Friday 5 April, 2019

18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’ 19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” 21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.” 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

To betray the Son of the living God is such an incredibly evil thing to do. To betray someone you have been following for years is cruel. Judas certainly gets a bad rap, and rightfully so!

This morning as I have reflected on this scripture, I put myself in the story. When I put myself in Judas’ shoes, I considered the notion of what it is to betray Jesus.

Now I am pretty confident that I have never betrayed anyone to persecution or death, but I do sin – through my thoughts, and through words I say, through things I do and even when I don’t do what I should. My reflection this morning reminded me of the seriousness of these sins.

It’s tempting for me to become self-righteous and feel like I have the “Christian Life” all together. After all, the sins I do commit aren’t that bad. Are they?

I feel like this passage has shown me that every one of those sins, as small as they might seem, is like me walking away from Christ to collect my 30 pieces of silver.

Heavy.

But there is hope! God has made a way! I don’t need to continue walking away, separating myself from Christ for eternity. No matter how regularly I fail, how serious my failures. Even though I have betrayal on my hands, He is ready to welcome me back with open arms.

Written by Ps. Justin Ware