Matthew 26:26-28

Brothers and sisters in Christ,

This evening’s Bible passage is Matthew 26:26-28:

²⁶ Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” ²⁷ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, ²⁸ for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 

If it was a surprise yesterday to realize that Jesus washed even Judas’s feet, it may come as an even greater surprise to discover that Jesus included Judas in the sacramental sharing of bread and wine at the Last Supper. In Lk. 22:19-21, Jesus observes, immediately after breaking the bread and passing around the wine, “The hand of him who betrays me is with me on the table.” Judas was still there. In the Matthew passage above, Jesus pointedly includes Judas in the shared sacrament by saying, “Drink of it, all of you.” No one at the table is excluded. Jesus will shed his blood, he tells the disciples, for “the forgiveness of sins.” The offer of forgiveness through the broken body and shed blood of the cross is thus extended even to Judas. Jesus loves and is willing to forgive even Judas’s sins. Confirming this love, the first word Jesus speaks to Judas when the betrayer arrives in the Garden of Gethsemane with armed men to arrest Jesus, is “Friend” (Matt. 26:49). Jesus still counts Judas as a friend for whom he is willing to die.

The tragedy of Judas is not that he betrayed Jesus. It’s that he was somehow unable to believe that his sins could be forgiven and that Jesus loved him. Judas genuinely repented his betrayal. Returning the thirty pieces of silver to “the chief priests and the elders,” he said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood” (27:4). This is a clear, unqualified acknowledgment of his guilt. The response of the priests and elders is heartbreaking: “What is that to us? See to it yourself” (27:5). There is no mention of grace, mercy, forgiveness, or divine love. Only priestly disinterest.

Imagine what Jesus’s response would have been if Judas had been able to go to him with the same penitent confession. I imagine the already suffering Jesus hugging him, calling him “Friend,” and assuring him that his sins, too, could be forgiven. But Judas didn’t speak to Jesus. Perhaps he was just too ashamed. He spoke instead to “the chief priests and the elders,” who knew nothing of God’s grace in Christ. In despair, Judas “went and hanged himself.” It’s unutterably sad. 

As Lent draws to a close and we approach Good Friday, we are faced, more than at any other time in the church year, with the cost of our own sin, both to ourselves and to Christ. But, even as this season draws closer to the midday darkness of its climax on Good Friday, the gospel narrative makes sure that we hear that Jesus loves us, that he includes us in his company, that his death is for the forgiveness even of our sins, and that he regards us as his friends. If all this is true of Judas, it is no less true of each of us. All Jesus asks is that we believe him. 

Your brother in faith,

Max