April 3: Jesus & Judas
♫ Music:
Day 34 - Monday, April 3
Christ is Betrayed by Judas and Arrested
Scripture: Luke 22:47-53
While he was still speaking, there came a crowd, and the man called Judas, one of the twelve, was leading them. He drew near to Jesus to kiss him, but Jesus said to him, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” And when those who were around him saw what would follow, they said, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?” And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus said, “No more of this!” And he touched his ear and healed him. Then Jesus said to the chief priests and officers of the temple and elders, who had come out against him, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs? When I was with you day after day in the temple, you did not lay hands on me. But this is your hour, and the power of darkness.”
Poetry:
"Judas’ Reproach"
by Nina Kossman
(John 13: 26-27)
Handing me the bread
dipped in the dish--
not saying.
It was your look.
In your hand:
my shame.
Judas the faithless,
Judas the weak,
eternally.
Forever to regret
not saying
“I will not touch this sop.”
JESUS & JUDAS
The Son of God felt the full force of darkness the night he was betrayed. In one of the most agonizing moments in the gospels, one of his twelve closest companions handed Jesus over to the men who would kill him. I imagine a dreadful hush fell over the garden when Judas leaned in for that infamous kiss, as if all of creation were holding its breath. The dramatic power of this moment is brilliantly captured by two painters working centuries apart.
Giuseppe Montanari’s The Kiss of Judas shows the betrayer standing on his tiptoes, his arms at his sides, as if trying to keep a distance from his rabbi. (According to Luke, we never actually know whether Judas succeeded in touching Christ’s face.) He towers over a frail Jesus as the starry sky looks down. Bartolomeo di Tommaso’s The Betrayal of Christ takes a different approach, with a serpentine Judas curling up to Jesus, his hand coiled around Christ’s neck in an ironic display of intimacy. We know that the devil was very much present at this moment, since Satan possessed Judas either before or during the last supper. The serpent had entered the garden once again.
Cody Tidmore’s music video “The Betrayal of Jesus” cleverly conjugates two famous pop culture artifacts (Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ) to produce an impressionistic account of the story. Tidmore’s videography emphasizes the void surrounding Jesus and Judas as well as the gulf between them, and the subjects are lit from below, sustaining an unsettling mood. A rapid montage depicting key 20th century moments and figures suggests that the epic battle between evil and justice reverberates throughout all of human history.
In each picture, we are invited to contemplate the expression on Christ’s face. What we perceive there is not anger or surprise, but sorrow, and perhaps something else: calm. The restful countenance of Jesus in these images supplements the serenity of his reply to his fallen disciple: not a harsh rebuke, but a rhetorical question intended to convict its listener to the core. It must have worked perfectly, since we later discover that Judas was filled with remorse.
What Jesus does next is equally extraordinary. Amid the turmoil of his arrest, he performs a miracle that demonstrates afresh his bottomless compassion. Here is Christ’s entire ministry in miniature. Here is the Prince of Peace answering violence with love. This beautiful, last minute act of healing should surely bring comfort to us during the hours in our own lives in which the power of darkness seems to hold sway. Whenever we find ourselves wronged by someone close to us, we would do well to remember that Jesus knew better than anyone else the sting of betrayal and triumphed over it with love. And now he shares that victory with us. Calm in the midst of his darkest hour, he never ceded control to the evil one.
PRAYER
Lord, thank you for never abandoning us in our darkest moments. We thank you for remaining courageously true to your mission even though you were betrayed. You overcame sin so that we may be found sinless. You defeated death so that we, too, may find eternal life.
Amen.
Nate Bell, M.A.
Adjunct for Cinema and Media Arts
About the The Betrayal of Jesus Video:
Using clips from a variety of films about Christ’s passion, artist Cody Tidmore has created a powerful video pairing Judas and Christ. The soundtrack of this video features Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Sound of Silence” sung by the music group Disturbed.
About the Artwork:
The Kiss of Judas (1918)
Guiseppe Montanari
Oil on canvas
About the Artist:
Guiseppe Montanari (1889-1976) was an Italian painter associated with the Novecento Italiano movement. His subject matter was drawn from regional folklore as well as from the Bible. The Kiss of Judas, also known as the Betrayal of Christ, is an unusual depiction of Judas and Christ in that the heavens play a prominent symbolic role in the composition.
About the Art #2:
The Betrayal of Christ (c. 1445-1450)
Bartolomeo di Tommaso
Tempera on wood
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
About the Artist #2:
Bartolomeo di Tommaso (1400-1454) was an Italian painter of the Umbro-Sienese school. He worked on special projects for the administration of Pope Nicholas V in Rome. These two panels from the base of an altarpiece show three episodes from the Bible: in one Christ is arrested (the naked man is an apostle—John or Mark—fleeing, in accordance with Mark 14:51–52). In the other, Christ’s body is mourned and then buried. Bartolomeo di Tommaso is an artist of strikingly modern expressive power, unfettered by the concerns for naturalism embraced by other Renaissance painters.
About the Music:
“Do You know This Man?”
Lyrics:
[Verse 1:]
He called His friends together for dinner one last time
He said, "one of you will betray me,
and that of which is not mine."
So before they ate, He told this certain guest that
He could be excused
And while the rest of them prayed, an offer was made that just could not be refused.
[Verse 2:]
When He broke the bread, He said, "this is my body, which has been given up for you"
|And when He poured the wine, He said, "this is the divine Blood of Life that's everlasting and new."
[Verse 3:]
Then after the feast, when man sleeps cause the flesh is weak, He said, "rise, my betrayer is at hand."
And the soldiers came and took Him away,
just like it was planned....
[Chorus:]
Do you know this Man?
Do you know this Man?
Have you let in the love that poured from His hands?
Do you know this Man?
Do you know this Man?
[Verse 4:]
...and when they beat Him, He stood alone.
Even His friends had fled,
cause they feared for their lives, they even told lies.
"We don't know that guy," they said.
[Verse 5:]
And when they took Him to the judge and he announced that,
"He's done no wrong to condemn,"
The people, they yelled and threatened to rebel.
Only His life would silence them...
[Chorus]
[Verse 6:]
...they tore off His clothes, whipped Him to the bone,
and beat a thorn crown in His head...
Then they took this Man, drove nails in His hands,
and with one last breath He cried...
[Verse 7:]
But the only reason that He died
Was for our lies, our greed, our egos that we feed,
Our mouths, our sex, our pride and our complex,
Our rage, our hate, to forgive and consecrate,
The Ultimate Price was paid
But it's never too late
For you to know this Man.
[Chorus]
About the Performers/Composers:
Steve and Amanda Potaczek, composers of “Do You Know This Man?,” began leading worship together in college. They spent several subsequent years touring with “1,000 Generations.” Currently Steven is senior worship director at Grace Church in Indianapolis, IN. He also teaches production and songwriting at Anderson University. He recently created the encouragement-driven blog at www.forworshipleaders.com.
About the Poet:
Nina Kossman was born in Moscow. Known as a painter, sculptor, poet, playwright, writer in Russian and English, she has also translated a body of work from Russian into English. In 1995, Kossman received a UNESCO/PEN short story award, and in 1999 she received an NEA translation fellowship for her work.
www.ninakossman.com
About the Devotional Writer:
Nate Bell teaches film history for Biola’s Department of Cinema and Media Arts. He lives in Whittier with his wife, Emily, and their two sons.