An Unholy Alliance
Introduction
When we think of the story of Jesus, what do we think of? Some of us may automatically go to the crucifixion and resurrection. One of the reasons we have been doing this series on Luke is to show that there is much more to the story.
At the same time, the crucifixion and resurrection were central to the early church’s preaching. When we look at Paul’s letters, we see plenty of references to the crucifixion and resurrection, but nothing of the miracles and very little of the teachings.
At this point in Luke we are just entering what is called the passion narrative. While we think of passion as that which excites us, it originally meant suffering and this the beginning of that chapter of Jesus’ life.
As we read through the Gospels, we see that Jesus’ intention had always been to go to Jerusalem to die. But how was that going to take place? Was Jesus just going to have a peaceful ministry and show up one day in Jerusalem and politely ask the Roman authorities to crucify him so he could pay the penalty for sins? It was much more complicated than that.
What we find in this passage is that there were three parties interested in the death of Jesus. We are going to take a look at who they were, why they wanted this and how it affects us.
Satan
I can’t say as I preach about Satan very often. Many people struggle with believing in a personification of evil. One of the reasons is that we have gotten this picture of the devil as a horned and hoofed being dressed in red and holding a pitchfork. It seems like the villain of a fairy tale. The reason some struggle with believing in the devil is that there are some Christians who blame everything on the devil. You stepped on a piece of LEGO? The devil must have put it there.
Yet both the Old and New Testaments seem to hold to the existence of the devil. We are not given a name for him. The devil means slanderer and Satan means accuser. They are titles that describe what he does.
In case we think Satan is not important to the story of Jesus, we should remind ourselves that the ministry of Jesus begins with Satan trying to tempt Jesus. Although that fails, we are told that the devil left Jesus until an opportune time. That time has come in our passage.
We will look at what this means for Judas, but why did Satan even care? It seems Satan was well aware of who and what Jesus was. The Gospels often show that the demons recognized who Jesus was before the disciples. Satan was the one who accused the people of God. Jesus was the one who was going to give his own righteousness to the people of God, thus defeating the devil. Satan needed to stop Jesus. Ironically, by initiating the death of Jesus, Satan was bringing about his own destruction.
What does this mean for us? There is a spiritual element to all that goes on. Paul in his letters reminds us that when we are in conflict with others, it is the spiritual forces that are our real enemy. We should not look for a demon under every rock, but we should be aware that there is more going on than what we see people doing. This is why prayer is so important. we need to pray for both strength and discernment. There are forces that do not want us to succeed in building God’s kingdom. Ignoring Satan will not help anything. Nor will dwelling on Satan. Jesus gives us the pattern. Be prepared and aware but do not be obsessed.
Priests and Scribes
I believe that there is a Satan but I do not believe that most acts of evil are done directly by spiritual forces. Most of the bad things that happen, the things that are truly evil, are done by good old flesh and blood humans. That is not to say that spiritual influence is absent but people are directly involved.
One of the themes that we find in the Gospels is the conflict that Jesus has with certain people. Some people have suggested that it is the Jews in general that were the problem and who were the ones that sought Jesus’ death. That is wrong for a number of reasons. One is that Jesus and the apostles and the rest of his followers were all Jewish. Secondly, we find that the priests and scribes were afraid of the reaction of the crowds to their attempt to kill Jesus. Those crowds were Jewish.
So why did the priests and scribes want Jesus killed? They were believers in the Jewish God who loved the Hebrew scriptures. Jesus was a believer in the Jewish God who loved the Hebrew scriptures. It sounds like they were on the same team.
The problem is that some of the religious leaders were intimidated by Jesus. He had a way of connecting with the people and teaching about God in a way that they couldn’t compete. They saw Jesus as a threat to their authority and influence over the people. The priests were known as those who did whatever was required to hold onto power, even compromising with the Romans. Realize that the Jewish high priest was not selected by the Jews but by the Romans. The message that Jesus was teaching, of complete faithfulness to God no matter what the cause, was dangerous to their position. Jesus needed to be taken out. The time of Passover was the time to do it because this was a time when there was a lot of religious fervour it there was a greater chance Jesus could get the people whipped up into a frenzy and cause problems.
And for us? There continue to be those who oppose the work of Jesus. This includes those inside the church. Church history tells us of many times that church leaders opposed that which was right and sought the death of Christians who tried to remain faithful. Like the priests and scribes, much of it was about political power and not religious zeal. Outside the church there are also those who oppose Jesus. There are people today who are claiming that Christianity is not just wrong, it is dangerous. Some are calling for an end to religious freedom so that society can move forward without religious shackles. Like the spiritual forces, we need to know these things exist.
Judas
This brings us the person we may most identify with the death of Jesus: Judas. The other parties involved were bad but in some ways, Judas was worse. There was more of an emotional impact Judas was not an ongoing enemy. Judas was a disciple. He was a friend. None of us wants to be hurt but being hurt by someone close to us is that much more painful.
Why did Judas do this? Luke tells us that Satan entered him. But I don’t think that we should think of this as a possession where Satan took over his body and forced him to do something against his will. I suspect this is more like Satan giving him the nudge to do something that was already there inside him. We are told that Judas approached the priests and scribes and agreed to do this for a certain amount of money. Some have suggested that it was purely a matter of financial greed. Everyone has their price. That may be true but there may have been something else on as well. Some suggest that Judas was trying to push Jesus to be more forceful in his messianic objectives and arranging for Jesus to be arrested would force him to use his powers more openly. We are just not told. What we do know is that there was some sort of unholy alliance between Satan, the religious leaders and Judas.
We think of Judas as the arch-villain but in some ways he could be any of us. Peter tempted Jesus to avoid the cross and denied Jesus three times. Many Christians throughout the ages have betrayed Jesus in one way or another. Perhaps different than Judas, but like Judas we have betrayed not from the outside but from the inside. The story of Judas is not there for us to point fingers and condemn but for us to look on the inside and ask what it would take for us to do the same. Judas demands some serious internal reflection on our part.
Conclusion
One of my favourite moments in a recent superhero movies is when one of the characters says, “We’re in the end game now.” In someways that is what this passage is about. Different parties, spiritual and human, outside and inside, are gathering together to plot the death of Jesus. The pieces are moving into position. Jesus is going to die. What they thought they were doing for their own good was ultimately leading to Jesus’ victory over all the powers of evil. That doesn’t excuse their actions but it gives perspective.
What this means for us is that in smaller ways, this story is replayed every day. There are spiritual forces still opposing the work of Jesus. There are those outside of the church that opposing the work of Jesus. There are forces at work within us that could lead to opposing the work of Jesus. Be aware and let us prepare ourselves.
