Despair

Good Friday is a day of contrasts. Light and darkness. Justice and injustice. Life and death. Victory and defeat. Tonight we heard the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ according to St. John. We heard the details of our Lord’s betrayal, His suffering, and His death. And among the many people in that record of the history of our salvation, Peter, Pilate, the Roman soldiers, Mary, John, one figure stands out next to the Lord Himself: Judas the betrayer.

John tells us that Judas was the one who betrayed Jesus. But John doesn’t paint the traitor as a venomous creature of pure evil. Instead, the Evangelist, that is the writer of a Gospel, reminds us that Judas walked with Jesus. He was among the Twelve. He saw the signs. He heard the Word. He reclined at the same table. And on that last night, Jesus dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas. Judas, who would betray Jesus was afforded the gift of being in the Lord’s presence in the inner circle of the twelve Apostles.

To find out more, check out this sermon from St. John's Lutheran Church of Oakes, ND!