How Did Judas Miss Jesus?
I had never seen so many gifts, all splendidly wrapped with ribbons swirling this way and that. As the third-grader who was given first pick in our classroom Christmas gift exchange, I carefully scrutinized each package on the gift table.
Then I spied the largest gift, a flat box that dwarfed the others in its dimensions. I hurried back to my desk to open what I believed to be a board game.
As the wrappings fell, so did my face. My hope for something fun was dashed by the contents of the box—a scarf of some sort. What third-grader wants a scarf? At least not this one.
While I’m sure I had experienced disappointments prior to the Scarf Incident, perhaps this one was the most memorable in my young life because I had such great expectations for this box.
Great Expectations
I’m sure that all of Jesus’ disciples, including Judas, also had great expectations. As they traveled with Jesus and learned from him, how excited they must have been when he talked about the coming Kingdom of God. How they ached for an end to Rome’s oppression of Israel. How they had prayed for freedom for themselves and their families.
And the power Jesus had! He healed the sick, the lame, and the blind. He walked on water, cast out demons, and fed 5,000 families with five loaves of bread and two fish. Imagine how quickly Jesus could dispense of their enemies!
Their expectations for freedom were so great that when Jesus taught them to love their enemies, I doubt that his disciples thought about loving their political enemies. And when Jesus announced himself as the Messiah, the disciples were likely imaging the reigning Messiah, not the suffering Messiah. In fact, when Jesus finally and clearly explained that his mission was to die on a cross, they recoiled with horror.
Their expectations were for a kingdom without a cross.
Betrayal Brewing
Judas didn’t become a follower of Jesus so that he could betray him. Rather, he most likely had the same expectations as the other disciples. Perhaps early discontent with their ministry is revealed in John 12:6, where John notes that Judas embezzled their common funds.
And perhaps the turning point for Judas came when Jesus allowed Mary, the sister of Martha and Lazarus, to anoint him with expensive oil, a week before his crucifixion. Judas complained that the money from the sale of the oil should have been given to the poor. Undoubtedly, he desired those funds so that he could personally use them. His betrayal of their ministry may also suggest that he was disappointed and disenchanted in the direction they were headed.
Unmet Expectations
While expectations can be exhilarating, nothing inspires disappointment and disenchantment more than unfulfilled expectations. And when that disappointment comes from faulty assumptions, it’s not long before it festers into anger and resentment. In order to avoid that escalation when we have disappointments, we have to be willing to recognize our faulty assumptions and adjust our unrealistic expectations.
All of the disciples probably started out with faulty assumptions about Jesus, but eleven of them adapted their expectations to align with God’s will. Perhaps Judas was willing to follow Jesus only if he came as a warrior-king in fulfillment of God’s promise to make Israel a great and free nation. Perhaps Judas betrayed Jesus when he confirmed that he was not here for the will of Judas, but for the will of the Father.
How short-sighted our expectations can be!
Instead of rescuing his nation, Jesus rescued mankind. Instead of freeing his people from their external enemy, Rome, he freed people from their internal enemy, sin.
Of course, we must remember that we, too, can be short-sighted in our expectations! We, too, can make faulty assumptions about God that create disappointment, anger, and resentment.
When we expect that God owes us a fair shot at life and perhaps even the desires of our heart, we show our short-sightedness. When we believe that God doesn’t love us enough to give us a better life, we show our short-sightedness. When we would rather trust our own way, like Judas, instead of God’s way, we show our short-sightedness.
What Can We Expect of God?
Instead, our expectations of God must begin in faith that even in the dark, God is still lighting our way. We must expect that even when we’re fully disappointed with life, God is still here. He is the master builder, working on renovations that change us rather than our circumstances.
We must expect that even when we’re fully disappointed with life, God is still here. He is the master builder, working on renovations that change us rather than our circumstances.
We must remember that even though Jesus conquered death and evil, for the rest of this age we will live in a depraved and evil world. Jesus never sugar-coated what we can expect from this life. In John 16:33, Jesus said it’s a given that we’ll have trouble in this world.
But don’t miss the next part of that verse. There Jesus explained exactly what we should expect when we do have trouble: peace and hope in him.
"But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
This Easter, let us root out and confess our faulty assumptions about God. And then may we adjust our expectations to give God the freedom to work in our lives and hearts!