Posted on Wednesday, March 4, 2009
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INVOCABIT MIDWEEK

4 March Anno + Domini 2009

"Sacred Head, Now Wounded” Sermon Series

Part 2:  "The Wound of Betrayal” (Matt. 26:20-25)

In the Name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen. 

The "sore abuse and scorn” that paled our Lord's head "with anguish” (LSB 450:2) began long before the physical abuse.  It began with the actions of a friend, of one whom He loved, a companion with whom He had traveled many miles and shared many meals.  Here was a wound that weighed down our Lord's sacred head and brought Him sorrow and grief that compounded the weight of sin He bore upon His cross.

"One of you will betray Me,” He said at the table that night.  And they became sad and asked one after another, "Is it I, Lord?”  We, too, need to ask that question of our Lord:  Have I sold You out, Lord?  Have I lived for this would and its pleasures and bought into them, rather than wanting You, spending time with You, hearing Your words of life?  Have I lived as if I mattered most and You mattered not at all?  Is it I, Lord?

Jesus makes it clear:  the wound of betrayal is not inflicted upon Him by those who are distant from Him, from those who are not His companions, His friends, His close ones.  No.  This is a pain that comes from those nearest to Him, from those whom He holds in special love.  "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with Me will betray Me” (Matt. 26:23).  Not someone distant and unknown, but someone near, dear, loved. 

But note the love of the Lord!  Do not think for one second that the Lord's love for Judas, His betrayer, was altered by the betrayal.  Of our Savior the psalmist spoke truly:  The LORD is good to all, and His mercy is over all that He has made” (Ps. 145:9).  He loved this man who would go his senseless way.  Jesus loved this man who would first despise and turn from His love, and then despair of what he thought he had lost forever.  For Judas, the betrayal was so big a sin that he was convinced he would never - could never - find forgiveness.  Oh, the betrayal was a horrible sin in Judas, and it is a horrible sin in us.  What on earth can justify handing over the Creator of all, who has shown us only benevolence and love, into the agony of torture, crucifixion, and death?  What madness is it that would lead the creature to betray the kind Creator?  What folly to chase a few bucks for a while in this world, spurning all the while the gift of a life that never ends?

"The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed!  It would have been better for that man if he had not been born” (Matt. 26:24).  Did our Lord ever utter such a terrifying word?  But do you see, people of God, that Jesus did not say these words out of hatred, anger, or any such thing?  He spoke from the depth of His sorrowful compassion.  He saw, as is His way, where Judas would end his life; that in the end Judas would despair of the mercy of God and go to his grave believing that his sin was stronger than God's mercy in Christ.  And it broke our Lord's heart even more than the betrayal itself. 

How little Judas understood the Son of Man whom he betrayed!  For it was also for the sin of Judas, and the sin of all us Judases, that the Son of Man stretched His hands on the wood and let them pound in the nails.  It was for the sin of Judas, and all of us Judases, that the Son of Man pleaded, "Father, forgive!”  It was for the sin of Judas, and of all us Judases, that the Lord of life let "grim death, with cruel rigor” (LSB 450:2) rob Him of His life so that sin and death would lose their claim over us forever. 

The pain of betrayal is great, and it wounded our Lord's tender heart.  But it could never turn that heart to bitterness.  In that heart lives a love too great, too strong, too mighty for bitterness and hatred to ever conquer it.  Although betrayal hurt, and hurt like hell itself, Jesus went on loving - Judas, you, even me. 

And so in the wounds of the Crucified One we discover a love that sets us free to love as we have been loved.  You know what that means.  Our Lord spoke often of taking up our cross and following Him.  Do you see, now, what your cross is?  You are betrayed when you love, and instead of your love being returned, it is rejected.  Such betrayal hurts and wounds you in an unspeakable way, and you are crushed and reduced to tears.  Then the old Adam rises up inside in indignation and anger and eagerness to get even.  But by the strength of Christ's cross, by the power of your Baptism into His love, you get to nail the old fellow to the wood and say:  No!  By the power of Him who forgave me, even when I have betrayed Him so many times, I forgive.  By the power of Him who loved me, even when I sold Him out time and time again, I will love you, the one who has hurt me.  This is a cross, my friends.  And it will be torture and death to the old Adam, but to the new self that God created in Baptism, it will be joy and life.  You will be sharing in the very life of your Savior when you take up your cross as He did. 

We have not begun to love with Christ's love until we have come, by God's grace, to love those we thought were our friends but who have betrayed us, hurt us, and brought us sorrow.  When we go on loving them and seeking good for them and their blessing - a feat impossible for fallen human nature, but possible in communion with the love of Christ - we begin to taste something of the joy known by the martyrs of Christ across many centuries, those who loved and prayed for the people who brought them even to death. 

As often as the Church celebrates the Holy Eucharist, she celebrates the love that is in her Savior, which is stronger than all of our betrayals - a love that He gives us freely in the Body and Blood that won forgiveness for Judas, for you, and for all.  It is our experience of such love that frees and strengthens us to bear the wounds of betrayal ourselves, following our Lord with joy.  It is that love that flows from Him and into us, which allows us to experience the wounds of betrayal and pick up our crosses and follow after Jesus.  May He give us grace to do so, our crucified and risen Lord, to whom be glory with the Father and the Holy Spirit forever and ever!  Amen.   

Now the peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, unto life everlasting.  Amen.