All Saints EP 25th March 2007

Luke 22,1-13

In the name of God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Are you ever ashamed to be part of the human race? Today, is the 200th anniversary of the day the UK Parliament abolished the trafficking of slaves. A terrible indictment of man's inhmanity to his fellow man. When you watch TV or read a newspaper, you learn about awful things happening to your fellow men and women. The other day the cricket coach being strangled by apparently someone he knew. The father who kills his wife and then his children. The man who goes on TV to plead for the murderer of his wife to come forward, only to be convicted as the murderer himself. Then on a more personal level, the businessmen sending text messages to their staff telling them they no longer have a job, ignoring the effect this has on them and their families.

Last Tuesday as part of the Lent course Mary gave us material explaining the purpose of the Gospels. Why were they written? Why was Luke’s Gospel written? Mary told us it sets out to put the record straight - to give an accurate account of Jesus’ life and ministry. Well, Luke tells us this right at the beginning of his Gospel “it seemed good to write an orderly account, so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.” Luke 19,10 goes on to say “The Son of Man came to seek and save what was lost”. ” What has been lost? Is it us? Have we lost the true spirit and goodness of humanity? We no longer know how to be what God had intended us to be. This applies surely to all mankind - people of every creed and culture. Terrible things happen throughout the world. However, we do not know what to do about it. We seem to have lost what it is to be human.

St. Luke tells us to seek and save what it is to be human. He tells us the story of Jesus. He was born of a virgin. He tells us about the young Jesus and the rest of His earthly life. In particular, He tells us Jesus is the Son of Man.

The Son of Man came to seek and to save. He puts His finger on what makes us tick. He came to seek and then to save that which was lost. He did this through the Cross and Resurrection.

Luke established that Jesus was the Messiah as prophesised in the O.T. Jesus claims to be the Son of God and Luke backs this up with the evidence from eyewitnesses. This confirms that Jesus has complete authority over evil, over nature, over death so that we might have eternal life.

Our reading from Luke is near the end of the Gospel. It was Passover time when Jews commemorated the Exodus from Egypt. Jesus was accompanied by his disciples but one of them was willing to plumb the depths. Judas is about to commit treachery. He is about to betray Jesus to the Jewish authorities. They wanted to do away with Jesus but they had a problem. Jesus was popular - men such Simon the Zealot would have defended Him. Therefore, to arrest him they needed to do it on the quiet away from the crowds. Jerusalem was crowded with up to 100,000 people during the Passover, so the Jewish leaders needed help to find Jesus. Judas coming along and telling them where to go to arrest him was an opportunity not to be missed. It is written in Luke 4,13 when Jesus was tempted by the devil who did not succeed that the devil “left him until an opportune time.” That time was now fast approaching. Satan was using Judas for his evil purposes. How low can you go? Judas went as low as you can. If there is something, which you do not like, you have a choice. You can ignore it, or respond to it and accept it, or you can destroy it. The Jewish authorities had decided to destroy Jesus using Judas who himself was being used by Satan. Judas in league with the authorities was to plumb the depths.

Here were church leaders plotting to kill one of their learned brethren. The temptations of the devil embraced them. They show us the depths which mankind can reach. Jesus on the other hand through His actions -and through the plan that He had drawn up, gives us a sight of how He came to restore us. When we turn to Christ and acknowledge Him, we become Sons of Man and are saved.

Throughout this episode, Jesus was in control. He knew exactly what Judas was up to. He knows what is in our hearts. He knew Judas inside out, and could have thwarted his plans yet He chose the path of suffering. But before that, He arranged one last teaching session with his disciples in the Upper Room. As our story tells us, He arranged a meal - the meal we know as the Last Supper to explain to His disciples what was to come. You can read this part for yourself.

Luke has faithfully recorded the facts so that we can understand them. The writings have been handed down so that we may know the certainty of what happened.

God’s Word has been fulfilled. He came to save by giving His life for us. Without His grace, we would be lost.

Judas representing fallen humanity allowed Satan to enter him. Nevertheless, Jesus has given us the means to overcome the devil and for God to be a part of us. We are reminded of this each time we celebrate communion and enjoy fellowship with Jesus and with each other. We have a choice - our choice - humankind’s choice - the devil or God.

So let us embrace God’s purposes for us. We can do this by loving each other. God is love and God sent His one and only Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. If we love one another, God loves us and Satan is lost.

Do we embrace true humanity? If Jesus were in our situation, what would He do, what would He say? Jesus came to seek and save.

Are we to be like Judas or will we take up Jesus’ offer and be like what we are meant to be?

Amen.