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Some people are just poster people for certain characteristics. When you hear the word traitor, usually Benedict Arnold comes to mind. Or you hear the word liar, and people think most politicians. But consensus is really easily reached with the term betrayer. In fact, if you look up betrayer in the dictionary, there’s probably Judas’ picture.
It’s interesting, in the words of institution, what the pastor says over the elements before the Lord’s Supper, it says, “on the night he was betrayed.” Not on the night of Jesus’s Last Supper or the night of his arrest or the night before he died, but on the night he was betrayed. Kind of makes Judas’s betrayal even more dastardly, as we get reminded of it each time we receive the Lord’s Supper.
But betrayal also applies to us. Betrayal of Jesus applies to you and me because we can be all too aware of the times when we betray Jesus. When we followers, we disciples of Jesus today betray him by lying, cheating, stealing, being selfish, hurting others, or whatever other sins. I probably don’t have to say much to remind you of those ways that you betray Jesus.
And yet, we betray Jesus with our sinful actions, and our words, and our thoughts. We betray Him because we claim to love and follow Him, but often we don’t. If you look up betrayer in the dictionary, there could be your picture too. But there’s another betrayer at the Last Supper of Jesus. I think it’s Jesus. We see it in the gospel reading when Jesus washed his disciples’ feet, and Peter’s response to that was, “No, you’re not gonna wash my feet, Jesus,” because that’s not what’s expected of a Lord or a teacher, and that’s not expected of the Messiah, the one sent by God to deliver his people. That’s not expected of the Son of God to be washing people’s feet.
Jesus betrays the expectations of what humans want God to be. Jesus is supposed to be a powerful, almighty king destroying his enemies, and especially for the Jews of his day. Jesus, the Messiah, was expected to lead a revolt against the Roman Empire. But Jesus betrays that thinking by being a servant, doing something so lowly as washing his disciples’ dirty, smelly feet, again, something not expected of a Lord or a teacher, much less the Messiah.
And we see this kind of betrayal in the reading from Corinthians, that second reading tonight, where Paul repeats what Jesus said at the Last Supper, kind of the words of institution that we hear: “that the Lord Jesus, on the night when he was betrayed, took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, ‘This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.’ In the same way also he took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of me.'”
Yes, Judas betrayed Jesus and handed him over to be killed, but Jesus betrays us by handing himself over to be killed, literally handing himself over by giving us his body and blood. This is a betrayal because this isn’t supposed to happen. Jesus, the Messiah, the Deliverer, God’s Son, isn’t supposed to do this. He’s not supposed to wash feet. He’s not supposed to get arrested and falsely accused. He’s not supposed to get whipped and beaten and mocked and spit on. He’s not supposed to suffer. The Messiah isn’t supposed to be the Passover Lamb. He’s not supposed to be the sacrifice. He’s not supposed to give His body and blood. He’s not supposed to die.
He’s not supposed to be a servant. The Messiah, the Son of God, is supposed to be the greatest one at the table. But Jesus betrays all of that thinking. He betrays our thinking about what God is supposed to be. Jesus betrays our expectations of Him. He betrays the idea that he helps all of his followers to live better than everybody else. Jesus betrays the idea that he’ll bless his followers with health and wealth and material abundance and have lives that are completely free of problems.
Jesus betrays our thinking that he’s some sort of mystical guru who only hands out good advice to people. Jesus betrays the thinking that God is just some benevolent old man up in the sky, and Jesus betrays our thinking that our sins aren’t forgivable, that he judges us for our sin of betrayal and punishes us. He doesn’t. Instead, he betrays our expectations, and he forgives us. And that’s what Jesus did on the night when He was betrayed.
When He said, “Take and eat, this is my body, and drink my blood of the new covenant for the forgiveness of sins.” On that night when He was betrayed, Jesus offers forgiveness. He offers it to all who betray Him in their sins. He offered it that night, and he offers it this night. He offered it to his disciples, and he offers it to these disciples sitting here right now.
This forgiveness comes in him being a servant, not a king or a powerful warrior or any of those things people expected. He comes as a servant, and his forgiveness comes at the expense of his body and blood. Forgiveness doesn’t come at the expense of destroying his enemies; it comes at the expense of destroying your sins by him dying. It comes at the expense of his life when he betrayed all of humanity by dying on a cross. Nobody was expecting that.
But really, on the cross, Jesus isn’t betraying, but he’s fulfilling the promise of God to deliver us from our sins. He just betrays our thoughts of how it should happen. We think forgiveness comes by us being sorry enough, or making up for our sins, or doing good works to atone for them, or make up for them. But the way forgiveness must be is in Jesus’ service, in giving his body and blood in death because after Jesus dies, he betrayed the entire world again and betrayed even nature itself by rising from the dead.
Yeah, Jesus is a great betrayer because in his body and blood, Jesus hands himself over as food and drink for sinful humanity to forgive us. Yeah, Judas may be the most noted betrayer in human history, but his betrayal is nothing compared to Jesus giving us his body and blood for the forgiveness of our sins.
And in doing this, Jesus really is the greatest at the table because he does great things for us there. He does great things for us at the table now, forgiving our sins. Each of you, forgiving your sins. Yes, there’s the kind of “y’allness” of it—everybody is forgiven—but each individual, this forgiveness is for you and for you and for you.
Jesus handing himself over, being greater than our sins by forgiving them, he is the greatest at the table because he’s greater than our death penalty; he’s greater than our sins. He’s greater than even our death because he dies and rises again. The Messiah, the Son of God, isn’t supposed to do these things, but he betrays that thinking and those expectations for our good, for our benefit, for our forgiveness and our eternal life.
And that’s why followers of Jesus gather on this night to receive what Christ handed over to us: his body and his blood for the forgiveness of our sins, handing it over to those who betray him daily— you, me. And he serves us. He washes our feet. He washes away our sweaty, smelly sins and forgives us. That’s what Jesus gives us, and probably the greatest betrayal ever, giving us what we need despite what we expect.
When you’re the betrayer in your sins, and you don’t feel like God can love or forgive you, well, take heart. Jesus betrays that thinking. He betrays that expectation. If you think you’re too much of a betrayer, well, take heart. You’ve got a betrayer on your side in Jesus. He betrays those thoughts. He betrays that expectation. He betrays the thought that you’re unlovable and unforgivable. Just the opposite. He forgives you.
He gave Himself and His service, His body and His blood and His death to do that. So, who knew? Getting betrayed can actually be a good thing. We praise God for Him betraying our thinking and our expectations of His Son’s love and service for us.
By sending him here and being more than we could ever think or expect. Amen. Now may the peace of God, which goes beyond all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.
