Helping God [part 2 of 2] ...

In our previous study, we examined how we might have been a positive part of helping God in the form of providing Him comfort when He needed it most.  All we needed to do was to pray to avoid temptation.  But instead we slept.  By contrast Judas may demonstrate what it looks like when man helps God accomplish what man thinks needs to be done.  For not all the disciples were sleeping that fateful night.  None were aware of the stakes for mankind.  But one would play his role in the story.  For motives we may never fully understand.  Greed (i.e. pieces of silver) may look like motive, and certainly it plays a part in it, but simple greed may be too simplistic an answer as to why.  Think of it, Judas healed the sick, cast out demons, and testified as to the divinity of the Messiah in his own commission while partnered with another disciple.  Judas in fact was most admired by the other disciples (not Peter, he was the loudmouth).  Judas may have been the best student or perhaps most educated.  He was less common, and more like the one we would all aspire to be.  The disciples did.  But appearances are unimportant.

Judas may have developed his own ideas about how to help God.  The Messiah was supposed to be throwing off Roman oppression and bringing about a kingdom that would have no end.  Jesus had all the tools needed to do this, but was not getting it done.  Judas may have reasoned, that if Christ were in real jeopardy of losing His life, He would do what all humans do to survive, but He would do it in divine fashion with power and glory.  Judas would see himself has being the catalyst to bring all this about, even if this plan needed deceit and betrayal to get it going.  And if you could take money from priests who stole it from the poor themselves, why not add that into the mix.  Judas had it all reasoned out.  His plan made sense.  It would help God do, what God promised to do.  All God needed was a little properly placed motivation (like survival) and a little push.  If nothing else Jesus might be forced into defending his disciples and become the King He was destined to be.

Now keep in mind, everyone shared these beliefs about the role of the Messiah in the time of Christ.  It was not just Judas.  Matthew, Peter, pick your disciple, they all hoped for this.  They were even making plans about who would sit where when the Jesus administration took over.  Judas might have thought that doing this would make himself the right choice for the number two position – or at least head of the intelligence agencies.  After all there was a war coming with the Romans in this scenario.  A war long over due and easily winnable, but a war none the less.  And then what?  Perhaps a war with Egypt?  A war with Ethiopia? Or Greece? Or India or England at the far stretches of the world.  The Jesus administration was to be a worldwide power with no end in land or time, and Judas perhaps thought to be a key part of it.  The only thing that needed to be done was to get Jesus up and going, finally.

Of course Matthew did not care for the “why” Judas would betray Jesus.  Only that He did.  Picking up in His gospel in chapter 26 and verse 46 he continues with the words of Jesus saying … “Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me.  [verse 47] And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.”  Jesus had hardly finished waking up his sleeping disciples than the one who had no sleep enters the scene.  Not fresh from prayer, but fresh in his own ideas about how to help God fulfill the promises God has made to us, according to the vision of Judas.  And he brought with him a sizeable crowd of armed men in order to insure Jesus takes the threat as real.  The fact that his disciples were just waking up, unprepared to mount a defense was just perfect.  Judas could present Jesus with a threat to Himself and to the others in order that Jesus might have to defend them as well.  No better way to kick off a kingship that was long overdue.

Matthew continues in verse 48 saying … “Now he that betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he: hold him fast. [verse 49] And forthwith he came to Jesus, and said, Hail, master; and kissed him.”  It was dark out.  Hard to see who-was-who in the darkness, even with torches.  Judas knew the logistics needed to be insured, thus he set up a sign for his soldier to take note of.  After all they did not want Jesus to just disappear like He had done before, and wind up grabbing the wrong disciple thinking it was Jesus.  So Judas decides to betray Jesus with a kiss.  This should help Jesus see that Judas still loved Him, and was only doing this for Jesus’ best interests.  Jesus responds in verse 50 saying … “And Jesus said unto him, Friend, wherefore art thou come? Then came they, and laid hands on Jesus, and took him.”  Jesus greets Judas (despite knowing all of this) with the term “friend”.  He does not condemn Judas even now.

And here is where comparison is worth making.  How often do we “the church called by His name” treat others even in the act of public sin with greetings of love and brotherhood?  More often, we are like Matthew, obsessed with calling out Judas as the betrayer in chief, wanting to make sure everyone knows what evil he has done, and seeming far less forgiving in the process.  Judas’ ideas of helping God were completely wrong and misplaced, but Judas the person was still precious to Jesus even then, even in the act of betraying Him.  Jesus still reaches out with a term of reconciliation (not in ignorance) but by intent.  For Jesus still wants Judas in His kingdom.  But do we?  Matthew didn’t.  We are all too content to leave the public sinner on display for all to ridicule and condemn – none to love or reach out despite what they do.  Jesus does not stop for a minute and call out Judas for all the wrong he is in the middle of doing, instead He reaches out to try once more to reclaim Judas with a term of friendship and love.  Judas thinks he is helping God.  Jesus knows better.  Judas needs to stop helping, and get help, and so do we all.

