15  In those days Peter stood up among the believers (together the crowd numbered about one hundred twenty persons) and said,

16  "Friends, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit through David foretold concerning Judas, who became a guide for those who arrested Jesus--

17  for he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry."

18  (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.

19  This became known to all the residents of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their language Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.)

20  "For it is written in the book of Psalms, 'Let his homestead become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it'; and 'Let another take his position of overseer.'

21  So one of the men who have accompanied us during all the time that the Lord Jesus went in and out among us,

22  beginning from the baptism of John until the day when he was taken up from us--one of these must become a witness with us to his resurrection."

23  So they proposed two, Joseph called Barsabbas, who was also known as Justus, and Matthias.

24  Then they prayed and said, "Lord, you know everyone's heart. Show us which one of these two you have chosen

25  to take the place in this ministry and apostleship from which Judas turned aside to go to his own place."

Life is full of good guys and bad guys.  You see them all the time.  You see them on television. You also see them at work or at school or around the neighborhood.

A good guy is someone who’s there for you when you need a helping hand.

A bad guy is someone who goes out of his or her way to make your life miserable.

A good guy is someone who tells the truth even though it might cost him his job.

A bad guy is the CEO who goes to jail for cheating people out of millions of dollars.

Jason McElwain is one of the good guys. Jason is the autistic teenager who scored all those points in his final high school basketball game back in February.  Maybe you read about it in the newspapers. In his first and only game that he played in seventeen-year-old Jason McElwain came off the bench and scored 20 points in a span of four minutes. He hit six three point shots in a row. People where chanting his name and when the game was over his teammates carried him off the court on their shoulders. It really was a pretty amazing accomplishment for a young man who is only 5’6” tall and because of his autism, didn’t learn how to speak until he was 5 years old.

That’s a good guy. A good example of a bad guy might be the yuppie who tried his best one day to take advantage of an unsuspecting shepherd. It all started when the yuppie pulled up in his brand new Jeep Cherokee.  As soon as the dust cleared the yuppie walked up to the shepherd wearing his Armani suit, Gucci shoes and designer sunglasses.  “Excuse me,” he said, “but if I tell you how many sheep you have in your flock will you let me have one of them?”  The shepherd thought about it for a second and then agreed.  Immediately the yuppie pulled out his wireless laptop computer and began surfing the Internet. He logged on to a NASA website that had a GPS navigation system.  After he scanned the area with a high powered satellite, he plugged the data into a specially designed spreadsheet.  Then when all the calculations were done the yuppie turned to the shepherd and announced, “You have exactly 1586 sheep!”  The shepherd was amazed.  “That’s right,” he said.  He then watched as the yuppie bundled one of the animals up and put it in the back of his Jeep Cherokee.  As the yuppie started to leave though, the shepherd stopped him.  “Wait a minute,” the shepherd said.  “If I tell you what you do for work will you give me my sheep back?”  The yuppie thought about it for a moment then agreed.  “Okay,” he said, “what do I do for work?”  Immediately the shepherd replied, “You’re a consultant.”  Now it was the yuppie’s turn to be amazed.  “How did you know that?” he asked. The shepherd smiled. “Oh it was easy,” the he said. “You showed up here without being asked.  You want me to pay you for something I already know and you don’t know anything about my business because you just took my dog.”

Life is full of good guys and bad guys.  If you admire someone that person wears a white hat.  If you’re angry with someone that person wears a black hat. I bet you can think of someone you know right now who wears a white hat.  I also bet you can think of someone you know who wears a black hat. In all honesty though, it usually isn’t that simple though. You see more often than not the good guys aren’t as good as you think they are and the bad guys aren’t as bad as you think they are. If you look closely you’ll see that the good guys usually have a few warts and the bad guys usually have a few redeeming qualities. 

Take Peter and Judas for example. Ask anyone the question and you’ll get the same answer. Which disciple was the good guy and which one was the bad guy?

The answer of course is simple.  Peter was the good guy and Judas was the bad guy.

If you have any doubts just ask yourself this question. When was the last time you saw someone name their baby Judas?

Judas is the bad guy and

Peter made sure that everyone knew it.  He made it very clear in the speech that he made when the time came to choose someone to replace Judas. Peter reminded everyone how Judas betrayed Jesus and there’s also a reference to the Field of Blood which is where Judas was finally punished for his despicable deed.  I think Judas may have gotten a bit of a bad rap though. Why do I say that you ask? Because you could make the case that Judas was just doing what he thought Jesus wanted him to do.

