3-6-19 Benson Ash Wednesday Sermon

Matthew 26:20-25 Series: Three Words of Truth

“Is It I?”

Ash Wednesday March 6, 2019

Words can be very powerful. They can be powerful in a useful and positive way, like when people offer encouragement and congratulations. Words of thanks and praise can lift us up and build us up. Of course, words can also be powerful in negative ways. They can tear us down and make us feel bad as well. They can be insulting and abusive. They can be false and misleading.

And words can be powerful even if there are not many of them. In fact, it seems that is true in a number of ways. When someone is known for being quiet and thoughtful, but then chooses a moment to speak, that has an impact. People listen. It’s also true that if someone keeps on babbling along with many words, sometimes we start to lose track or tune them out. How many words does it take to make a point? Of course, that depends on a whole lot of factors. But as we gather on Wednesdays during the season of Lent this year, we will be focusing on a number of short phrases to guide our thinking. In fact, each of these phrases contain just three words. But they are powerful words, words which lead us to think and reflect. These three words of truth each week will lead us to focus our attention on those things that truly matter. They will guide our spiritual journey.

And Lent is just that. It is a time for a spiritual journey that will lead us through the Passion, the suffering of Jesus, all the way to his cross and his tomb. For forty days, the length of Lent except for the Sundays, we will be asked to consider what our Savior went through for us and to reflect on his great love for us. We will be encouraged to repent of our sins and to turn to Jesus.

And that season of humble repentance begins today on Ash Wednesday. We have already heard encouragement from the Bible to turn away from our sins and to turn away from ourselves. And we continue to consider this call to repentance as we reflect on three words of truth first spoken by disciples of Jesus on Maundy Thursday evening, the night Jesus was betrayed. The three short words form a piercing question, “Is it I?” We find this question in the words of Matthew 26:20-25: 20 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. 21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”

23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

There were many other words spoken that Maundy Thursday evening in the upper room. Jesus wanted to offer comfort to his disciples as he prepared them for what was coming—his betrayal, arrest, torture, and execution. And even as he offered comfort and encouragement, Jesus still wanted his disciples to learn, truly learn, about humility and repentance.

On the same evening when his disciples were once again arguing about who was the greatest among them, Jesus, the Son of God, quietly got up from the table and began to wash the feet of his friends. He was doing the work of a servant. I suspect that the room fell completely silent as this was going on. The disciples could probably hear the quiet splash of water as Jesus washed, moving from one to the next.

They must have felt shame and embarrassment as they realized what Jesus was doing. As it is often said, sometimes actions speak louder than words.

Jesus also had important words to share in this regard. At the table where they were eating their final meal together, Jesus announced to those disciples, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”

Was there more silence after that? Perhaps. We are told that the disciples were sorrowful. And one after another, they finally spoke up, saying, “Is it I? Is it I? Is it I?” And even Judas, who knew it was him, had to chime in with the rest, “Is it I, Rabbi?”

It is interesting that each of the disciples asks the question fully expecting Jesus to answer, “No, it is not you.” Yet at the same time, they were sorrowful and asked the question in that spirit. It wasn’t pride or self-confidence with which they asked. It was doubt and fear. They asked Jesus, who could read their very hearts and minds, and they looked to him for reassurance.

That question says something about what sin does to people. It says something about what sin could potentially do to someone. Even though none of us here tonight actually did betray Jesus to his enemies, we have all sinned. We have sinned daily, and we have felt—or at least ought to have felt—the same fear and doubt that the disciples did. Like them, we cannot brag about how strong we are in faith.

Instead, we have to admit that sin is a powerful force in our lives, that it carries with it an awful potential for self-destruction. Just look at Judas. How could he have done what he did? He had seen Jesus heal the sick and walk on water and feed thousands. He had even picked up the baskets full of scraps after thousands had eaten. Judas had been sent out by Jesus as a missionary to preach the gospel.

He had been given authority to perform miracles to accompany that message. Jesus said, “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”

How could Judas have done it? How can I do it? How can I do what I do after hearing God speak so clearly in his Word about right and wrong, about being holy in thought, actions, and speech? How can I do it when I know many examples from the Bible, from today, even from within my own extended family of those who once believed but have turned away from Jesus? Do I really stop to think about what sin can do? It does more than cause some minor problems or irritations. It can actually drive faith out of my heart and leave me to stand before God’s holy throne with no excuse, with only an eternity of hell in front of me. Sin is a terminal disease. Every funeral and cemetery ought to remind us of that. Even the name Ash Wednesday reminds us that we are dust and ashes.

“Is it I?” Yes! It is I whom God calls to repentance, for I am sinful from birth. I sin daily against my Lord.

But I am also one for whom Jesus willingly goes. There in the upper room we find not only frightened disciples. We also find Jesus, the God-man, love that we cannot understand. He confronts us with our sin, but he does so in order that we have the correct diagnosis. Like a doctor, he points out the disease of sin so that we put an end to its symptoms of self-reliance and expectations that we can make it to heaven on our own. He wants us to be cured of the disease of the Pharisee that thanks God that we are not like other people. In this way, the Bible tells us, we are like all other people.

And that’s exactly why Jesus came for all people. His words in the upper room sound like just a passing comment: “The Son of Man goes as it is written of him.” These words are full of love and comfort. The “Son of Man,” true human being and also true God—in taking our human nature on himself, he became our brother. He knows the temptations we face. He faced them, too. He knows how we struggle in weakness because he chose to live in that weakness.

“The Son of Man goes as it is written of him.” This account isn’t so much about Judas as it is about Jesus. The story began before creation. It is the story of how he, the Son of God, created all things good in the beginning and how his enemy Satan declared war on him by corrupting the crown of his creation, mankind. In the Garden God stood with Adam and Eve and cursed the serpent, promising to send one born of a woman to make all things right again. And there in the upper room is that one. All the prophecies pointed to him and to that night, that weekend. The final, hellish battle was about to begin, and the Son of Man goes.

Is it I? Yes, it is I for whom he goes—to the cross, to the tomb, and out of it again. For me he goes to the right hand of God. Ash Wednesday is not a day to wallow in self-pity. It is a day to know that as we repent of our sins, Jesus has already paid their price. As we revisit the Passion History in the weeks ahead, we can rejoice that Jesus did it all for us. Is it I? I am called to repentance. I am one for whom the Savior has gone. It is I.