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- [00:00]
Dr. Manny Arango
Hey, Bible nerds. This is Dr. Manny Arango and I'm your host for the Bible department podcast powered by Arma. This podcast follows a Bible reading plan we created to help you read the entire Bible in a year. You can head to the show notes or thebibledepartment.com to download our reading plan and join the journey. Day 61 Family Day 61. We're in the end of Matthew, Matthew 25, 28. I am going to talk about Judas, Judas betraying Jesus. I think that there's so much to talk about at the end of a gospel. Obviously, Jesus dying for the remission of our sins. Super, super, super important. But sometimes in these videos, I want to find something that's just a little like off the beaten path. So if you can find it on your own, then that's not always the most helpful. I want to help you find the stuff that maybe you can't see for yourself or you don't. You can't find for yourself. All right, so if you haven't done the reading for the day, It's Matthew, chapter 25, 26, 27, 28, four chapters of the Bible. If you have another reading, go do that. I'll be right here. And honestly, what I'm gonna say will make the most sense after you have done the reading and meditated on the reading and let the Holy Spirit talk to day 61. 60 days down. 304. 300, 304 days to go. Maybe. I don't know. 305. 305 including today. Woo. Guys, math really not my strong suit. I should do the math before I even jump on. Okay, let's dive in. Let's go to Matthew, chapter 25. Matthew, chapter 25, verse 14, says, Then one of the twelve, the one called Judas Iscariot. We're gonna focus on Judas to the chief priests and said, what are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you? Till they counted out for him 30 pieces of silver. From then on, Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over. So what's going on with Judas now? There's a lot of people that think for a myriad of reasons that Judas is connected with the zealots. Remember, there are five. This is our context clue. Okay? Five sects or five groups that are all responses to Hellenism. Okay, if you need to know what Hellenism is, Alexander the Great spread Greek culture all throughout the world, and that Greek culture is known as hellenism. So there's 5 Responses to Hellenism 5 Jewish Responses to Hellenism in the Ancient world. The first response is to be a Pharisee. We don't have time to dive into what that means. The second response is to be an Essene. These are the people that are doomsday preppers, and they believe that the temple is corrupt and they're out in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Okay? The third response is to be a Herodian to essentially get what you can't get from the Roman government, from the Greeks, you know, go to a little theater, you know, go to Temple of Asclepion, get a little health care. And the. The fourth. Did I say Sadducee? Yeah. The fourth response is to be a Sadducee, which is essentially to be an Uncle Tom. Okay? Kind of Matthew would fit into the Herodian camp. Herodians and Sadducees are both kind of like, hey, if you can't beat them, join them. All right? They're sellouts. And then the last response, to be a zealot. Zealots believed in the violent overthrow of the Roman government. Okay? These people were what I would say if the Sadducees and the Herodians are kind of like the Uncle Toms of the. Of the Jewish world, then the zealots are kind of like the Black Panthers. You know, I'm saying rifles, like militant, okay? Black power. All right? And so what we have is for a lot of scholars, for a lot of different reasons, they all believe that Judas is connected in some way with the Zealot movement. That's important because there's this fringe kind of theory out there that Judas does not think he's betraying Jesus. Judas believes what all the disciples believe, that Jesus is going to mount a rebellion and that Jesus is going to lead an army against the Romans. Okay? That is what all the disciples think. Like, all of them think about this. Peter has a sword, like, in the Garden of Gethsemane, Peter's strapped up. Peter's like, we ride at dawn, yo. Like, Peter, think about this. James and John, not only do they think that Jesus is going to lead a military campaign against the Romans, they think he's gonna win. These jokers grab Jesus right before they go to Jerusalem. And they're like, yo, when you win, can we sit on your right and on your left? And Jesus just shakes his head like, I cannot believe y'all really think I am going to lead an armed rebellion against the Romans. Think about it. Even Jesus being able to feed an army of 5,000, being able to feed men, not including Women and children means that Jesus can be a military commander. Okay? So. And this is the official charge against him when the chief priests hand him over to the Romans. Sedition, treason, okay? That he is trying to. That. That he's essentially trying to throw a coup. And so it's not that Judas believes this. They all believe this. All of the disciples are confused. There are multiple times where