You see Judas was one of the disciples who wanted Jesus to be a military messiah.  Judas was one of the disciples who wanted Jesus to lead them to victory against the Romans in a grand and glorious revolution.  So, Judas probably figured that getting Jesus arrested was just the spark that they needed to get the revolution going.  If that’s true then it makes the words that Jesus spoke to Judas at the Last Supper very important.  It was at the Last Supper that Jesus said to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”  When Judas heard that he may have thought that Jesus was giving him his stamp of approval.

So, Judas wanted Jesus arrested but I doubt that he never really wanted Jesus to be crucified. That’s obvious when you look at what happened after Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane.  When Judas realized things weren’t working out the way he thought they would he went back to the high priest. He went back and tried to return the money they gave him.  When the high priest refused to take the money back Judas threw it onto the floor of the Temple and was so distraught that he went out and hung himself.

Isn’t interesting though that Peter’s version of what happened doesn’t show a remorseful Judas at all.  According to Peter Judas used the money to buy himself a nice piece of property.  According to Peter Judas didn’t kill himself.  He died when he fell and his “bowels gushed forth.”

So, maybe Judas wasn’t a totally bad guy after all.  Maybe there were some extenuating circumstances. At the same time what about Peter? He wasn’t exactly a knight in shining armor when Jesus was arrested.  Three times people asked Peter if he knew Jesus and three times Peter insisted that he didn’t know him.  When Jesus was crucified we also know that some of the women were there. The disciple John was also there, but Peter was no where to be found.  Why?  Because he was afraid. He was afraid that he might be arrested too.  So he went and found a safe place to hide.

By the way, there’s something else in Peter’s speech that takes a little bit of the shine off his halo.  When the time came to replace Judas Peter said the person had to meet two criteria.  He had to be someone who was with Jesus from the beginning.  He also had to be someone who saw Jesus after the resurrection.  Now that seems reasonable, but when you think about it you realize that it was also a way for Peter and the other disciples to protect their turf.  Peter didn’t want any Johnny Come Lately to steal any of their new found power and prestige.

So Judas wasn’t exactly rotten to the core and Peter wasn’t an absolute saint. The same thing is true when it comes to the good guys and the bad guys in your life. You see it doesn’t matter who it is. There’s always a little bit of saint in the bad guy and a little bit of sinner in the good guy.

That’s something to think about especially because we live in a world where the temptation is always there to see people in black and white terms.  

Bill Clinton and George W. Bush.  Depending on your political persuasions one is a despicable liar who should have been impeached and the other is a reckless cowboy who thinks it’s best to shoot first and ask question later.

Red Sox and Yankees. Depending on where you were raised one team is full of heroes and the other is full of villains.

Pro-Choice and Right to life.  Depending on your religious beliefs they’re either liberal baby killers or intolerant Bible thumping fanatics.

Arabs and Israelis. Depending on where you live they’re either gutless terrorists or heartless land grabbing oppressors.

This way of looking at people though is dangerous.  It leads to unfair criticism and unnecessary conflict. It leads to hatred and fear that doesn’t do anyone any good.

So how can you avoid the tendency to look at people in black and white terms?

Remember Peter and Judas.  Peter wasn’t all good and Judas wasn’t all bad.  Then take a good a good look at yourself and ask yourself this question.  Are you a saint or a sinner? The answer to that question of course is neither.  You’re actually a little bit of both.  You have your strengths and your weaknesses. You have your good points and your bad points. 

When you come right down to it we’re all a lot like the little boy who came home from Sunday School one day after learning about the Sermon on the Mount.  He explained to his mother how Jesus doesn’t want us to get even when we’re angry. Instead of getting even Jesus wants us to turn the other cheek, he said.  Well, later that afternoon the little boy came into the kitchen crying.  When the mother asked him what was wrong he screamed, “Jimmy kicked me.”  When the mother asked why his older brother kicked him, the little boy screamed, “Because I kicked him.”  At that point the mother did her best to calm him down.  “Well,” she said, “I’m sorry you’re hurt, but you shouldn’t go around kicking people.”  “I know,” the little boy whimpered, “but Jesus said that he isn’t supposed to kick me back.”

Yes, there’s a little bit of good and a little bit of bad in all of us.  The same thing was true for Peter and Judas. When you realize that it can help you to be a little more realistic when it comes to the good guys and the bad guys in your life. You begin to see them not as you want them to be but as they really are.  You learn how to love in a way that sees the warts on the saints and the halos on the sinners.  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes