Vol. III, # 33, March 25, 2005

In Defense of Judas

In last night's service of Communion and Tenebrae (darkness) one of the scriptures read from Matthew was identified as "The Treachery of Judas." When the disciples are introduced in Matthew Judas is immediately identified as the one who betrayed Jesus. He is a marked man. One has to accept the reality that Judas was chosen by Jesus as one of the twelve. He was a zealot or a man of action. He also was the treasurer of the group. At that last meal when Jesus initiated the Communion, Judas was identified as the betrayer. He did betray Jesus. Peter denied or lied about knowing Jesus on three occasions. All of the disciples fled the scene when Jesus was arrested. None of them showed great courage before the Resurrection. Shortly after Jesus appeared before the Council, Matthew's gospel records the following:

When Judas, the traitor, learned that Jesus had been condemned, he repented and took back the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death!" he said.

"What do we care about that?" they answered. "That is your business!"

Judas threw the coins down in the Temple and left; then he went off and hanged himself.

The tragedy of Judas is that he committed suicide before the Resurrection. Had he been alive when Jesus appeared following the Resurrection, Judas may have been as prominent as Peter. Was Judas set up to fulfill the prophecy? Did Judas provoke what may now be regarded as the greatest religious event in human history? Judas' guilt led to his repentance and his suicide. By this final act Judas denied himself the possibility of a new vision of the risen Christ. This is the tragedy of Judas' life.

Prayer Rounds

Kathy Wade requests prayers for a friend.

Dear friends and family,

I believe I've asked prayer for my friend, Leecy Barnett, before regarding a mini-stroke (translated from transient ischemic attack) last year. She then found out that she had a hole in her heart and her cardiologist put her on Coumadin. We knew she couldn't stay on that forever without getting to the cause of the problem.

She just learned she will have the hole repaired by a very able heart surgeon on Friday, April 8, at Jackson-Memorial Hospital in Miami. We've been great friends just shortly after I came to the Caribbean Baptist Communications Centre in Hollywood, Florida and was my Experiencing God (a fantastic Bible study) partner at a Fort Lauderdale church. She's a loving, funny and brilliant friend who is an extremely strong and loyal Christ-follower and a dedicated supporter of her church in Boynton Beach, Florida.

Please put her on your prayer calendar. Please also pray that her very good church friends will be with her at the hospital that day as her Mom is in her late 80s and has suffered many physical setbacks in the past couple of years. Her siblings all live in different states and she's the only single gal in her family. Her Mom is just not strong enough to wait alone on her daughter having heart surgery.

If I were still in Florida, she knows I would be with her that day. However, Jesus always provides the blessings in the midst of heavy duty challenges and His people always step in when needed.

Thanks for stepping in with your prayers for this dear one!

Love,

Kathy

Most of you are aware that B. J. Seymour had coronary artery by pass surgery at Henrico Doctors' Hospital on this past Wednesday. She is in the midst of recovery. Also Teacher Bob had out patient laser eye surgery for glaucoma on this past Wednesday.

Remember in your prayers:B J Seymour, Leecy Barnett, Bob Shepherd, the family of Randolph Partridge, the family of Dorothy Becker, Dick Morris, Mary Pentecost and the family of D. M. Holbrook, Tom Hicks, the family of Kim Williams, John and Margaret Oliver, Donald and Barbara Deer, IMB missionary John Seale, Diane and Don Retzer, the VCU BSU, Cecil and Dot Sherman, Peggy Harris and her family, Rick and Linda Mears, Audrey Thomson's sister Sharon Ruben and Sharon's family, Jared Oliver, Julia Tyler and her parents, Kay and Bob Culpeper, the Church clergy and staff. Prayers should also be offered for our military and civilians in harm's way and for those only known to you.

Franklin Fowler Reaches Twenty-nine

Former missionary physician Franklin Fowler will be twenty-nine years old on Monday. Franklin is looking younger every week.

Teacher Gene Will Continue with First Samuel or Will He?

Since PH presented an overview "In Defense of Saul" last Sunday, we did not make any progress in I Samuel. If Teacher Gene elects to continue with I Samuel, perhaps he will begin around chapter 20, verse 18.

Remembering Sarah Shelton Henry

Wednesday Evening's Pastor's Forum featured Michael Wells who impersonated Patrick Henry in dress and oratory. He mentioned that PH (Patrick Henry) had a total of seventeen children by two wives. At age eighteen Patrick Henry married sixteen year old Sarah Shelton. They had six children. After the birth of the sixth child Sarah experienced an apparent psychotic depression from which she never recovered. Sarah could have been admitted to the lunatic asylum in Williamsburg, but Henry felt that this facility was too much like a prison and Sarah was never admitted. Instead she was confined to a room in the basement of the family home "Scotchtown" until her death in 1775 at the age of thirty-seven. Sarah's problems may have been a post-partum psychotic depression.

Many of us who took Virginia history many times in the local public schools probably recall memorizing these words of Henry:

"It is in vain, sir, to extenuate the matter. Gentlemen may cry, Peace, Peace-- but there is no peace. The war is actually begun! The next gale that sweeps from the north will bring to our ears the clash of resounding arms! Our brethren are already in the field! Why stand we here idle? What is it that gentlemen wish? What would they have? Is life so dear, or peace so sweet, as to be purchased at the price of chains and slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

It is of interest to note that Sarah Shelton Henry died in February 1775. Patrick Henry delivered his great speech on March 23, 1775, only a month after Sarah's death. Attached to this PHA is a photo of Sarah Shelton's home in Hanover County. Before the fireplace in this home in 1754 Sarah and Patrick Henry married.

Two Women

Last Sunday night at the Baptism service two ordained female clergy conducted the Communion. This event was truly significant. Women have been excluded from performing many pastoral duties for centuries, only because of their sex. Historically Baptists of Virginia have been advocates for religious freedom and the separation of church and state. At RRCB ordained women clergy can do as the male clergy. Other Baptists are still discriminating against women; especially as expressed in the Baptist Faith and Message doctrinal statement of the Southern Baptist Convention. PH sent an E-mail to Rev. Barbara Massey and Rev. Mary Mann commending them on a fine Communion service. Mary responded with the following:

"Thank you so much for the affirmation. Indeed, I did get a different sense of things last night as Barbara and I conducted the Communion Meal. I think that is the first time I have conducted Communion with only women. Several people noticed last night, and I am grateful that they took the time to mention their excitement to me. It was empowering to know that Barbara and I were not being excluded because of our gender...we were heartily affirmed. I am saddened only by the knowledge that this experience, while wonderful for me, is not very common throughout the Church (at least the Baptist church). I can only pray that more women can experience the joy of ministry without the shadow of prejudice looming over them.
Mary

Come to church on Sunday and experience the Resurrection with words by Pastor Mike, the music of the Chancel Choir, the many lilies and hear those horns. But remember that none of this would have been possible without the darkness of Maundy Thursday. Who are the church?

"The Church is curiously a mixed body consisting of those who have never been shaken in their self-esteem or self-righteousness and who use the forms of religion for purposes of self-aggrandizement; and of the true Christians who live by a "broken spirit and a contrite heart."

The citation is found in Reinhold Niebuhr: His Religious and Political Thought, edited by Kegley and Bretall and published by MacMillan in 1961.

PH

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