The Peril and Promise of Proximity
Preached by Ben Bechtel
March 17, 2019
Over the Christmas season my wife andI made our usual trip down to Georgia to visit my in-laws. And as often happenson these 12-hour trips, we get a little bored. As we were looking for podcaststhat we could binge in order to pass the time we found one that soundedincredibly interesting. The premise of the podcast went something like this:scientists conducted a real-life survey on what it would look like for a smallgroup of people to live in an enclosed environment on Mars. They recruited 6participants to live in a space dwelling, similar to what astronauts would useon Mars in a remote, volcanic part of Hawaii. The 6 participants could notleave the habitat at any time unless they had a spacesuit for a whole year. Itwas fascinating to see the evolution of the group from day 1 to day 365. Theyentered the habitat optimistic about their relationships with one another, oneman even saying he thought they’d all be best friends by the end. However, tono one’s surprise they each left with one close friend, a few people theydidn’t care for, and a few people they hated.
This experiment teaches us one thing: as far as sinful human beings are concerned, proximity to other people means that problems will arise. In this passage, we are presented with three groups of people, the chief priests, the scribes, and Judas who all lived in close proximity to Jesus. Their close interactions with Jesus throughout his ministry, and particularly over the past week that Jesus has been in Jerusalem, due to no one’s fault but their own, result in their desire to put Jesus to death. And this is where we are going to pick up this morning.
Luke 22:1-6
22 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover.2 And the chief priests and the scribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.
3 Then Satan enteredinto Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 Hewent away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he mightbetray him to them. 5 And they were glad, andagreed to give him money.6 So he consented and sought anopportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
1. The Plans of the Enemies
As we have been studying the gospelof Luke together, we have noted many times since we preached the passage, thatJesus, since Luke 9:52, has been journeying toward Jerusalem to his death. Ithas seemed to take forever for him to get there. I don’t know how many of youenjoy hiking or backpacking but one of the most disheartening things whilehiking is a false summit. You think you are almost to the top and you crestwhat looks like the final hill only to find out there’s still another mileleft. As Luke tells the story he builds tension and brings events to what seemslike a climax only to have the story continue building towards the summit. Thisnarrative tension has continued to build since chapter 20 when Jesus enteredinto Jerusalem. The beginning of Luke 22 is where we begin to see the ominous,dark clouds of Jesus’ death coming into view. We are just a few steps from thesummit.
In verse 1 we read that the Feast ofUnleavened Bread is drawing near. This feast is equated with Passover. The dayof Passover, with the Passover meal, began the weeklong Feast of UnleavenedBread. Now, Passover was one of the major Jewish festivals and it was a pilgrimfestival, meaning that Jewish people scattered all across the known world wouldcome to Jerusalem for this celebration. The Passover was a celebration thatboth looked back in remembrance and looked forward with expectancy.[1]The Passover looked back to God’s mighty salvation of his people Israel fromslavery to Pharaoh and the Egyptians. But the Passover also looked forward inhope to the future day when Israel’s Messiah would come on behalf of God,destroy the enemies of Israel, and rescue her once again, bringing God’s justiceand new creation. It looked back to the original Exodus from Egypt and lookedforward to a new Exodus when God would set his people free.
This setting of Passover has enormousimplications for what Luke tells us in verse 2:
2 And the chief priests and thescribes were seeking how to put him to death, for they feared the people.
These religious leaders are desperate to get Jesus off oftheir hands. This is the third time since chapter 19 that Luke mentions thatthe religious leaders are trying to find a way in which they could kill Jesus. Theywere actively seeking for a way that they could dispose of him like you might activelysearch for your car keys in the morning when you’re running late for work.Their action is urgent, frantic, hurried, and desperate. And the text says thisis all because they were afraid of the people. Why were they so afraid of thepeople? They are the most powerful men in Israel! What do they have to beafraid of?
Well, again, let’s return to thesetting of Passover. The hopes of the Jewish people evoked by Passover were fordeliverance from an empire to whom they were subject and the establishment ofGod’s kingdom by a Savior/Messiah. Now think about this hope during thisparticular Passover season, with the Jewish people under the thumb of the Romanempire and a person saying and doing Messiah-like things. This is why Lukerecords just before our passage in 21:37-38:
37And every day [Jesus] was teaching inthe temple…38And early in the morning all the people came to him inthe temple to hear him.
Crowds are beginning to gather around Jesus. The people arebeginning to whisper to one another, “Could this be the one? Could he be theone to bring in God’s kingdom?” And it is for precisely this reason that thereligious leaders have their guards up and are actively seeking a time whenthey can remove Jesus without the crowd present. They want to remove Jesusbecause he is a direct threat to their power but they want to make sure theiraction doesn’t ignite the powder keg of Messianic fervor gathering around him.