Jesus tells them, hey, I'm gonna die. I'm gonna rise from the dead. I'm gonna suffer. And all of the disciples essentially say things like, we don't understand what you're talking about. Like, we. It is so. It's so hard for us to understand how confused they were. Okay? For all of the disciples, Messiah meant one thing. Violent overthrow. The word Messiah. I'm still in my context clues. The word Messiah means anointed. One who got anointed. In Israel, kings got anointed. And what were they anointed to do? King David was anointed to kill the Philistines. Leaders are anointed to go into battle and kill their enemies and defend their borders. That's what they're anointed to do. Whether it's Saul, whether it's Hezekiah, whether it's David. That is what kings are anointed and charged to do. Now, this can get, like, real, real, real wild. Like, there's this book. Oh, man, I thought I had this thing on Amazon. There's this guy, I think his name is Peter Rollins, who believed. Oh, man, I got to find it. He believes. Now, I don't. I don't rock with this. He believes that, like, Jesus asked Judas to betray him. And I can't remember the name of the book. I'm trying to find it. I'm literally on Amazon trying to find this. Guys, I'm not even saying you should read this book. It's just really, really, really fascinating. Here we go. It's called Fidelity of Betrayal. Fidelity of betrayal. This dude, a hundred percent believes that Jesus actually is kind of scheming with Judas. Like, I need you to betray me. And I know you don't want to, but I know that you will. Cause you're a zealot. And here's the kicker for the argument, okay? Judas isn't thinking he's betraying Jesus. What he believes or the narrative that he's told himself is that if I press the issue, if I create a scenario where there's a potential for violence, Jesus will finally be who we all know he can be. A violent messiah, a military leader. If I create a Scenario if I manipulate the situation in just the right way, if I get all the players in place, then I can get Jesus to do what I, I want him to do, which is go on a killing spree. I want Jesus to kill all of the Romans. That is what any zealot would want in their Messiah. And here's what happens. Judas leads an army like of armed guards to the garden Gethsemane and Jesus doesn't do it. Jesus actually puts an ear back on to a servant after Peter. Peter is like, we ride at dawn, let's go Judas. That this backfires terribly. I actually think that the reason that Judas throws the money back into the temple, is full of regret, is full of remorse and commits suicide is because his plan died, did not work. I don't think he set out to betray Jesus. I think he set out to manipulate Jesus. And in attempting to manipulate Jesus, Jesus actually stuck to his guns. Jesus was adamant about being the kind of Messiah that he said he was, loving your enemies. And I don't know if you've ever just been grossly misunderstood by anybody. And it's like I don't know that you're ever going to understand what I'm saying to you. I felt that way as a leader and what this does is it makes me go, are there areas where I'm failing to understand Jesus, where Jesus saying things as plainly as possible to me and I am so stuck in my own opinion that my worldview has become an idol for me, that Jesus is no longer allowed to challenge me. Now Jesus is a means to my political ends. And that is exactly in my opinion guys. In my opinion, I think this makes Judas a way more human character. I think that this makes Judas like a real person. Because here's what happens when you villainize someone. When you villainize someone, you can't learn anything from them. When you villainize someone, it's almost like we have nothing in common. And I think that for a lot of us, we villainize Judas to the point of unrelatability. We don't learn anything from Judas. But the reality is that there's so much to learn from Judas.
- [11:16]
Arma Team
What if I told you that what you're learning in this video was just the tip of the iceberg? The Bible department is actually powered by arma. What is arma? I'm so glad you asked. ARMA is an online subscription based platform that we designed to help people, everyday people learn the Bible for themselves. We started ARMA so that anybody, anywhere could have access to trustworthy and entertaining Bible and Theology content in addition to this podcast, we have over 60 courses on individual books of the Bible, on theology topics, and on some hot topics like homosexuality, tithing, and women in ministry. But really, ARMA is a community. A community of people that I've gotten to know. A community where thousands of people are currently finding family, asking questions and nerding out on the Bible together. If you want a community to read the Bible with you this year, or if you want to dive into some deeper theological content, or if you want more exclusive access to me and the entire armor team, how about you go to thebibledepartment.com I'll be sure to post the link in the description of this video. Let's make this your year to become a Bible nerd.
