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The Trial of Judas
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The Trial of Judas Iscariot
(Bailiff Betsy Howden) All rise! The court of ZPC is now is session, the honorable Scott T. Shelton, presiding.
(Judge Scott) Please be seated. Ladies and gentlemen, I appreciate your willingness to be called in on a weekend, but I believe that we're all in agreement that the issue before us has merit. Let's proceed then to the case of the People vs. Judas Iscariot. What charge is being presented?
(District Attorney Chris Malott) Your honor I speak for the people in charging the accused, Mr. Judas Iscariot, with pre-meditated betrayal. We believe the defendant should be held singularly responsible for the death of Jesus of Nazareth.
(Judge) How does the defendant plead?
(Counsel for the Defense Sherri Crabb) Your honor, we enter a plea of "not guilty."
(Judge) Very well. Are the people ready to present their case?
(D.A.) We are, your honor.
(Judge) Proceed.
(D.A.) Ladies and gentlemen, Charles Lamb was once asked whose face he would most like to see if he could catch sight of a single face he had never seen before. He answered without hesitation, and I quote, "I would like to see the face of Judas Iscariot. It is inconceivable to me how a man can live with Love and talk with Love for three years and still betray Love as he did. I cannot imagine such a face. I would like to see it."
We cannot present to you today the face of Judas Iscariot in the flesh, for Judas is dead – a victim of his own hand. But I believe that through the words of Scripture – words well known to many who are in the court this morning – we shall be able to accurately recreate the person of Judas, and that will be sufficient grounds for you to agree with my assessment that the accused deliberately, and with pre-meditation, betrayed and brought about the untimely death of Jesus of Nazareth.
My colleagues have been telling me that I've managed to secure the easiest assignment in judicial history. Prove that Judas is guilty of betrayal? What could possibly be more obvious? Of course he is guilty! Nevertheless in a few moments the defense will attempt to cloud your minds. You will hear something like, "Judas was tragically misinformed. He didn't know what he was doing. He wasn't malicious; he was merely weak – and in a moment of glaringly bad judgment he unintentionally condemned to death the greatest man who ever lived." The defense will attempt to make you believe this fantasy...but the Word of God says otherwise.
Your honor, I'd like to call into evidence Exhibit A: 30 pieces of silver. The public record in Matthew 26 makes it clear that Judas solicited hard cash in exchange for his treachery. And I quote: "'What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?' he asked the chief priests. So they counted out for him thirty coins." This was quite a tidy sum in those days, roughly equivalent to half a year's wages. Six months of compensation for six hours of work. It's clear that Judas loved money more than he loved God.
(Defense) I object! Speculation.
(D.A.) I believe I can prove my statement, your honor.
(Judge) Overruled. Proceed.
(D.A.) I refer to the twelfth chapter of the fourth gospel, where John – whom we all know was well acquainted with the defendant – points out that Judas was the disciple who was responsible for the money bag that supplied Jesus' ministry. John makes it abundantly clear that Judas was a thief; he regularly helped himself to the gifts that others had made to the work of Jesus. Ladies and gentlemen, it is our contention that long before the fateful weekend of Jesus' death, Judas had sold out his spiritual life for the sake of money.
I present to you now Exhibit B: a piece of unleavened bread that has been dipped in sop. I've been told that not everyone in court this morning is acquainted with the details of Jewish feasts. May I have permission to digress a moment?
(Judge) Mr. Malott, this audience is quite accustomed to your digressions on Sunday mornings. I don’t see why this day should be any different.
(D.A.) I’m confident the people will ignore that last remark. We know, ladies and gentlemen, that Jesus' Last Supper was actually a sharing of the Jewish Passover meal. There is an important moment in this tradition in which the host of the meal takes a piece of unleavened bread, dips it into the sop of fruit, nuts and wine, then hands it to one of those at the table. This would be the so-called sop of honor, an act of friendship of indescribable significance. At the Passover table the sop of honor is a public gift from the host to the one guest he most wants to affirm and appreciate in front of his friends.
The evidence of the gospels suggests that Jesus gave this sop of honor to none other than Judas Iscariot...and Judas turned the honor down.