The analogies of Judas and Abraham’s attempts to help God are stunningly close to what we do with respect to our own salvation.  We too attempt to help God, by doing what we think He wants us to do, and has promised to do for us.  We too break trust in God, because God does not do things in our timeline, or how we think they need to be done – so we take action instead to help.  And our “helping” only makes a mess of things with lasting consequences that might otherwise have been avoided if only we had trusted in God, instead of trying to take over ourselves.  There would be no salvation for us at all, if Jesus had not submitted His own will to that of His Father, trusting His Father instead of trusting Himself.  Yet we take all these examples of man’s intervention, discard them, and then instead try to find things in them we can use as an example of what to do, instead of what to avoid doing.  We follow the footprints of Judas with our own salvation, and think this is what scripture demands.  Just as he thought when all this was occurring.

The analogies continue in verse 51 saying … “And, behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest's, and smote off his ear. [verse 52] Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into his place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword.”  Peter decides to defend Christianity with his sword.  How often this path has been repeated over the last 2000+ years, with nothing but death and woe as its legacy.  Christ and Christianity do NOT need a sword to defend it, or to push it forward.  Only love can do either.  Only God can truly defend it.  Yet American Christians are as married to their guns, and their ideas of self-defense, and self-reliance as they have ever been.  How few would put down both, and trust in God no matter what the outcome.  And ALL ignoring the second half of the cause and effect of swords, that to live by them, is to die by them (regardless if there is another opponent in the equation).  To extend that just a little; to kill anyone else, is to die inside – and to repeat this is only to make it worse everytime, until there is nothing left of you inside anymore.  Helping God, by drawing the sword, is only helping Satan instead.

But then things take a remarkable left turn.  Jesus continues answering in verse 53 saying … “Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? [verse 54] But how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be? [verse 55] In that same hour said Jesus to the multitudes, Are ye come out as against a thief with swords and staves for to take me? I sat daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold on me. [verse 56] But all this was done, that the scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled. Then all the disciples forsook him, and fled.”  The plans of Judas to “help” Jesus become the King He is destined to be have been completely on track right up until this.  Jesus plainly states He is ABLE to call down from heaven more than 12 legions of angels (an army no man could even contemplate defeating).  But He does not call it down.  Instead He heals the wounded servant’s ear (continue to show love).  He asks them the cutting question of why now, why in the dark, and in secret?  He reminds them that ALL of this was prophesied in scripture and is now being fulfilled.  And when the disciples see first hand that Jesus has no intentions of avoiding death, they ALL flee, including Judas.

Plans to help God do what we think He should, end as they always do, with us making a huge mess of things, and God not performing as we expected.  This has never been more true than with our own salvation.  Our role, is NOT to save ourselves, that is the work of Jesus alone, and we must trust Him to do it.  We must submit our will to His, despite what we want to do.  Just like He did in the garden.  Or we wind up looking back on a series of unfortunate events no different than Judas did all those years ago.  Membership in the church is no defense, Judas was a founding member.  Spiritual gifts are no defense, Judas had a full measure of the Holy Spirit when he followed the directions of his Lord.  Faith in scripture is no defense, as Judas was well read, well educated, and following devoutly a set of beliefs everyone shared (even though they were mistaken about them).  Only submission of your will works, as it did for Jesus.

The plans of Judas would read soundly to any military general in our intelligence agency in today’s world.  Humanity would see them as completely viable.  It is only that divinity has different ideas, much greater ideas, ideas beyond our limited imaginations that keep us from seeing what God sees.  God does not fault us our limitations, instead He asks us to trust Him to know better, to do better, and to make things so, which we could never make so.  It is NOT the plan of God to leave you in your sins, or struggling with your sins, but to releieve you from your sins entirely.  You cannot do this.  But God can and will as quickly as you submit your will to Him.  Learning that submission should be your life’s goals.  Learning how to get better at it, your greatest ambition.  Because trying to do it yourself, is like becoming Judas, and picking up a pencil to sketch out “how to betray a God and create a King”.  Only to find the execution resulting in how to break a man, and lose all hope, to the point of death.

While we may glorify the mistakes of Abraham, or Jacob, or David – those mistakes were not written for this purpose.  They were stories to teach us not to break trust with God, and do what we think should be done.  At least Judas gives us pause.  But does it take this much to get it right?  Can’t we learn from Jesus Himself, in the garden, submitting what He wanted, in favor of the will of the Father.  It is that submission we are looking for.  It is that submission we need.  It is that submission that will save us.  By contrast our ideas of helping God, could put everything at risk as it did for Judas, and create consequences we will live with forever.  Let us hold firm our trust in the divine to accomplish what God promises, having no need to help Him, only to be grateful that He does what He promises.  As it turns out, human ideas about helping are just not all we thought they might be.