeps requiring we surrender to the small, mostly overlooked things of the Kingdom, over long periods of time.<\/p>\n Friends, as you begin this day, Jesus stands with you. You were never meant to know everything, fix everything, and be everywhere at once. That’s His job, not yours. Impact is his sphere. Not mine.<\/p>\n [i]<\/a> White Jr, Dan.\u00a0 2015.\u00a0 Subterranean: Why the Future of the Church is Rootedness.\u00a0 Cascade: Eugene, Oregon. \u00a0<\/em>Dr Wayne Erasmus serves as the Church Growth & Advent Mission director for the South England Conference. The message of this article was first shared as a devotional to Trans-European Division staff at their morning worship.<\/em><\/p>\n [Photos: Shutterstock and Pexels \/ CC BY 4.0]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Judas\u2019s weakness seems to stream from his penchant for control; but Jesus will not be controlled!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":12416,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1570,1588,7],"tags":[1258,803,1256,1259,1257],"class_list":["post-12413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-discipleship-spiritual-growth","category-ireland-united-kingdom","category-news","tag-control","tag-devotional","tag-judas","tag-success","tag-wayne-erasmus"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12413"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12425,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12413\/revisions\/12425"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ted.adventist.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/a>
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\n[ii]<\/a> Ibid
\n[iii]<\/a> Ibid
\n[iv]<\/a> Ibid
\n[v]<\/a> Ibid
\n[vi]<\/a> Eswine, Zackary W. 2015.\u00a0 The Imperfect Pastor:\u00a0 Discovering Joy in our Limitations Through a Daily Apprenticeship with Jesus.\u00a0 Crossway: Ill.\u00a0 Kindle, Location 323
\n[vii]<\/a> White, Dan p. 50
\n[viii]<\/a> Eswine, Zackary W, Location 283<\/p>\n