My sermon begins at 20:40.
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You may not have noticed this important piece of American history on display at Silver Dollar City. It is a tree with a plaque that identifies it with the American Revolution. The plaque explains that the tree growing on that spot is the "16th descendant of the last original Liberty Tree..." Only three of these trees grow outside the original 13 colonies: in fact, only three are located in places that celebrate the spirit of America. Even the original tree from which this one was sprouted is gone, destroyed by Hurricane Floyd in 1999.  "The more you hate, the more you die."
(Harold Somers, Holocaust survivor)
"Blowing out someone else's candle
won't make yours shine brighter." (unknown) Too many people need to see this message. You cannot bear the burden alone. You’re not called to save them all. Learn to rely on others. Let yourself be vulnerable. Admit when you’re over your head.  I was so thankful to have been able to see the Northern Lights for the first time, last month. The phenomenon in the sky was barely visible with the naked eye, but through the lens of a cell phone, I was able to catch these shots. Once, through my wife's phone, we actually saw the shimmering for a fraction of a moment. Who knew they would show up in our sky this far south and beyond. Someday, perhaps, we'll see the full effect in a trip to the north. They really are stunning.
"Ego is the anesthesia
that deadens the pain of stupidity." (Rick Rigsby)  Sadly, there is one of the 12 apostles who wasted the gift he was afforded by following Jesus. I don’t know if Jesus approached him and said, Follow me, as He did with others or if Judas approached Jesus and blended in with the others until Jesus named him one of the twelve. We do know that Judas Iscariot had an opportunity that thousands of others were not offered, and yet he fell victim to the temptation of cash in his purse. He is not the first, and he is certainly not the last, to have been lured by a love of money.
He is really only known for one thing. The only other name that comes to mind as being synonymous with the word traitor in this country is Benedict Arnold. There are definitely others who have betrayed the United States and continue to do so, but Benedict Arnold is the one name that comes to mind when the word traitor is mentioned (even if some of the charges against him may be unwarranted). His name, Judas, means Jehovah leads. It’s a shame that such a name is forever destined to be scorned. He is not from Galilee; he is from a region south of Judea, and he is not related to any other apostles. Some say that the turning point for this man comes in John 12:1-8 when Mary anoints Jesus’ feet with an expensive perfume at Bethany. Notice in verse 3 that she uses “a pound of very expensive perfume of pure nard” (like an ointment or cream) on Jesus’ feet and then wipes them with her hair. As we might imagine, the entire house is filled with the fragrance - as does her hair, by the way (There may be a lesson in that, as well.). We may also infer that many of the people in the room make comments about the thick scent of perfume. Undoubtedly, they all smell the same thing. They all see what Mary is doing with Jesus’ feet. But Judas is the one who speaks up in verse 5: “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the proceeds given to poor people?” Is that a fair question? I dare say that I might think the same thing, and I, too, might bring it up in the conversation, but John then makes the following commentary on the event. He writes in verse 6 that Judas asked this question “not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief”. Then, John adds that Judas also “kept the money box, he used to steal from what was put into it.” I wonder if that was something that was known before all of the drama that ensues or if it’s a fact that comes out in the investigation that follows. At any rate, Jesus speaks up and says, “Leave her alone, so that she may keep it for the day of My burial. For you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have Me.” Later, of course, we see the ladies bringing perfumes and ointments to the tomb of Jesus to apply it to His body. That’s the moment where we see the true attitude of this apostle. Some people would argue that there is a discrepancy between the fact that Jesus selected Judas and the fact that he betrayed Jesus. We have to wonder at Jesus’ thoughts when He named Judas to be one of the twelve. Did He look at Judas differently? We know this: that Judas was part of God’s plan. Listen to Psalm 41:9: it says, “Even my close friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me.” Or consider the words the prophet writes in Zechariah 11:12f: “And I said to them, ‘If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!’ So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.’ So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord.” It certainly appears to have been part of the plan from ancient days. In the New Testament, we see Jesus predicting Judas’ act long before the act itself. In Matthew 20:18, we read, “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be handed over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn Him to death…” In Matthew 26:20-25, all of this starts to come together one evening when Jesus recognizes, “Truly I say to you that one of you will betray Me.” There is really no guesswork to be done here: He says, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the bowl is the one who will betray Me. The Son of Man is going away just as it is written about Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Verse 25 concludes the paragraph: “And Judas, who was betraying Him, said, ‘Surely it is not I, Rabbi?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You have said it yourself.’” Finally, in Acts 1:16, there is further reference to Judas, when Luke recognizes the foretelling of this occasion from prophecy, “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit foretold by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus.” And in verse 20, “For it is written in the book of Psalms: “May his residence be made desolate, And may there be none living in it’; and, ‘May another take his office.” I suppose some may wish to use Acts 1:20 and its accompanying psalm to apply to certain candidates in political offices today. Sticking with Judas, however, it is sad that he represents too many who continue to fall to the influence of Hell until it overbalances them and they no longer love the Lord. In short:
It is this last point that fascinates us: Judas realizes how atrocious the betrayal is. He becomes remorseful. Matthew 27:3f says, “Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, ‘I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.’ But they said, ‘What is that to us? You shall see to it yourself!’” Is that a confession I read? Is there repentance? Besides James, Judas is the only other apostle whose death is recorded in Scripture, when in verse 5, we read that “he went away and hanged himself”. There is more detail about what happened to the body of this wayward apostle in Acts 1:18f. It is an epilogue to his story: “Now this man [Judas] acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out. And it became known to all the residents of Jerusalem; as a result that field was called Hakeldama in their own language, that is, Field of Blood.” Only God knows if his remorse led to repentance, and only God knows if his mental health failed him to the point that he took his life because of it. Did he know about the resurrection of Jesus? I wonder how much an appearance by Jesus to Judas would have made a difference in the epilogue, but that wasn’t part of the plan. Are there lessons to learn here? There are. First, to read about Judas Iscariot is to realize that God’s plan cannot be undone. God has in place a plan that redeems us from sin and reconciles us with Him. We say it over and over: that plan was revealed way back in the Garden, when Adam and Eve sinned. God, for the first time, tells the serpent that he will bruise the heal of the Christ, but that Christ will bruise Satan’s head. In the Christian story, Jesus dies as a result of this betrayal, but that will not be avoided. He must die in order to rise three days later, conquering death so we can contact a worthy sacrifice. Judas is part of the Good News. The choice for us is no different than his choice - to follow Jesus and Listen to the words He speaks through Scripture to us, or to be weak and choose betrayal instead, falling for temptation. Jesus welcomes Peter back after Peter denied Him (John 21). Jesus invites the thief on the cross next to Him to join Him in Paradise (Matthew 27 and Luke 23). The man had just previously mocked Jesus before making the great confession of who Jesus really was. God forgives Paul, even after Paul approves of stoning Stephen in Acts 9 and then continuing to persecute Christians. In fact, Paul goes to work for the Lord in a big way. He could have, and I still say, He might have forgiven Judas for his part in the whole ugly story of the death of our Savior. If only we would realize that the same forgiveness is ours for the asking, as well. Even a heinous sin like betraying Jesus could be erased from our record. "Don't let your ice cream melt
while counting somebody else's sprinkles." (Akilah Hughes)
"That which is striking and beautiful is not always good, but that which is good is always beautiful." (Ninon de L'Enclos)
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