3/20/08 - Maundy Thursday - Matthew 26:50

"FRIEND"
- Stinging law
- Patient gospel

The Lord’s patience is critical to our salvation. Without his patience the sins we commit over and over again wouldn’t continually be forgiven. Without his patience we would not still be his children or even his servants. Without his patience we wouldn’t even be alive - the Lord would have destroyed us long ago. The Lord’s perfect patience is one of those qualities that makes our salvation possible. And although we don’t usually concentrate on the Lord’s patience during the Passion Week, Jesus’ patience is on display to many different people during his last few days on this earth. He was patient with the thief on the cross, who had mocked him at first but then repented of his sins a short time later. He was patient with the authorities who badgered him with ridiculous questions. He was patient with Peter, simply glancing at him with a look of love when the rooster crowed in the courtyard. But arguably the most telling display of Jesus’ patience during those last days was his patient with Judas. Time and time again the Lord gave him opportunities to repent. Over and over again the Lord indicated to Judas that he knew exactly what he was planning. Even up to the very end, when Judas saw Jesus face to face for the last time in the Garden of Gethsemane, even there the Lord showed his patience with Judas. And there, on that Thursday night, his patience is clearly seen in one simple word: in the name that Jesus calls his betrayer. As Judas and the mob he was leading approached the Savior in the Garden, and immediately after Judas hypocritically kissed Jesus on the cheek, Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?”
“Friend.” What a name to address the one who was in the middle of stabbing him in the back! What a name to call the person who was acting like anything but one of Jesus’ friends! Judas was far from a friend of Christ! But that’s exactly why Jesus didn’t use the normal word for friend. The name Jesus calls Judas here is not the word for “friend” that you find almost everywhere else in your Bible. The name that Jesus uses in the Garden of Gethsemane is found only three times in Scripture, and only in the book of Matthew. This name is eJtai`re (he ti’ ra), a name far different from the kindhearted, loyal, and loving “friend” that our English word normally indicates. eJtai`re has a much more unfortunate meaning. eJtai`re is not an endearing term, it is stinging law.
And to get a feel for what this name really means, it would be good for us to look at the other two times it is used. And the other two times are both parables. And in each of these parables the person who uses the name is the character associated with the Lord himself. The first parable is the parable of the workers in the vineyard. A landowner went out in the morning and hired a bunch of men to work in his fields, promising to pay them each a denarius. He then went out again a little bit later in the day, and again and again and again, hiring more men for the job each time, promising them the same pay. At the end of the day he began to give each man his denarius, but one of the men who had worked all day was upset that he didn’t receive anymore than those who had worked only a couple hours. “Friend, (eJtai`re)” the landowner said to him. “I am not being unfair to you. Didn’t you agree to work for a denarius? Don’t I have the right to do what I want with my own money? Or are you envious because I am generous” (Matthew 20:13,15)? This name, eJtai`re, brought with it a biting rebuke. Because this worker should have been the landowner’s friend. He had every reason to be the landowner’s friend since he had given him a job when he had none, and he had paid him a fair wage for the work he had done. But rather than acting like a real friend, this worker was acting just the opposite.
The second parable that uses this name carries with it the same connotation. It is the parable of the wedding banquet. After the king of the banquet had invited everyone to his feast from the alleys and streets and country roads, he noticed a man at the feast who was not wearing wedding clothes. “Friend (eJtai`re),” the king said to him, “how did you get in here without wedding clothes” (Matthew 22:12)? And Scripture records that the man was speechless. He didn’t know what to say because he should have been the king’s friend, he had every reason to be the king’s friend, but he was acting just the opposite. He was disrespecting the love and the kindness that the king had shown him. He was not a true friend, he was an eJtai`re.
This is the name Jesus speaks to Judas. A man who should have been his friend. A man who had every reason to be his friend. But a man who was acting just the opposite. “eJtai`re, why have you come?” Jesus said to him. “eJtai`re, what are you doing to me?” “eJtai`re, how could you think I wouldn’t know?” Judas must have hesitated a little bit. He must have paused for just a second because that name must have stung! eJtai`re! Jesus had never called him that before! Judas knew that Jesus was calling him a false friend, a fake friend - and everybody had heard it! How that name must have stung! How that name must have penetrated his soul and pierced his heart! Jesus had called him exactly who he was. Jesus was not surprised. He was not fooled in the least. He had seen through all the pretensions and trickery. By that simple name Jesus indicated that he had known what Judas was going to do - and who Judas really was - all along.
The frightening thing is: the Lord knows exactly who we are as well. And I hate to think how many times the Lord has called me eJtai`re in my life. How many times do you think he has used that name with you? Because we should be his friends. We have every reason to be his friends. But oh, how often do we act just the opposite! We are not thankful, we are not grateful, we are not appreciative of what he has given us as we should be. We constantly sin. We are always trying to go behind his back and do the things we want to do instead of the things that he wants us to do. And we act as if he doesn’t know our sins! We try to tell ourselves that he’s not aware of what we’re up to or that he’s oblivious to the thoughts that run through our minds! “Oh, eJtai`re,” Jesus must say when he looks at us every day. “eJtai`re, what are you doing? What have you done? How could you possibly think that I wouldn’t know?” eJtai`re. That’s all Jesus really has to say. Because we know what we’ve done. And we know what we haven’t done. We haven’t acted like the friend we have every reason to be.
eJtai`re is stinging law. It reminds us of our sins and confronts us with the reality of who we really are. But Jesus does not call us that and he did not call Judas that to drive him to despair. Jesus uses that name because he is perpetually patient with sinners. He called Judas out with that name not to force him to suicide, but to prompt him to repentance. He was giving him yet another chance. He wanted to show Judas that he knew, that he was fully aware of what he had done, but he still loved him! He still cared for him and he wanted him back as his real friend! Jesus was reaching out to Judas, giving him an opportunity to repent of his sins and to cling to his Savior for mercy and forgiveness. Even though Judas had refused that invitation many times before, the Lord still showed him patience that night. He did not reject Judas. He simply showed him his overwhelming love once again.
And the Lord will never stop showing his overwhelming love to you either. Every time you sin he will say to you, “eJtai`re, what have you done? eJtai`re, I know everything. eJtai`re, you are not being the friend you are supposed to be. eJtai`re, repent.” That name Jesus uses with you exudes love because it’s the name of his patience. And no there is probably no person who knew the Lord’s patience better than another man who was in the Garden that night. Peter, a man who was right there in the Garden, a man who heard what Jesus said to his betrayer, and a man who felt first hand the patience of the Lord, wrote this later on in life, “The Lord is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). The Lord does not want to punish you for your sins. He wants you to recognize them, he wants you to admit them, and he wants you to believe that they are forgiven through his blood on the cross. That is our Savior’s goal. He wants you to know that he does not hold your sins against you. He wants you to believe that his love still stands firm.
And remember that in the days and months and years to come. Because you will fall again. Because of your sinful nature, and because of mine, we will do some horrible things before we leave this earth. We will say and think and do things that should be unimaginable for Christians. Don’t think it won’t happen! Every one of us here will inevitably break the Lord’s law in ways that you wouldn’t want anyone to know. But when you do commit those sins, when you do fall from the Lord’s favor, remember the name your Savior spoke in the Garden and remember why he said it. “eJtai`re, you have sinned. eJtai`re, repent of those sins. eJtai`re, I am your true and faithful friend, I am your Savior, and I always will be.” Our best friend, our only true friend, Jesus, will always point out our sins because of his patience. And because of his love he will forgive them every time.
Amen.

“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Father - to him be glory and power forever and ever! Amen.” - Rev.1:5-6