Scripture: 2 Samuel 15: 19-37 and Matthew 26: 47-56
Preached: March 11, 2007
Topics: Absalom, Judas, betrayal,
Sermon: 2 Samuel 15
Rev. Mike Abma
2 Samuel 15: 19-37
Then the king said to Ittai the Gittite, ‘Why are you also coming with us? Go back, and stay with the king; for you are a foreigner, and also an exile from your home. 20You came only yesterday, and shall I today make you wander about with us, while I go wherever I can? Go back, and take your kinsfolk with you; and may the Lord show steadfast love and faithfulness to you.’ 21But Ittai answered the king, ‘As the Lord lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether for death or for life, there also your servant will be.’ 22David said to Ittai, ‘Go then, march on.’ So Ittai the Gittite marched on, with all his men and all the little ones who were with him. 23The whole country wept aloud as all the people passed by; the king crossed the Wadi Kidron, and all the people moved on towards the wilderness.
24 Abiathar came up, and Zadok also, with all the Levites, carrying the ark of the covenant of God. They set down the ark of God, until the people had all passed out of the city. 25Then the king said to Zadok, ‘Carry the ark of God back into the city. If I find favour in the eyes of the Lord, he will bring me back and let me see both it and the place where it remains. 26But if he says, “I take no pleasure in you”, here I am, let him do to me what seems good to him.’ 27The king also said to the priest Zadok, ‘Look, go back to the city in peace, you and Abiathar, with your two sons, Ahimaaz your son, and Jonathan son of Abiathar. 28See, I will wait at the fords of the wilderness until word comes from you to inform me.’ 29So Zadok and Abiathar carried the ark of God back to Jerusalem, and they remained there.
30 But David went up the ascent of the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went, with his head covered and walking barefoot; and all the people who were with him covered their heads and went up, weeping as they went.31David was told that Ahithophel was among the conspirators with Absalom. And David said, ‘O Lord, I pray you, turn the counsel of Ahithophel into foolishness.’
32 When David came to the summit, where God was worshipped, Hushai the Archite came to meet him with his coat torn and earth on his head.33David said to him, ‘If you go on with me, you will be a burden to me.34But if you return to the city and say to Absalom, “I will be your servant, O king; as I have been your father’s servant in time past, so now I will be your servant”, then you will defeat for me the counsel of Ahithophel.35The priests Zadok and Abiathar will be with you there. So whatever you hear from the king’s house, tell it to the priests Zadok and Abiathar.36Their two sons are with them there, Zadok’s son Ahimaaz and Abiathar’s son Jonathan; and by them you shall report to me everything you hear.’ 37So Hushai, David’s friend, came into the city, just as Absalom was entering Jerusalem.
Matthew 26: 47-56
While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the twelve, arrived; with him was a large crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. 48Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, ‘The one I will kiss is the man; arrest him.’ 49At once he came up to Jesus and said, ‘Greetings, Rabbi!’ and kissed him. 50Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, do what you are here to do.’ Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and arrested him. 51Suddenly, one of those with Jesus put his hand on his sword, drew it, and struck the slave of the high priest, cutting off his ear. 52Then Jesus said to him, ‘Put your sword back into its place; for all who take the sword will perish by the sword. 53Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? 54But how then would the scriptures be fulfilled, which say it must happen in this way?’ 55At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, ‘Have you come out with swords and clubs to arrest me as though I were a bandit? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not arrest me. 56But all this has taken place, so that the scriptures of the prophets may be fulfilled.’ Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.
This is the Word of the Lord
Thanks be to God
INTRODUCTION
There comes an orange snake eastward through the night.
A snake of fire, a long snake of torches.
Perhaps the disciples glance down from the Mount of Olives and see it and do not understand. But Jesus understands.
It winds through the trees in a smooth and silent, serpentine approach.
It is a fatal snake.
It kills by kissing.
So Walter Wangerin describes the scene in his Reliving the Passion. Describing this armed crowd slithering through the Garden as a snake, a serpent, in order to arrest Jesus, is meant to conjure up a connection with that other snake in that other garden long, long ago.
This is the way to read Scripture — to hear it in all its depth.
To see that what is happening in the Garden that night has its roots in what happened in that other Garden so long ago.
There is another story shimmering in the background of our New Testament lesson tonight.
It is another story that happens on the slopes of the Mount of Olives.
This is the story of Jesus’ great ancestor, David.
2 Samuel 15 tells perhaps the lowest point in David’s life.
His son, his beloved son, Absalom, decides to rebel against his father.
Absalom stages a coup d’etat.
David is forced to flee from his capital city, Jerusalem.
2 Samuel 15 and the following chapters tell this story. It just so happens that in fleeing, David takes the exact same route out of Jerusalem – up out of the city then on to Jericho – that Jesus years late would take into Jerusalem.
But here, in this 2 Samuel 15 text,
we see David weeping,
with his head covered,
stumbling barefoot in anguish.
And where is he? He is on the Mount of Olives. This, incidentally, is the first time the Mount of Olives is mentioned in the Bible.
BETRAYAL
It is on the Mount of Olives that David receives the news that not only had Absalom, his son, turned against him. He now came face to face with the news that even his old trusted advisor, his prime minister so to speak, Ahithophel, had turned against him.
Ahithophel – one of his inner cabinet and perhaps even of the family of Bathsheba.
Ahithophel — friend and possibly family – had betrayed him and joined forces with Absalom. [1]
This all happens on the Mount of Olives.
Can you see how this is not so far removed from Jesus,
weeping, praying, and in anguish on the Mount of Olives.
Can you see how David learning of Ahithophel’s betrayal shimmers
in the background of Jesus standing to come face to face with his betrayer, Judas?
Did you notice that Judas is described as Judas, “one of the twelve.”
