Judas Iscariot was a follower of Jesus. He walked with him. He talked with him. He ate with him. Presumably, he participated with him in sharing the good news. He did everything a good follower of Jesus is supposed to do. But somewhere along the way his heart was tempted to go off mission. He became greedy for gain. It doesn’t matter whether he wanted money or political power. Neither is promised to the follower of Christ.
We know how Judas’s physical story ends—with his intestines spilled out in a field of blood. But the spirit that drove him toward betrayal didn’t die. It’s an attitude that will resort to bullying in order to get its own way. It’s an attitude of greed, control, and intimidation tactics. It pretends to follow God even as it repels the people God is so desperately wanting to reach. It’s an attitude alive and well in the church today.
We have a tendency in evangelical spaces to point our fingers at those outside the church and accuse them of betraying Christ with blatant immorality. But “the world” cannot betray Christ; they haven’t even met him. The one who has met him, walked with him, listened to him teach, followed and served him, and yet still calculates worldly power as more important than love of neighbor, character, or truth? He or she is the one who has committed betrayal.
In 2016, much of the (mostly white) American evangelical community allied with a man who bragged about grabbing women’s genitals, called his opponents “stupid” and “pathetic,” warned that Muslims and immigrants would take over our nation, boasted that he could shoot somebody on Fifth Avenue and wouldn’t lose any voters, and declared himself to be “the only one” who could save us. Donald Trump threw out a net called “political power,” and many white evangelicals jumped right into it. It was a betrayal of everything Jesus taught.
The Judas Effect is what happens when we sell our sound judgment to the highest bidder.
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