Lukecontinues in verses 3-6 to discuss the other parties present in thisplot:
3 Then Satan enteredinto Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. 4 Hewent away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he mightbetray him to them. 5 And they were glad, andagreed to give him money.6 So he consented and sought anopportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.
This is where you cue the sinister music. When Judas shows upon the page, we all shudder. We think of Brutus, either from history opfShakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Or, for the less literary and historicalminds out there like myself, we think of Lando Calrissian delivering Han Soloover to Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back. Luke portrays Judas in hisgospel like this; he is one dimensional character. We are to view him as thebetrayer. In fact the only other time Luke has mentioned Judas up to this pointin his gospel is in 6:16 where, in listing the disciples of Jesus, he recordsthat Judas “became a traitor.” This is why he has to remind the reader herethat Judas was one of the twelve. One of Jesus’ closest ministry partners andfollowers is selling him out.
While Lukedoesn’t tell us much about Judas, the other gospels help us to fill out theportrait. We know from John’s gospel that Judas was in charge of handling themoney for Jesus and his disciples (12:4-6). We also learn here that Judas,while he claims to care about the poor, is enamored with money, stealing forhimself out of the disciples’ treasury. Matthew highlights this same trait ofJudas in his telling of the betrayal (Matt. 26:14-15):
14Then one of the twelve, whose namewas Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15and said, “What willyou give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces ofsilver.
Notice the detail that Matthew adds: Judas doesn’t just cometo betray Jesus, he comes bargaining for a price! His motivation for betrayalis as simple as cold, hard cash.
While Judasis responsible for his desires and actions against Jesus, there is an even moremenacing actor involved here. Satan, the accuser, the enemy of God and hispurposes of love and blessing from the beginning, sees an opportunity. This ishis best chance to take out Jesus and derail the plan of God for salvation. Ashe is prowling around, he sees in the actions of the religious leaders ofIsrael and Judas his chance to crush Jesus, God’s anointed.
Now, let’sstop and think about this for a second. Those who are most aligned with theplan of Satan, who most conform to his desires to destroy God’s plan ofsalvation, are members of God’s very own people! They are the ones who haveseen Jesus up close and personal! If there are any people who should haveheeded the message and miracles of Jesus it should have been these guys! Theleaders of God’s chosen people are aligned with Satan in a plot to oppose thevery God who made them his people!
Not only that, but notice in verse 5it says, “they were glad” when Judas offered to betray Jesus. That wordcommunicates an even stronger feeling of gladness. It could be translated “theyrejoiced” or “they exclaimed.” Without being too provocative I hope, theleaders of God’s people here are involved in a Satanic worship service,praising him for his wise plan to oppose the God of Israel. This is why in theopening to his gospel, the apostle John writes “[Jesus] came to his own, buthis own people did not receive him” (John 1:11). Not only did they not receivehim, they are plotting with the enemy of God to kill their Savior and onlyhope.
For Judas and the religious leaderstheir proximity to Jesus hardened them towards God. Judas would have beenviewed by the watching world as one of Jesus’ closest followers. He lived andtravelled with Jesus for 3 years. And yet his love of money choked out his lovefor Jesus. The religious leaders would have been perceived as the closestpeople to God in all of the Jewish faith. They have had the extensive exposureto both the Hebrew Bible and the Christ who was fulfilling that Bible rightbefore their eyes! However, their love for power caused them to seek to killthe Giver of Life. You see, both Judas and the religious leaders, despite beingclose to Jesus, did not love Jesus. Their nearness to Christ only caused themto become hardened to him and his message and to cling to their money andpower.
Friends, proximity to the things ofGod does not mean that we are actually close to God. This passage shows us thatyou can be as close to God as religiously possible and yet be under the sway ofSatan. (FCF) In fact, we often let our proximity to the things of God topush us away from rather than draw us to Jesus. Some who appear the mostreligious on the outside, who hold the highest positions in church, who knowChristian teaching backwards and forwards, who have good Christian friends, whohomeschool or have their kids in Christian school, who post the most picturesof them reading their Bibles on Instagram, can actually be the farthest fromGod if they are not careful, if we are not careful. All of this exposureto God can cause us to become overly familiarized with and as a result hardenedto Jesus. It can cause us to be puffed up with pride. It can cause us to clingto our idols more fiercely, ourselves becoming as hard to Jesus in our heartsas idols themselves (Is. 6:1-9).
