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St Peter’s Church Bredhurst Good Friday: Judas’s Story |
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Notices and |
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Good Friday – |
Not a sermon but a discussion document Divorce and our policy |
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Judas Judas, a noble name
mine. I’m named after Judah, son of
Jacob and his unloved wife, Leah. She
called her son Judah – which means praise God – because she really thought
that his birth would make her husband truly love her. I should have remembered that story. Neither Leah nor her sons were ever really
loved. They lived as outcasts within
the clan. And that’s what I’ve been,
haven’t I? An outcast amongst Jesus’
clan. It should have been so
different. They knew my father. He had pretensions my Dad, called himself
Iscariot – from the town of Kerioth.
It sounded grand till you realised Kerioth was a few mud huts and
precious little else. But here we were
in Jerusalem, mixing with the great and the good, the High priests and the
leading scribes. And that was where I
first saw him, in the temple, preaching. It was
electrifying. He said things no one
else dared to say. He talked not of
God but with God. He spoke of a
kingdom, of freedom, of hope. The priests
were stupid; they didn’t see who he was, the Messiah. I thought he loved
me. I thought, here at last is a
friend who won’t let me down. He let
me join them, no, he asked me to join them.
Judas, he said, follow me. And
I did. And he made me the Treasurer. Even though that po-faced John was always
checking the purse when he thought I wasn’t looking, Jesus trusted me. But it wasn’t true, was
it? He played with me. John, James, Peter, they were the ones he
really loved, they were the ones he told about his plans for the
kingdom. Remember how smug they were
when they came down from that mountain? I wanted to be the one
he loved, the one who could say things that made his eyes sparkle. I wanted to be taken in to the little
girl’s room when he raised her from the dead.
Why did he love them more than me? I wonder why I did it,
went to Caiaphas, offering them Jesus?
Did I really think that would provoke him into acting, into actually
starting the revolt against the Romans and re-establishing the kingdom of
David that was his by right? I would
have been Chancellor of the Exchequer.
Peter, ha, Peter would have been Master of the Royal Bathrobe. And
John, John would have been the Royal fan I suppose. Or did I do it to
destroy him? Do I really hate him so
much? Did he know what he was doing to
me? Did he know how much I wanted to
be his favourite? Or was it the
money? It’s in my hand now. Thirty pieces of silver, enough to set me
up in business. Enough to attract a
girl to love me perhaps? I wonder what they’ll do
with him? Will he turn them and start
the revolution? Will they laugh at him
and throw him out? They’re coming. And what about you? What do you think of Jesus? Is he your king, friend, brother,
leader? Do you think he really loves you
or has he let you down? Will you
betray him for your own ends, like me? Or will you join Peter and John for,
look, they are still with him. He
still loves them. Do you love me,
Jesus, do you? |
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