Betrayal of Innocent Blood

Matthew 27:1-5

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I’d like to begin by sharing a text with you from Matthew chapter 27.

Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people reached the decision to put Jesus to death. They bound him, led him away, and handed him over to Pontius Pilate, the governor. Then when Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he felt remorse. He brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders and said, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? That’s your problem.” He threw the pieces of silver into the temple and left. Then he went out and hanged himself.

Judas is right. He has betrayed innocent blood. He had the privilege of knowing the only perfect man and not just a perfect man. But God come in the flesh. He had that great privilege. And not just as a bystander, as somebody who saw Jesus walk by, but as one of his students, and not just as a student, but one of those 12 who he chose out of his disciples to know him intimately. To be instructed by him directly. To know him not just as a student, but as a friend. He had that great privilege, and yet he sold the author of life into death. Not for kingdoms or for eternal life, but just for 30 measly pieces of silver. It’s a horrific act, monstrous beyond our knowing. And yet Judas is not the only one who’s betrayed innocent blood.

All sin is such a betrayal. Even though Judas’ is more personal, it’s more easy to see how a man who walked with God and talked with him like a friend, how monstrous it is to sell him into death. The same is true of all sin. It’s equally personal. Whenever we lie about another human being, whenever we hate them, when we ever lust after them, whenever we have a temptation to treat them as something light, we are treating one of God’s greatest gifts to us, his image in us as a light or cheap thing sounds like subject to my derision. But more than just the betrayal of treating God’s gift as something of light, every betrayal of sin is also a betrayal of innocent blood. Because no matter how small a moment of sin it is, no matter how little of a thought. It still required the blood of God to be shed for its forgiveness.

And so sin is really something monstrous beyond our knowing. And yet at the same time, despite how great that betrayal of sin is, there is a worse betrayal, the kind of betrayal that Judas commits in today’s text when aware of his sin, he despairs and takes his own life. Because although sin is horrific and monstrous, it is precisely to shed his innocent blood to pay for it that Christ came to earth. Not just to be a friend or a teacher, or to walk among us. In fact, he told Judas and the apostles specifically that he came to give his life as a ransom for many. (Matthew 20:28, Mark 10:45)

So when Judas takes his own life in despair of sin, he’s casting aside that innocent blood shed for him and betraying it in a deeper and more terrible way. If you’ve ever been tempted to follow the same kind of sin that Judas did, when if you ever come to know your sin as truly horrific and to see what it deserves, I want you to know that Christ came down to earth precisely to pay for that sin. He was even more fully aware of it than you, knowing it’s full evil at all times, in a way we only grasp in moments. And still he chose to come and shed his blood for it. So please don’t betray that innocent blood. But cling to it. Look to it for forgiveness and life. And wait till that day when Christ comes again. And you can walk with him face to face as a friend. Amen.

If you are struggling with guilt we would encourage you to speak with a Lutheran pastor. Visit els.org/locations/ to find a pastor near you or send us a message and we can connect you with someone to help.