- [12:39]
Dr. Manny Arango
Our nerdy nugget what happens is they arrest Jesus. This is chapter 26, verse 69. Now, Peter was sitting out in the courtyard and a servant girl came to him. You also were with Jesus of Galilee, she said. But he denied it before them all. I don't know what you're talking about, he said. Then he got up to the gateway where another servant girl saw him and said to the people there, this fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth. He denied it again with an oath, I don't know the man. After a little while, those staying there went up to Peter and said, surely you are one of them. Your accent gives you away. Then he began to call down curses and swore to them, I don't know the man. Immediately a rooster crowed. Then Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times. And he went outside and wept bitterly. In context, in cultural context, what Peter has done is infinitely worse than what Judas has done. That's just an objective fact. In rebellious rabbinical Judaism, in a discipleship, in rabbinical discipleship, to publicly disown your rabbi is death. To publicly disown your rabbi means you will never be in relationship again. There is no restoration in the first century world between a rabbi and a follower when you disown your rabbi publicly. None. Zero. Zilch. The reason that Judas is branded the betrayer of Jesus is not because he betrayed Jesus. Misunderstanding the rabbi and getting everybody into a load of crap. One thing publicly Peter's not confused. I'm making an argument that Judas is actually confused. He thinks that he's trading a scenario where Jesus is finally gonna do the thing that they came to Jerusalem to do. Judas is massively confused. He has miscalculated and misread the situation like crazy. Peter's not misread anything. He is scared. And he has allowed his emotions to take control. And Peter knows this is it. This is it. This is why he goes back to fishing, because this is it. He's disowned his rabbi. The reason that Judas is known as the betrayer is not for betraying Jesus. It's for what happens next. It's for taking his life into his own hands and for killing himself. The reason that Judas can never get redemption or forgiveness is because Judas does not trust that his Messiah has more power than his mistake. The reason that Judas think about what happens after the resurrection, Jesus has to tell the women, go get my disciples and Peter, okay? There has to be a restoration process specifically for Peter, because what Peter has done is. I don't think we see it as that serious in our cultural context, but in the ancient world, this is. Peter has crossed an uncrossable line and Jesus has grace and Jesus forgives and Jesus restores. If Jesus forgives Peter, who on his go from 1 to 10 has done the thing that's the worst. It's a 10. And Judas has done something that maybe like a 6 or a 7, there's no way Jesus would not have forgiven Judas. There's no, no way. What Judas did culturally in this cultural context is not as bad as what Peter's done. That's actually our nerdy nugget. I forgot to announce our nerdy nugget. So our nerdy nugget is. I'll read it out of my notes. According to rabbinic discipleship, Peter would have been the one to betray Jesus. That's how everyone would have read the story in cultural context. To publicly deny your association with your rabbi was completely unacceptable and utterly unforgivable. This is unforgivable. But Judas made two miscalculations, not just one. The first miscalculation is to just totally misunderstand Jesus. To be blinded by your own agenda, that you cannot hear the truth that Jesus is actually trying to communicate to you. The second miscalculation is to then take your life into your own hands and not trust your rabbi with the consequences of your actions. Peter's ashamed. Peter's hiding. Peter's ran away. There's so many things that Peter does after he denies Jesus, but at least he meets with Jesus. At least he'll have a conversation. At least he'll face the music, he'll face the facts. And what happens? Jesus doesn't berate him, he restores him. And he would have done the exact Same thing to Judas. That's my timeless truth. Here's just one simple question. How are you mishearing and misunderstanding Jesus? How are you mishearing and misunderstanding Jesus? Is Jesus a means to an end? Is there something that you want Jesus to do? And until he does that thing, you're not going to submit to. So the biblical Jesus, you have a golden calf in your own mind. You have a version of Jesus that you've created in your own head. And we all do this. We get Jesus to kind of be the spokesperson for the thing we're really passionate about, instead of just being passionate about the biblical Jesus, all of them. I think a lot of us are guilty of creating caricatures of Jesus. And so, you know, you've got a Pentecostal Jesus and a Baptist Jesus and a progressive Jesus and a conservative Jesus. And we kind of all pick and choose what kind of Jesus we want, and then we create caricatures of Jesus. And I think Jesus demands that we just accept him on his terms. The fullness of who he is. I can imagine. You know, Jesus goes to the tax collector and the sinner's house, and the disciples are like, okay, cool. We cool with that. But then he goes to the Pharisees house, and they're like, whoa, we thought you was cool with sinners. He's like, you are trying to pigeonhole me. And the moment I try to pigeonhole Jesus, what I realize is that he's bigger than all my categories. And I think all the disciples came to Jesus with an agenda. Because you got Matthew, who's a tax collector politically, would have been the exact opposite of Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot. I think with the 12 disciples, you got a full spectrum. And I think Jesus goes. I think for the zealot, they see Jesus as a means to a zealot end. And I think the tax collector sees Jesus as a means to a tax collector end. And I can relate to that. When I first came to the faith, I came to the faith because I believed that if I was abstinent, that I could escape poverty. And that was true. That is very, very true. I was never gonna escape poverty if it weren't for a strong sexual ethic. That's just true. But eventually it had to become more than that. Jesus couldn't just be utilitarian. Jesus couldn't just be something that helped me achieve my goals, but I had to actually surrender to the biblical Jesus and the fullness of the biblical Jesus. Okay, I gave you context clues. A nerdy nugget and a timeless truth. All right, guys, that's Matthew. That's Matthew. So I hope that you enjoyed the reading. I hope that you enjoyed the Gospel of Matthew. Let's see what book we got next on the Bible reading plan. We've got Hebrews. Okay, tomorrow we jump into Hebrews chapters 1, 2, 3, and 4. I'll see you right here tomorrow for day 62 of the Bible reading plan. I love that we're doing this. I hope that you're growing in your faith this year. Hope that you're growing in the knowledge of the word of God. Love you so much. Peace. Thanks so much for joining us on the Bible Department podcast. You can find us online and learn more about the show@thebibledepartment.com and on Instagram hebibledepartment. If you enjoyed this episode and want to dive deeper into the Bible, you can get free access to our library of courses@thebibledepartment.com we'll see you back here tomorrow.