Lord, is it I? a sermon based on Matthew 26:17-15 by Rev. Frank Schaefer  [printable version]      Matthew 26:17-15 The Last Supper 17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?”  18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’”  19 So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover.  20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 21Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”  22 And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, “Lord, is it I?”  23 He answered and said, “He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. 24 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.”  25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?”  He said to him, “You have said it.”   Visualization: Imagine you are one of the disciples sitting with Jesus at the last supper.  Suddenly, you hear Jesus say: "one of you will betray me."  How do you feel? What goes through your mind.   “One of you will betray me.” This was a shocking statement by Jesus. It caused confusion and even fear. I never really understood why all of the disciples asked: “Lord, is it I?  Am I the betrayer?”  Didn’t they know their own heart? But when I think about it more deeply, perhaps that’s exactly what it was: they each knew their heart and they knew that they weren’t perfect. Each of them knew at that moment that they were not only capable of sinning, but that they did sin, each and every day. Have you ever wondered why Jesus actually made this statement? Surely, he knew who was going to betray him. Why did he not just ask Judas?  Why did he leave everybody wondering about who it might be? Obviously, Jesus did this to teach the disciples something. At first glance, this teaching method may seem unorthodox. But if you look at the way Jesus taught, this was just one more example of effective teaching. Think about it, time and again, Jesus challenged his followers to look inward.  He said things like: "Before you try to remove the speck out of your brother's eye, remove the beam from your own eye." "He who is without sin, throw the first stone" "The last shall be first and the first shall be last" "He who is the greatest in heaven is everybody's servant" When Peter rebuked him for saying that he had to die, Jesus yelled at him, saying: "Get behind me, Satan" When Peter promised to never forsake him, not even if it meant certain death, Jesus predicted that he would disown him. When you think you are standing, watch that you won't  fall. Jesus spoke harshly to and about the religious leaders of his day; He called Pharisees snakes and the brood of vipers, he called the high priest a white-washed wall. He turned over the tables of the merchants in the temple. That's part of what the people meant when they said: He speaks with authority.  Jesus called a spade a spade and got everybody thinking. The ultimate message behind his confrontations was: don't get complacent, but instead, keep in mind that you are human and that you will always need God. There is no salvation outside of God; we all need forgiveness and we all need God's grace and the sooner we will accept that fact, the better for our spiritual growth and happiness and.....the better for our ability to accept and love one another. Here is the thing: sin, human failure and suffering is what makes all of us the same; there is unity in the fact that we all need God equally. If you think that you might be better than a brother or a sister at church…think again! If you think that you are better than your non-church going colleague at work…think again! If you think that you are better than the tax collector in the street or the prostitute on the sidewalk…think again! THINK AGAIN! And repent of your self-righteous attitude.  You stand in as much need for God's grace as any sinner you may look down upon. The truth is that Judas is not the only one who failed Jesus. Yes, he was the one who betrayed him.  But all of them, with the exception of John and his mother Mary disserted him.  In the end, Jesus was without a large following. Many of those who used to follow him were now mocking him.  Jesus brought up the betrayal for a reason. And he didn’t say who it was going to be for the same reason.  Every disciple asked:  "Lord is it I?" and Jesus did not answer any of them directly.  But he could have answered every single one of them: "yes, it is you." One way or another you will betray me." And the same is true for us all. We all betrayed Jesus, one way or another, and we will do it again.  "Yes" is the answer Jesus would have given to us, had we shared bread with him on the night of his betrayal.  “Yes, my son.  Yes, my daughter, you will betray me.” The good news is that Jesus' grace is greater than our betrayals.  He walked down the path of suffering and death for us fully knowing that we would fail him. And he did it anyhow! Then what can Jesus realistically expect of you and me?  To stay humble, to acknowledge that we need God's grace; to do our best and to ask forgiveness when we fail him once again, then get right back to following him, our compassionate and most gracious Lord.  Amen.