Jesus knows Judas is about to betray him to the rulers who will kill him. Jesus takes responsibility to reach out lovingly to Judas. He shares a communion meal with Judas. Jesus is honest and addresses Judas and his betrayal at the meal. Judas unfortunately goes through with the betrayal. However, we know Judas later takes responsibility for his lack of communion and lack of love. He reconsiders, admits his error, expresses guilt, and seeks to heal the harm he’s done. He goes back to the rulers to whom he’s betrayed Jesus but the harm cannot be undone. Judas is so beset by guilt the Gospel later records he kills himself.
White evangelicals are proving themselves worse in their betrayal of Jesus than Judas. Unlike Judas, evangelicals will not reconsider their lack of communion and love, will not admit their error, nor express appropriate guilt about it, nor take action to heal the harm they’ve done. Their behavior verges on mental illness. At the slightest suggestion of harm let alone facts proving it, evangelicals do not reconsider but, instead, deflect: “Yeah but the Democrats …” “Yeah but the Mexicans …” “Yeah but the Muslims …” “Yeah, but the Clintons …” Evangelicals will not admit their error of a lack of communion and love and, instead, are proud of their divisiveness and enemy making. They express little, if any, guilt, and instead assert justification for attacking enemies. They offer no healing and, instead sanctify their violence. Evangelicals are thus even worse than Judas was in his betrayal. They are, unfortunately akin to Paul who, as today’s second reading shows, also betrays Jesus. Paul hands a fledgling Christian faith community over to the ruler class, Paul “appointed elders for the people in each church.” Paul does not reconsider the harm he has done to Jesus’ witness of communion and love, does not admit it, and does not go back to heal the harm. He perpetuates it. Paul keeps appointing “elders,” “presbyters,” “men in authority,” “bishops,” and “church fathers.” They operate as the same rulers colluding with the same empires to punish the same Jesus-like enemies among the common people. Jesus’ way of communion and love, witnessed with Judas at the meal, is betrayed by Paul’s evangelical descendants. The fashion themselves rulers, men in authority, church fathers. Their supremacy and cruelty has them colluding with a man who has an affinity for dictators and white nationalists while he obstructs justice and lies about everything. Evangelicals are targeting more than one Christ but whole groups of Christs; LGBTQ, Muslims, immigrants, trans-persons, welfare recipients, indebted college students, people who want fewer guns, and so on and so forth as to have a virtually unending enemies list. Evangelicals are proving themselves worse than Judas in their betrayal of Jesus. Where does a culture go from here? How does a culture heal?
The U.S. culture may not heal soon. The U.S. is many years into waging WWIII across the world, especially in the oil rich Muslim Middle East. People living in the U.S. are betraying themselves to cruel rulers and their cruel supremacist troops and among their number are self-titled christians. They are proving more and more willing to wage war on neighbors who they judge enemies. We can be as Jesus and reach out to heal these Judases. “When Judas had left them, Jesus said,” “I give you a new commandment: love one another.” “This is how all will know you are my disciples.” With genuine love we can say to these Judases, ‘You are not Christ-like; you do not witness communion, nor love, nor healing.’ If they retort, ‘Yeah, but what about you?’ We might offer, ‘We do not claim the title Christ-like, you do. Since you do, stop acting worse than Judas. Take responsibility for betraying the Christs of your time to rulers.
Prayer: Spirit of Love, we refuse to call another the enemy.
Question: Who are the enemies I am not loving?
May 19, 2019 Gospel John 13:31-35 Fifth Sunday of Easter