Forgive me Lord,
There is Judas deep within.

Wednesday of Holy Week
March 19, 2008

Isaiah 50:4-9a
Hebrews 9: 11-15 24-28
Psalms 69:8-15 22-25
John 13:21-35

Thank you for being here today so that we can worship together. This is the faithful Wednesday group. We gather this day as we do every Wednesday morning at 10 AM to pray together, pray for others, participate in the formal “healing service” of our church and celebrate the Eucharist. We are in the big church instead of the chapel today because all clergy are optimists and we always hope for a full house and for sure during Holy Week, those who would want to be at this service would not fit in the chapel. Look around. There is for sure room for many more. The crowds don’t come to services this week much. This is Holy Week but because we hold the first three days of services during the daytime, crowds don’t come. Many of our people work and getting here during the day is just too hard. Or is this week just too hard?

We are all busy. Eight church services in one week? What are we thinking? Our schedules just wouldn’t allow that much time for church. There is another reason too people can’t be here. This week is very important to our spiritual growth, but this week is very hard, in fact the hardest week of the Christian year. The lessons are very hard to read, to hear and to think about.

It turns out that we cannot watch with Jesus this week any more than the disciples could in the Garden. It turns out that we betray our Lord as surely as Judas of Iscariot did.

I am preaching about Judas of Iscariot today because it is the assigned scripture. I would never have chosen this. Judas is one of those humans who make us feel ashamed. How could he betray our Lord? And for money which to most of us, makes it worse. Our gospel today tells us that Jesus knew that he would be betrayed by one of those closest to him. He knew who it was. I want to know why he did this to our Lord. I want to know why Jesus didn’t stop him. You see as much as each of us wants to believe that we could never have betrayed our Lord, as much as we disrespect and abhor Judas for what he did; when I search my soul, I know that I too have a little bit of Judas in me.

What Jesus asks today is so simple.
“I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

It is the hardest thing to do.

At church camp growing up, one of my favorite songs was “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

By our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

By our love, by our love

And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

Love is patient, love is kind
Never boasts, not full of pride
Always hopes, always trusts
The evidence of Christ in us

Those days, I was even more of an idealist than I am today if that is possible and I believed what we sang. I just can’t reconcile the differences in that pure simple song and the way we act. My two brothers were usually unmerciful to each other. It was awful, why couldn’t they just be nice? My mother used to defend the way they treated each other by saying, “But if anyone else picks on one of them, they are right there defending each other.” That seems to be one of the unwritten rules of family. Birth families, work families, church families; we can all be unmerciful to each other.

The song says: “We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored” So far so good. I think most of us do pray that all unity may one day be restored. Most of us hate war.

The next verse is where we get into very serious trouble. “We will work with each other, we will work side by side we will work with each other, and we will work side by side. And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride”

Most of us can work with each other and “play nice” as we do so. What happens in our thoughts? What happens before and after our working together? Do we guard each other’s dignity and save each other’s pride? Human experience tells me that we spend a lot of energy telling each other and worse yet we tell others about the faults and what we don’t like about each other than we spend guarding each other’s dignity and saving each other’s pride. A lot more time than we spend building each other up for the kingdom of God. When someone starts a conversation with me by saying, “there are a lot of people upset about….” I know that what follows probably is not meant to guard anyone’s dignity or save anyone’s pride. It is going to express a personal opinion about someone else or about something that someone else has done that has probably been widely shared.

If we could truly walk with each other, walk hand in hand; we might have a chance to spread the news that God is in our land. They would know we are Christians by our love.

“Love is patient, love is kind
Never boasts, not full of pride
Always hopes, always trusts
The evidence of Christ in us”

It is love that allows us to watch with Christ and with each other,
It is love that mandates keeping confidences
It is love that allows us to build each other up and celebrate the gifts of each other.
It is love that can make us a community of faith of whom our lord can be proud.
It is love that will show we are “Christians” truly following Christ.

Let us in this Holy week, kneel together and say the Litany of Penitence found on page 267 in the Book of Common Prayer.

* “They will know we are Christians by our Love” by Carolyn Arends