2. The Plan of God
So, how do we protect ourselves from this?How do we not allow our proximity to Jesus to harden us but rather, to softenus to him? To answer this question, we are going to turn over to an account inthe gospel of John from the night before Jesus’ death, right before the LastSupper. In John 13:1-5 we read:
Now before the Feast of thePassover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out ofthis world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world,he loved them to the end. 2 During supper,when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot,Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus…rosefrom supper…he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples'feet…
Jesus here, exhibits an act of selfless service that it ishard for us to grasp. Foot washing was a dirty job in the ancient world,reserved exclusively for servants in a house. And yet Jesus, God in the flesh,chooses to get down and serve his disciples.
Now, thereare two crucial details we need to grasp here. First, Judas is at this meal! Andnot just Judas. John makes it a point to emphasize before the foot washing thatJudas is present and that he is currently under the influence of Satan!While he is doing the bidding of Satan, Jesus pours out his love on Judas. Thiswould be like Martin Luther King Jr. or John F. Kennedy having dinner withtheir assassin the night before they were to be assassinated, knowing full wellthe plot. And not just dinner, a four-course meal. And they would personallyserve their assassin and wash the dishes. That is what Jesus is doing here.Even though Jesus knew how Judas would respond, he drew near to him in loveanyway.
What Jesusdoes for Judas illustrates the reality of what he does for all of us. Verse 1makes this clear when it says that Jesus, having loved his own through hislife, determined to finish his mission of love. You see, amidst Satan’s plan ofdeception and death God is working an even greater plan. In the death of Jesus,this horrible event orchestrated by Satan, God’s plan of love and salvation wasrealized. What man and the devil intended for evil, God intended for good (Gen.50:20). While Satan frantically sought an opportunity to kill Jesus and snuffout God’s plan, Jesus marched calmly to the cross, like a lamb is led to theslaughter. He knew God’s plan was for him to demonstrate the immeasurable loveof the triune God to humanity in dying for his betrayers, like Judas and likeyou and me. As he hung on the cross, Satan thought he had won all the whileGod’s love pierced through the darkness of betrayal, sin, and death. God drewnear to us in Jesus to show forth and pour out his love.
The nextportion of the story in John 13 brings this home for us when you observe Peterin contrast to Judas (vv. 8-9):
8 Peter said to him, “You shall neverwash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have noshare with me.”9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not myfeet only but also my hands and my head!”
Peter’s response to Jesus comes in two waves. The first isdenial. Peter understands that Jesus is his Lord and teacher. Picture yourselfwith a leader you greatly respect getting down and offering to wash your feet.We all would do what Peter does! But then Jesus tells Peter that if he doesn’tallow him to wash his feet, he can’t have any part of him. Peter then blurtsout, “Lord dunk me!” While his understanding is immature and his responses areimpulsive, they tell us something crucial about what being in close proximityto Jesus should do to us.
Both disciples lived with Jesus forthree years: one ended up committing suicide because of the guilt involved withbetraying Jesus and the other died a martyr proclaiming the good news of Jesus’love. What is the difference? Faith. Peter saw Jesus bodily for three years,and while his life is marked with failure, including his own denial of Jesus inthe hour of his death, his life was also marked with a growing faith and trust inJesus. And in this moment, when Jesus offers himself to Peter, he responds injoy and says, “Jesus I want all of you!” That is faith.
For those of us with the eyes offaith, when we see the way in which Jesus has drawn near to those of us whohave turned our backs on God in betrayal and denial from the beginning and howhe died to rescue us from that betrayal and denial we ought to exclaim withPeter, “give me Jesus!” I can’t not have him! You see, faith doesn’t valueother things, like money or power higher than Jesus. Faith says like theapostle Paul in Phil. 3:8, “I count it all as loss for the sake of knowingJesus Christ my Lord.” You see, unbelief and idolatry rejoices when Satanpromises to fulfill all of our desires but faith rejoices in Christ! Faithrejoices in knowing him, in loving him, and in enjoying him, the one who committedhimself to you in love to the very end, to the point of his own death, forever.
Before us this morning are twotrajectories. One life is characterized by a turning from God, resulting inhardening and destruction. The other is characterized by a turning to God as hehas drawn near in Christ to die for us, resulting in blessing and life. May thelove of God humble us not harden us. I pray that God would grant you the giftof faith this morning to see our beautiful Savior and his plan of love. If youhave never believed in him, if your life is characterized by betrayal andturning your back on God, know that he is near to you. See him this morning andbelieve! And for those of you who do know him, place faith in him anew today.Maybe you have been hardened by being close to religious things but haven’t hada real, vibrant relationship of love with Jesus. This morning, may you cry outagain for the Lord to dunk you in his love and grace and may this morning markone more step of faith in a life that is bound to behold the beauty of Jesusforever.
[1] See David W. Pao andEckhard J. Schnabel, “Luke” in Commentary on the New Testament Use of theOld Testament, ed. G.K. Beale and D.A. Carson (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2007), 380.