Jesus, knowing that the 30 pieces of silver were already in the traitor's pocket, was still reaching out to Judas. At the last possible moment he was still saying, "Dear friend, I love you and affirm you. Won't you take this from me? Won't you see things as I see them?" Even after Judas declined the sop of honor – an insult of monumental proportions – Jesus whispered quietly to him, probably so the other disciples wouldn't hear and start a riot, "What you must do, go and do quickly." Then the Bible says that Judas went out into the night. The crime of this man is that he looked straight into the eyes of forgiveness and love and turned his heart into a stone.
(Defense) Objection! How could the D.A. know anything about the condition of Judas' heart?
(Judge) Sustained. You may proceed Mr. Malott, but let the evidence speak for itself.
(D.A.) I couldn't agree more, your honor, which is why I hold in my hand Exhibit C: the branch of a fig tree from the Garden of Gethsemene, broken off in the chaos of a small army bursting into that quiet place. Jesus was there, praying to his Father. Little did he know that he was in danger.
(Defense) Grave danger?
(D.A., imitating Jack Nicholson) Is there any other kind?
Judas was the source of that danger. Leading a band of soldiers, knowing that at last he had cornered Jesus in a place far away from the public eye, Judas could now carry out the business of betrayal with the least interference.
Ladies and gentlemen, I find it hardest of all to relate to you the central detail of what happened in the garden that night, but the completeness of the record demands it. Judas Iscariot betrayed his master with a kiss – a kiss on the hand, as was the custom of disciples when greeting their rabbi. But not just one kiss. The Greek verb indicates that Judas kissed Jesus’ hand repeatedly. And I venture to say that nothing that Jesus felt over the next 18 hours – not the blows of the fists or the bites of the Roman whips or the stinging agony of spikes piercing flesh – felt as dreadful as those kisses from the lips of a traitor.
I give you, therefore, Judas Iscariot – who loved money more than truth, who trampled on friendship, who spurned a final offer of love, and who delivered God's Son to his executioners. Can there be any other verdict than guilty? Your honor, the people rest.
(Judge) Counsel, are you ready to speak on behalf of the accused?
(Defense) I am, your honor.
(Judge) You may proceed.
(Defense) Ladies and gentlemen, members of the court: I am not in the least bit intimidated by the evidence that the D.A. just presented to you. He thinks his case is watertight, but he is wrong – and soon you will know the reasons why. No, I don't fear the evidence we see here. But there is something that I do fear. I fear that the minds of everyone in the room are already made up. I fear that you have prejudged my client after centuries of Sunday School lessons and Passion Plays and over-wrought sermons that have dressed Judas in the robes of the scapegoat.
You think you know everything there is to know about Judas. However, did the prosecution take this little detail into account? Judas' last name, Iscariot, is generally thought to mean "a man of Carioth." That was a town in Judea, in the southern part of Israel. Jesus was from Galilee, which is up north – and so were all the other disciples. I don’t think I have to remind you that there was bad blood in those days between the north and the south. What would it feel like to be the odd man out when it’s 11-to-1 and you're the "1"? It wouldn't feel very comfortable, would it?
That's why Judas had something to prove. He tried harder. He became the man with a plan. From Day One he worked to win the kind of standing with Jesus that the other disciples enjoyed by virtue of their geography. And what was his plan? He would prompt Jesus to reveal himself as Messiah. But how, when, and where? How could he arrange a setting where Jesus might demonstrate his power by blowing away the Romans and the Jewish high priests? Then it occurred to him: The Garden of Gethsemene. That would be perfect. Judas would lead the high priests and the soldiers to Jesus, force a confrontation, and the Kingdom of God at last would arrive.
(D.A.) Your honor, I must object. This is the kind of fanciful speculation that I warned the court about earlier. The people deserve to hear the truth!
(Defense) You can't handle the truth!
(Judge) Order! Order! I've warned you before and I’m going to say it again: I’m ordering you both to stay away from Tom Cruise movies. Counsel, do you have any evidence to back up these assertions?
(Defense) Yes, I do, your honor. In fact they are the same three pieces of evidence that this court has already seen. These thirty pieces of silver – if Judas were really a man who loved money more than God, then why did Judas return these coins to the priests and throw them across the temple floor? Why didn't he barter for a higher price on the head of Jesus instead of taking the very first offer that was made? The answers are obvious and elementary: Judas didn't care about the money. When his plan didn't work, he simply threw the money away.
What about this sop of honor? I submit to you that Judas didn't turn it down at all. In fact, he was thrilled to receive it. He considered it the stamp of approval for the plan he had cooked up. When Jesus whispered, "What you must do, do quickly," Judas left eagerly, certain that Jesus was eager to cooperate.