That phrase, “one of the twelve” is used 9 times in the New Testament.
It is used once to describe Thomas.
It is used 8 times to describe Judas.
It’s there, I think, to remind us again and again, that Judas was not some fringe follower.
He wasn’t some distant tag along.
Judas was part of the inner circle.
He was someone who had followed Jesus week after week, mile after mile.
He was, in fact, so trusted, that he carried the wallet, the money bag, for the whole group.
This is the man,
this is the friend,
that went to the authorities and offered to literally give Jesus up.
He offered to lead them to where Jesus would be at night so there would be little
commotion in arresting him.
He offered to identify Jesus in the dark – and he does so with a kiss.
He betrayed Jesus.
In the book Atonement, Ian McEwan describes a family in England in 1935. The family has two girls, Briony the younger, Cecilia, the older. There is also another boy, the son of a servant, Robbie Turner, who is close to Cecilia’s age. They are all friends. In fact, Cecilia and Robbie are becoming more than just friends. Everything seems to be going alright. Until one evening, two young visiting cousins go missing, and while searching for them, a young woman is assaulted. Briony accuses Robbie – falsely by the way. It is a betrayal of huge consequences. Robbie, though innocent, is arrested and led away in handcuffs. It is a betrayal that will, in fact, cause great pain to many people.
That is what betrayal does.
It causes great pain.
You think you know someone, trust someone, and then they stab you in the back.
It happens in big ways, but it also happens in many small ways too:
A friend gossips about you behind your back;
A colleague steals your work and claims it as her own;
A friend asks the very girl you have had a crush on for a very long
time, out on a date.
A very important message given to a friend to deliver is tossed in the
garbage.
Betrayal comes in many, many different forms.
One thing it always brings — betrayal always brings great pain.
Is it any wonder that in Dante’s Inferno the lowest circle of hell is reserved for traitors and betrayers?
Betrayal hurts those betrayed.
But it also becomes a burden to those who do the betraying.
McEwan’s novel, Atonement, is, in many ways, less about the betrayal and more about the burden Briony bears for her betrayal and the atonement she makes.
We also know that both these Biblical betrayers, Ahithophel and Judas, bear the burden of their betrayal. I do not think it is an accident that in the whole Bible, there are only two people who end up hanging themselves:
and they are, tellingly,
Ahithophel (2 Samuel 17:23)
and Judas (Matthew 27:5).
ARRESTED
Jesus is betrayed by Judas.
Then Jesus is arrested by this armed guard sent by the Temple authorities.
In each of the 4 gospels, someone pulls out a sword to defend Jesus.
But Jesus is not interested in defending himself with force.
He could have called 12 legions of angels – that’s 72,000 by the way– in his defense.
In ways, the end of his ministry is much like the beginning.
He began his ministry in the wilderness being tempted by the evil one:
the temptation was always to avoid suffering of one kind or another.
Now here again, he is being tempted by the evil one.
The temptation is to avoid suffering,
to walk another road other than the one to the cross.
But Jesus knew why he was sent into the world.
He was sent to bring his kingdom:
A kingdom in which the greatest become the least;
In which one gives not only their cloak, but their robe also;
In which one walks the second mile
turns his cheek,
and is willing to lay down one’s life for both friends
and enemies.
To bring this kingdom, he would have to live it.
He knew there would be no kingdom without the cross.
ABANDONMENT
It was his arrest, his lack of resistance, and his acknowledgement that this was all to fulfill Scripture, that caused everyone to desert him.
They had all pledged, with Peter, to stick with him to the end, even if that meant death.
But here they all scatter, like sheep.
Some believe that it was his betrayal that caused Jesus the greatest pain.
Others will say it was being innocent and yet arrested, tried, and convicted.
I think his greatest pain came in being abandoned.
Even David, in his darkest hour, still had friends, still had followers.
David had Ittai, the Gittite, who accompanied him.
He had the priests, Zadok and Abiathar.
He had his friend Hushai, who was willing to go back into Jerusalem
and become David’s mole, his spy, in Absalom’s inner court.
David still had friends and followers.
David may have been full of sorrow on the Mount of Olives,
but his was a retreat merely to fight another day.
But Jesus had no one.
Everyone fled.
Everyone deserted him.
Everyone.
We know that in the David story,
his greatest pain was in being abandoned by his son, Absalom.
In this passion story, Jesus’ greatest pain was
not so much in being betrayed by a friend – painful as that was;
It was not so much being abandoned by his friends — painful as that
was too;
It wasn’t even the excruciating physical agony and utter humiliation
he had to endure.
His greatest pain was in being abandoned by his heavenly Father.
This is a mystery that is deep and central to what we understand happened on the cross:
Being forsaken so that we might not be forsaken;
Being abandoned that we might not be abandoned;
Even enduring the hellish abandonment of
having his own heavenly Father turn his back on him.
Why did this all happen?
Why did he have to endure this?
In a word it is sin.
The ugliness of what he had to face,
was the very ugliness that he had to defeat.
It all goes back to the beginning,
to the snake,
to the garden.
No wonder the arresting party looked like a snake of fire
as it slithered up the Mount and into the garden that night.
It was this serpent that Jesus had to face and to defeat.
To defeat it,
he would have to endure this serpent’s bite
That came in the form of a betraying kiss;
That came in the form of his fleeing friends;
That came in the form of an unjust trial
an utterly humiliating punishment,
and even the hellish abandonment of his heavenly Father.
But in enduring this serpent’s bite,
Jesus disarmed it,
He defeated it,
And he, in fact, crushed its head.
Thanks be to God, who gives us the victory over sin and death,
through our Lord, Jesus Christ.
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The NIV Study Bible notes Ahithophel may have been Bathsheba’s grandfather (see 2 Samuel 23:34) ↑
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