Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Now Jesus
was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, “I tell you the truth, one of
you will betray me!” The disciples
looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to
Jesus at the table. Simon Peter motioned
to him to ask, “Who’s he talking about?”
So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus responded, “It is the one to whom
I give the bread I dip in the bowl.” And when he had dipped it, he gave
it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. When
Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what
you’re going to do.” None of the others
at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since
Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for
the food or to give some money to the poor.
So Judas left at once, going out into the night. As soon as Judas left the room, Jesus
said, “The time has come for the Son of Man to enter into his glory,
and God will be glorified because of him.
And since God receives glory because of the Son, he will give his
own glory to the Son, and he will do so at once.
John 13:21-32(NLT)
The mere fact that
Judas was at the table with Jesus should tell us volumes about the depth of the
kind of love Jesus possesses and offers.
He knew Judas was on the verge of giving-in to his sin-nature; Judas was
about to sink into irretrieveable darkness, and yet Jesus shared this momentous
and intimate meal with even this betrayer.
I’ve always been
intrigued and captivated by the moment of Judas’ fall:
When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, “Hurry and do what
you’re going to do.” John 13:27(NLT)
There are so many
questions:
·
Was it something about the bread that
paved the way for Satan to take Judas’ mind?
·
Was it Judas’ sinful heart combatting
Christ’s blessing on the bread?
·
Is this what Paul meant[2]
about eating and drinking damnation to yourself at the Lord’s Table when you
haven’t examined your heart for wrong motives, or sin against others?
·
Was there something
physically-noticable that happened when Satan entered Judas?
·
Why did Jesus urge Judas to do what
he was going to do?
Of course we have
questions. Each of us has spiritual
blind spots, but we also have curiosity and a hunger to know this Christ we
follow. Without questions, how will our
spirit and soul grow into the likeness of Him?
I’ve always been a
little gun-shy of asking questions in public.
I got burned a good bit when I was young and asked some questions that
were a little on the dumb side (imagine that)…and the effect silenced my
inquisitiveness…at least in public forums.
But the need-to-know still, and always has, boiled beneath the
surface. This is the life of a disciple –
to walk with Christ, and find out who we are in Him. As Paul wrote:
I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from
the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, Philippians 3:10(NLT)
For You Today
We are close to this
meal Jesus and Judas shared; the cycle of the Christian year is coming to its’
amazing climax with the passion of Christ about to begin. Get ready to put on the sackcloth and ashes
of mourning of Good Friday. His
suffering and death are about to be on bloody display; his suffering because He
knew us, and loved us anyway; just like Judas!
You chew on
that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day. 
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