And this broken branch of a fig tree? Judas' arrival in the Garden was no intrusion. His kisses were not false affection. With wide-eyed sincerity he embraced his master, as if to say, "Look, Lord, haven't I done well? I've brought your enemies here before you. Now work your will upon them!"
But of course Judas had mis-read Jesus. It was never Jesus' plan to establish his kingdom by force. He worked no miracles. He didn't resist the soldiers. Silently he walked to his own death. Is Judas guilty? Yes, he is – guilty of doing what we all have done. He tried to squeeze Jesus into a mold of his own making. He tried to force Jesus to become the kind of Messiah that he wanted him to be.
So now I'm going to take a risk and show you what the prosecution didn't have the courage to bring before the court this morning. Ladies and gentlemen, this is the noose by which Judas Iscariot took his own life.
(D.A.) I object! This is hardly appropriate for a family worship service. What is the defense going to say about this noose: If it does not fit, you must acquit?
(Defense) Quite the opposite, your honor! In fact this noose fit all too well. So I ask you: If Judas had intended to betray Jesus and to bring about his death and then so obviously succeeded, why was he filled with remorse? This is the evidence that Judas knew that his plan, while sincere, had gone very, very wrong. This was no pre-meditated lynching!
(D.A.) Your honor, the people have neither seen nor heard anything this morning that would make us question that Judas is guilty. We’re ready for you to make your ruling so all of us can go on to brunch.
(Judge) Does the defense have anything else to add to its case?
(Defense) We do, your honor. We would like to call a witness.
(D.A.) Objection! We received no advance notification that there would be a witness at this proceeding.
(Defense) Your honor, we believe this witness' testimony will be crucial to the decision that you have to make.
(Judge) I'll allow it, Mrs. Crabb, but please be brief. My car is parked at the far south end of the parking lot.
(Defense) The defense calls to the stand Mr. Simon Bar-Jonah. (Bill Azbell walks forward).
(Bailiff) Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help you God?
(Simon) I do.
(Judge) Please be seated, Mr. Bar-Jonah.
(Defense) Your honor, I’d like to have permission to treat Mr. Bar-Jonah as a hostile witness.
(Judge) All right, Mrs. Crabb, but please let us know as soon as possible where you’re going with this.
(Defense) Thank you, your honor. Mr. Bar-Jonah…my, the centuries have been kind to you. Tell me, is this jacket Galilean or imported? Never mind. But here is a question I do want to ask you: Is “Simon Bar-Jonah” actually the name that most people call you these days?
(Simon) No, ma’am.
(Bob) So what is the nickname that has for all intents and purposes become your stated name?
(Simon) My name is Peter.
(Defense) “Peter.” That means “rock,” doesn’t it? And who gave you this name?
(Simon) Jesus did. At Ceasarea Philippi. The night that he asked us – all of us disciples, that is – who we thought he really was. Some said one thing, some said another. I said, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
(Defense) And Jesus approved of you calling him that?
(Simon) Absolutely. In fact, he called me “Rock” from that moment on. He said… He said…(trailing off)
(Defense) Speak up, please, so the court can hear you.
(Simon) He said that I would be the Rock on which he would build his Church.
(Defense, cynically) And how do you think you performed in that role…Mr. Rock?
(D.A.) Objection! The defense is badgering her own witness!
(Judge) Sustained. Watch yourself, Mrs. Crabb.
(Defense) Let me rephrase. Have you always believed that you have lived up to the standards and the life and the high role to which Jesus called you?
(Simon) No, ma’an.
(Defense) In fact, isn’t it true that just moments after Jesus gave you the name Rock, you so misunderstood Jesus’ plans to come and die in Jerusalem that you tried to talk him out of it? And what did he call you then?
(Simon, mumbling) Satan.
(Defense) I don’t think everyone in the court heard you.
(Simon, shouting and rising from his chair) He called me “Satan”!
(Defense) That’s quite a come-down from Rock. And isn’t it true, when push came to shove, that you also failed Jesus at the eleventh hour? Isn’t it true that you fell asleep in the Garden when Jesus specifically asked for your prayer support? Isn’t it true that three times after that, while Jesus was standing on trial for his life, that you said out loud, and I quote, “I don’t even know the man”? If you’d like, we can supoena the servant girl who was there that night in the courtyard and she can come and testify.
