Sin is a loaded word. For those outside the faith, it’s a funny and dated religious term. For Christians, we repeat it so often that it loses its bite. Scripture reveals that sin is worse than we know. Jesus is so serious about it that he says, “If your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out.” What is it about sin that’s so fatal it would require Jesus to go to the cross?
This Lent we do a soul examination, studying all the ways God describes the complex of sin. Lawlessness, adultery, rebellion . . . The cancerous nature of sin means that we need to go deeper than surface confession. The problem is worse than we know, which makes our Savior greater than we can imagine.
Invocation
Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, who delivers us from all evil.
Invitation Prayer
Lord, evil often comes from those closest to us. Peter denied you and Judas betrayed you. You know the pain of evil that comes from your friends. Comfort us when we are hurt by those we love. Lord Jesus, without you we fall. With you, we stand. Stay with us, Amen.
Word
Matthew 26:21
“And as they were eating, he said, ‘Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.’”
Meditation: Keeping Secrets by Koleen Barnes
How are you at keeping secrets? What is the biggest secret you have ever had to keep? I am absolutely awful at it. I love giving people presents, but always ruin it because I get too excited and end up giving it to them early or telling them what it is. The biggest secret I have ever had to keep was when I found out I was pregnant. Case and point—I told my parents within 48 hours. I am an absolutely horrible secret keeper.
As I read our Holy Week text, I just keep thinking about how well Jesus kept what is arguably the world’s biggest and most important secret. Sure, he did tell his disciples that someone would betray him, but he didn’t let on who it would be. I think we skip over this part too frequently. We hear the story about breaking bread and blessing wine every week for communion, but we don’t really marinate on the rest of the evening.
Let me ask you another question—have you ever been mad at someone? Maybe you are someone who can hold things inside. I am not that person. Arguably, there is hardly a thought in my head that I don’t share with someone. That extends, or perhaps even amplifies, when I am mad at someone. I am in awe of Jesus for a lot of things, but I don’t think we take the time to appreciate what a feat Jesus’ forgiveness of his friends is. I don’t know that there is anyone else that would be capable of sitting down to dinner, knowing that you are going to die and someone at the table is the cause and not say anything.
I know that Judas betraying Jesus is only the beginning of the story. His actions catapulted our Savior into a situation that he knew was coming. One he goes into willingly, but I hope you can take time this Easter season to realize the strength it took not only to go through with his trials and death on the cross, but also the struggle of being calm, respectful, and resolved in the face of the person who is initially responsible.
I frequently forget that the major players in your spiritual and religious history were human. They were flesh and blood and lived just like we live. They were not just fictional men on a story book page. They were more complex. I think our study of them needs to reflect that as well. Our meditation on their actions needs to take into account that they had secrets and thoughts and complex lives outside of the few pages they get in this story and that those lives impact the story as a whole, even today.
Jesus is the ultimate role model. I hope that this Easter season I am able to remember that applies not only to salvation and how I should live my life when it comes to those I interact with in a positive way, but also those that may be on my bad side. I hope that I am able to consider Jesus’ actions toward those who were of no positive use to him, but he loved them and ate with them anyway.
Dear God, help us to remember Jesus and Judas this Easter season. Help us to take the love and care Jesus showed on his last night, knowing everything that would happen, and show it to others. Amen.
Sending
Lord, in the face of evil, you call us from death to life, from silence to speech, from idleness to action. Go with us now. Send us with your gifts. Sustain us by your promise. Amen.