What to remember when you are seized with remorse.

 

Sermon for 5^th midweek Lent, March 30, 2022

Grace to you and peace from Him who is, who was, and who is coming.  Amen.

Matthew 27:3-5  ³Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he felt remorse.  He brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders ⁴and said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”  But they said, “What is that to us?  That’s your problem.”  ⁵He threw the pieces of silver into the temple and left.  Then he went out and hanged himself. (EHV)

What to remember when you are seized with remorse.

Dear friends in Christ Jesus,

            When silver is freshly minted, it is so bright and shiny, yet it tends to tarnish and grow darker and dirtier the longer it is in your possession.  Those thirty silver coins seemed like such a treasure to Judas until he saw what his treachery had accomplished, and they suddenly became unbearably dirty to the betrayer.  This evening, we learn, What to remember when you are seized with remorse.

Have you ever so strongly desired something that you were willing to bend the rules a bit to possess it?  We tend to think of Judas’ betrayal as the most horrific crime, and it is, but do we also follow the same path, at least on occasion?  I suspect that we shave corners when, occasionally, it suits our desires.  Our speed on the road pushed just a little higher than the law allows.  A little income going unreported on our taxes.  A spouse betrayed by a lustful glance in the wrong direction.  A swear word spoken that contradicts our faith in the Lord.  Must we not admit that every sin we commit betrays the Lord who gave His life so that we could be declared innocent?

If you are anything like me, you probably can think of a whole long list of little indiscretions that you would never want to see the light of day.  Things we did in our childhood.  Mistakes we made when we should have known better, and actually did know were wrong, but we did them anyway for the momentary thrill.  Maybe even harder on us are those things where we accidently crossed the line and now a friend or loved one is cut to the heart.  How often doesn’t the pang of guilt touch a nerve in us, also?

Judas had been entrusted with the money bag of our Savior’s disciple band—a community treasury, you might call it.  Those tinkling coins became his downfall.  The convenience proved too strong for Judas to resist, and when taking a little off the top was no longer enough for his greed, Judas made a deal with the devil for that big score of thirty silver coins.  There was just one detail Judas hadn’t bargained on—Judas never calculated that Jesus would actually pay with His life.

Now scholars could argue about whether Judas was a believer in Jesus.  They question the timing of when he realized that Jesus would actually allow Himself to be condemned and killed.  Judas may have had enough confidence in the judicial system to believe that there was no way Jesus could be convicted of a capital offense, or he may have assumed that Jesus would use His divine power to escape the wiles of the Jewish leaders and the Roman governor. 

It is likely that Judas deceived himself into thinking that his greedy act would be a victimless offense.  However, that wasn’t in God’s plan, and Judas was foolish if he had ignored what Jesus had been saying about the upcoming days.  Because of what Jesus had been telling His disciples, Judas should have understood that his betrayal would lead to Jesus suffering terrible atrocities and dying at the hands of the Sanhedrin.  Somehow, Judas ignored all that to get his hands on those coins.

Regardless of what Judas was thinking when he made his decisions and his bargain with the chief priests, we heard the outcome as I read these few verses.  Judas was overwhelmed with remorse for his evil actions, but it was too late.  When he saw that Jesus was truly going to be nailed to a cross at the hands of Roman soldiers, when he finally realized the gravity of what he had done to his good Friend, Judas was beside himself with guilt.  How could he redeem himself?  How could he wipe away the tarnish he now saw and felt on his little, ill begotten treasure?  Sadly, Judas didn’t receive any help from the priests, and no longer trusting in Jesus for forgiveness, Judas made a horrible choice.  Without any hope of redemption, Judas threw those few coins into the temple (perhaps hoping somehow to buy God’s mercy), “Then he went out and hanged himself.”

The guilt had become too much to bear.  That’s the trouble with listening to the Tempter.  First, Satan does whatever he can to tease us into sinning.  He holds up shining trinkets and makes us want them, and then, when we succumb to the devil’s wiles, as we often do, he is right there mocking and accusing the sinner, not only reminding us of our guilt, but also deceiving the guilty again with the lie that there is no way to receive forgiveness and redemption.  Judas bought that lie, and it cost his life.

Dear friends, this is exactly why Jesus so willingly went to the cross when He was betrayed.  God knew the devil’s deceit from the very beginning.  Yet, Satan’s cunning would never change God’s love for you and me.  I’m sure the devil thought he could defeat Jesus.  He kept trying to nibble away at the Son of God until that moment Jesus declared, “It is finished.”  However, that moment stands as the mark of God’s great love for you and me.  God’s Son came down to earth to do what we couldn’t—while holy and innocent, He paid the price of death for all the guilty ones of the world.

If only Judas would have waited for three days, he might yet have been saved.  But, his hope was gone the moment he decided to make money his god.  Still, three days after Jesus bore the price of death for the world, God raised Jesus from the grave triumphant over death even as Jesus had triumphed over the tempter.  Satan couldn’t tempt Jesus to sin, and the grave couldn’t hold Jesus in death.  And because Jesus is victorious over both, He can and does willingly forgive us of every sin and every betrayal we have committed, whether by decision or inadvertently.  Jesus paid for them all.  The Bible now declares to all of us, “God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:21) 

Isaiah had foretold it, saying: “After his soul experiences anguish, he will see the light of life.  He will provide satisfaction.  Through their knowledge of him, my just servant will justify the many, for he himself carried their guilt.” (Isaiah 53:11)  By the resurrection of Jesus on Easter morning, we have the sure proof that He is the Savior God has promised since the fall into sin.  Not only is Jesus the Savior, but He has been given authority to judge the whole world, you and me included.

Now, if Jesus had been only a man that God graciously raised from the dead like Lazarus and a few others, we might still be left trembling in fear, worried that He would want retribution for the sinners who caused His pain.  Yet, that is not our God.

The apostle, John, who stood at the foot of Jesus’ cross as He died, wrote under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him.  This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:9-10)  Sin had separated us from God; God’s love and commitment brought us back together.  That is the whole purpose of the history given to us in the Bible.  It tells the story of God’s self-sacrificing love for those of us who don’t deserve it. 

So, What are you to remember when you are seized with remorse?  We are invited, encouraged, and commanded to remember God’s love for us in Jesus.  There is no sin too great for God to forgive because Jesus paid for them all.  There is no way for God to hold any betrayal against us because every betrayal has been charged to Jesus as the sin of the world.  The Holy Spirit through St. Paul tells us, “We urge you, on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.  God made him, who did not know sin, to become sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.” (2 Corinthians 5:20-21)  He also says, “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.  The old has passed away.  The new has come!  And all these things are from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ.” (2 Corinthians 5:17-18)  “There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 8:1)

What we are to remember always is that Jesus came into this world to live for us the righteous life we need and then to suffer and die the death we deserved so that we might be more bright and holy in God’s eyes than any silver coin.  Through faith in Christ Jesus, you and I have been declared innocent, and by the power of the Spirit in the Gospel and Baptism, God has claimed us as His redeemed and holy children.  He does for us what we could never do, makes us beloved and clean in His sight.  Dear friends, remember Jesus’ resurrection from the dead.  That is God’s declaration that what Jesus did for the world is enough for you and me.  To God alone the glory.  Amen.

Now to him who is able to strengthen you— according to the gospel and the proclamation of Jesus Christ, . . . to God, who alone is wise, be glory forever through Jesus Christ.  Amen.