(Simon) You don’t need to do that! I know what I said. Don’t you think I think about it every day of my life? I failed him. We all failed him. Every one of us who knew Jesus failed him then…and in so many ways we all still fail him now.
(Defense) I couldn’t have said it better myself. (To D.A.) Your witness.
(D.A.) Mr. Bar-Jonah...May I call you Peter? It’s a bold thing for you to admit that you failed your master. You failed The Master. That was Good Friday. But then came Easter. You have a different set of memories about Easter, don’t you?
(Simon) Yes, I do.
(D.A.) What do you remember about the first Easter?
(Simon) I remember that I didn’t have any idea how I could go on. What would become of me? Who would ever trust me, or even want to be with me again? Then the women came with the news. It was…incredible. It was too good to be true. They said the tomb was empty. And an angel were there, an angel who spoke words that I will never forget.
(D.A., opening a Bible to Mark 16:6) I think I have the passage you’re talking about right here. Would you please read this for the court?
(Simon) “Don’t be alarmed,” the angel said. “You are looking for Jesus the Nazarene, who was crucified. He has risen! He is not here. See the place where they laid him. But go, tell his disciples, AND PETER, ‘He is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him, just as he told you.” Those two words – “and Peter” – changed my life forever. It meant that I was forgiven. That somehow, incredibly, he still wanted me.
(D.A.) There’s one question I think this court still needs to resolve this morning. If, as you say, you failed Jesus – just as Judas failed Jesus – then why are you still here? Why did you get a second chance?
(Judge) You don’t need to answer that question, Mr. Bar-Jonah. You may both step down. I believe I’ve heard enough to make my ruling.
(D.A., Simon, and Defense all leave the platform; Judge comes forward and addresses the congregation directly)
This is quite a dilemma, isn’t it? Judas and Peter both failed Jesus – there's ample evidence of that. So why did Peter get a second chance? Why did Judas go one way – into despair – while Peter went another way, into forgiveness and restoration? More importantly, what does this all have to do with us?
Here's where we come in. Today we're sitting in a pretend court. But one day we will all stand before God, who is the real Judge. You and I will be on trial for our lives...our eternal lives. And the case for our deserving eternal life will not go well. Oh, we’ll be tempted to present exhibits in our own defense: records of perfect church attendance, or contributing to charities, or being the best all-around person in our neighborhood. But those won’t make a bit of difference. We already know God’s judgment on our performance. It’s right here in Romans 3:23: For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That would mean Judas, and Peter, and me and you.
God knows that Day of Reckoning is coming. None of us will be found innocent. So what could God possibly do to help us? Might he simply wipe away the requirements of the Law and say, “Let’s let by-gones be by-gones. No harm, no foul”? Would you respect a judge who deliberately ignored the Law? God will never do that, or he would cease to be God.
So what could God do? What he did was amazing. God the Son stepped down from his heavenly court. He laid aside his identity, just as I am laying aside this robe – his identity as the One who couldn't do anything except judge us. He came to earth. He came incognito. He became one of us. And he lived the kind of life that none of us have been able to live. Then he gave up that life – even though he was completely innocent.
On Easter Sunday he rose from the dead. This was Jesus' way of saying, "This is for real. I'm offering forgiveness to you – spiritual acquittal – life in place of your life. Are you willing to take my spiritual record into the final judgment and you use it as your record? Will you accept that offer?"
Judas and Peter had a lot in common. Both were called to be disciples. Both had the privilege of spending time with Jesus. Both of them failed Jesus. But that’s where the similarities end.
Judas, as our D.A. put it, “looked into the eyes of forgiveness and love,” and said No. Judas rejected the offer of a transforming relationship with Jesus. But Peter said Yes. Did Peter follow Jesus perfectly? No, and neither will we. But here's the difference: By failing spiritually within the security of a transforming, heart-level relationship with Jesus, Peter failed forward. Even in his failures, Peter came closer to Christ. Incredibly, the same reality is available to us.
This morning, all of you have a role to play in this drama. You get to be the jury. It is required of you to render a verdict. But only about one person – about yourself. Look into the eyes of Jesus – eyes of forgiveness and love. See his outstretched hands, extended to you. Will you now accept his offer of a relationship that changes everything? The choice is yours and yours alone.
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