Lent 4 – Judas and the challenges of discipleship

Matthew 10: 16-42 

Dan Joseph

No politician ever gets elected by saying they'll put up taxes.  We know they all will, one way or another. But it's unpopular.  So it must've taken a lot of guts for Jesus to say "if you follow me, it'll be tough, there'll be consequences and hurt," because he knew he was going to make himself unpopular. He knew that there would be folk who'd fall away from following him; they'd liked what they'd heard in the Sermon on the Mount, promising blessings to those at the margins; but perhaps they hadn't picked up on the last group of people he blessed in that sermon, those who would be persecuted because of their faith in him.

Here in this passage, Jesus makes it abundantly clear what he means.  For some who follow him, there would be really tough times ahead, you couldn't rely on your family or those in authority to stand by you and play fair.

He painted a grim picture, was this one of the speeches that Judas heard? Was this what made him start to question if this really was the way to change the world?

Judas, he's never going to get a fair hearing is he? And perhaps that's right, for him despite his following of Jesus, he's not famous, he's infamous. Of course without his betrayal, God's plan couldn't have been completed: but that's about God bringing good things out of disaster.  Maybe it was just a matter of time till someone broke ranks.

Reading this passage, where Jesus talks about the persecution that may come from following him, even now its not comfortable reading, it's not warm and cosy. In Jesus' day it must have been greeted with deathly silence or murmured discontent.

Jesus seems very fond of using animal references, we are his sheep, he's the lamb, he calls Herod a fox, calls someone else a dog, and tells us we're to be sheep going out into the company wolves. But more than that, we're to be as gentle as doves, and as wise as serpents.

The image, given what would happen to sheep going out in the company of wolves is not a pretty one; sheep are docile animals and would make easy prey. Little wonder if it made someone like Judas think twice about whether Jesus was going about changing the world in the right way.

Sometimes the persecution he talks about will be direct, like a hate crime is, but sometimes it is less obvious. When people are told constantly that God doesn't love them, when families reject them and when they reject themselves, this can also be persecution, and we know its victims.  And then we internalise that persecution, wishing we weren't who we are, dreaming of how things could be different, hoping deep down that maybe we will be changed, maybe we can live as everyone else does and pass.  We internalise the oppression that others put upon us.

It's a tough call to be gentle as a dove while being as wise as a serpent; to be aware enough of the way the world works, but still being generous of spirit; continuing to hope for the best in people, but not being naïve about them.

Perhaps this was too much of a challenge for Judas, he knew some of the astonishing things Jesus was capable of, knew that he could run rings round the religious leaders of the time if he put his mind to it. His early public teachings seemed to fit their expectations of a Messiah who would turn the people back to God. The accompanying miracles, healings, and casting out of demons only added to their "proof." Here was a righteous Jew, a descendant of David, who could lead them to victory over the Romans and usher in God's Kingdom.

Judas must have been thrilled. Jesus the Messiah had chosen him to be one among His twelve — and had appointed him treasurer too. Surely, he would be a mighty king in the New World Order that they would establish. It was more than he had ever hoped or dreamed. But following Jesus would mean something else, and all this talk of suffering for their faith, must have sounded like defeatist talk. Couple that with the lure of the money and Judas was cast in one of history's most significant roles, love was about to tear them apart.

When we hear Jesus talking about the life of a disciple being about conflict and hardship, it can make us feel uneasy, maybe make us doubt ourselves, but I don't think it should.

We are faced with choices, to give in to those who would tell us we are wrong; wrong because of who we love and how we identify, those who say we're wrong because we profess a faith; wrong because we go to such an odd church which isn't "mainstream" or respectable.  In those times we need to draw on our own resolve and determination to stand up to this, and we need to trust in God to be in the middle of our lives, however tested we are.

Judas may have baulked at the prospect of being harassed, but for many of us, we know the truth of these words, we know that sometimes it's just more important to be the people God made us to be, that courage in the face of ignorance is a quality Jesus calls each of us to have.  In many ways we are all faced with the same choices that Judas faced, do we stand by our friends, and do we stand by Jesus?  Do we let love build us up or tear us apart?