When Judas Brings Darkness

 

Wednesday of Holy Week, March 31, 2021

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.  John 13:21-30

When you’re very familiar with a story, having read it many times before, you can miss some important phrases.  This morning they jumped off the page to grab me by the heart and throat. 

Satan entered into him…is a chilling reminder of how someone who chooses to believe in Jesus can turn on a dime if their belief is mixed with self-serving.  Judas was the treasurer, and being too close to the money was too much of a temptation for him.  (This, by-the-way, is not a blanket indictment of those who handle the financial necessities of church organizations.  I have known, and worked with treasurers of many churches – my own father included…mostly they are humble, honest, and only willing to serve God).  I believe Judas let the growing purse influence his understanding of God’s Kingdom.  He idolized the cash flow, and it began to pave the way for Satan to open his heart’s door.

So Judas left at once, going out into the night.  Going out into the night wasn’t just describing the time after the sun went down in the sky, but how the light of Christ’s love was forsaken in favor of following after the purse.

The fact that Judas was still with Jesus at the Last Supper indicates he still had a choice.  Scripture records that Jesus offered the piece of bread after dipping in the bowl, a sign of friendship and an offer of shared intimacy between close friends.  Taking the bread was the response of welcome, and shared joy.  This was the choice Judas made to betray Jesus.  His actions declared love for Jesus; his heart was counting on filling the purse with 30 pieces of silver.

And this is the danger for any of us who openly bear the name of disciple; our hearts are not hardened bastilles, they are vulnerable.  Our compassion makes us so, willing to be servant, helper, doers of good.  Satan is more than willing to use that against us.  This is why we are cautioned to be on guard, vigilant against the evil Satan wants to carry into the open doors of our hearts.

Stay alert!  Watch out for your great enemy, the devil.  He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.  1 Peter 5:8

Most of us would not name a child “Judas”.  The name carries too much weight of betrayer, or not-to-be-trusted.  As such, when we hear that name, it is too easy to simply think of the despised cheat.  We miss the greater threat we each face, understanding that we are also following the same master and subject to the same temptation as Judas. 

·       It may be the purse, like Judas

·       It may be ambition like James and John wanting inner-circle privilege

·       It may be cowardice to witness like Peter, denying his Master at trial

It could be any of our little weakness proclivities that Satan knows how to exploit and nurture into full-blown betrayal. 

Is there any wonder we are called to a daily walk, a moment-by-moment conversation with our God that never really puts an “amen” to the end of our  prayers…but remains an open line of short accounts?

For You Today

A good check on how close to being Judas, (for any of us), is to set an hourly alarm reminder to consider if we’ve been on the alert to share Christ with someone, or thinking of that person who needs a word of encouragement, or if we’ve been mindful of God’s leading in every area of our life and relationships.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!  

[1] Title Image:  By Nikolai Ge, Public Domain, via Wikimedia Commons                                                              Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©

The Frog Gets a Wake-Up Call

 

[i][ii]

Thursday, May 2, 2019

“Write this letter to the angel of the church in Laodicea.  This is the message from the one who is the Amen—the faithful and true witness, the beginning of God’s new creation:  “I know all the things you do, that you are neither hot nor cold.  I wish that you were one or the other!  But since you are like lukewarm water, neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth!  You say, ‘I am rich.  I have everything I want.  I don’t need a thing!’  And you don’t realize that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked.  So I advise you to buy gold from me—gold that has been purified by fire.  Then you will be rich.  Also buy white garments from me so you will not be shamed by your nakedness, and ointment for your eyes so you will be able to see.  I correct and discipline everyone I love.  So be diligent and turn from your indifference.  “Look! I stand at the door and knock.  If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in, and we will share a meal together as friends.  Those who are victorious will sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat with my Father on his throne.  “Anyone with ears to hear must listen to the Spirit and understand what he is saying to the churches.”  Revelation 3:14-22

You know that old saw about finding the good in anyone?  It’s not in here.  In this vision of Revelation Jesus is dictating letters to John to the seven churches of Asia Minor.  When it comes to the church at Laodicea he’s got nothing good to say. 

The sticky part here is that when Jesus didn’t find something good to say about them, He didn’t follow my mother’s advice; He didn’t just keep his mouth shut.  Instead the letter is a scathing rebuke of a proud, content group, prancing around in their miserable wretchedness. 

There’s nothing good about lukewarm faith.  The story about the Frog in the Kettle is evidence enough; lukewarm water may feel comfortable to a frog placed in body-temperature water in a pot on the stove.  If the water was boiling he’d jump out like a rocket going off.  But if you raise the heat ever so slowly, the frog’s body will adjust to the temperature until he just sits there and cooks to death. 

Such is the picture of the church at Laodicea, cooking to spiritual death in their comfortable complacency.  They’ve got what they think they need, and no longer have any desire to engage in hot pursuit of following Jesus.  Like the fable about the emperor who was convinced his new invisible suit of clothes was the height of fashion, and pranced around naked for everyone to admire, the church at Laodicea was blinded by materialism and power bought with earthly riches.

So, what does Jesus do…cleans their clock, right?  He slashes and minces them up like a frog in a blender.  No…not at all.  Jesus, in a matter-of-fact tranquil tone informs them they’re on the wrong path, and warns them to repent, get hot for the Kingdom; He wants them to change their ways.  His crowning touch of mercy is to offer them friendship.  He tells them they’ve put him on the outside with their attitudes, but he’s standing at their door, knocking to come inside.

This is the kindness of our Lord…one who is patient and loving, willing to have open arms for the sinner-saint gone astray.  The invitation is always extended to come back!

For You Today

It’s easy to slip-into complacency.  There are a million excuses (I’m too old, too young, not trained, things in the way, fear, comfort, sickness…et al).  Every one of the excuses is tied to temptation, and each one raises the temperature of the water in the cooking pot.  So, wake up; it’s later than we think! 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

---

This Holy Week - Part 1

[1]

Monday, March 26, 2018

Under the old system, the blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer could cleanse people’s bodies from ceremonial impurity.  Just think how much more the blood of Christ will purify our consciences from sinful deeds so that we can worship the living God.  For by the power of the eternal Spirit, Christ offered himself to God as a perfect sacrifice for our sins.  That is why he is the one who mediates a new covenant between God and people, so that all who are called can receive the eternal inheritance God has promised them.  For Christ died to set them free from the penalty of the sins they had committed under that first covenant.  

Hebrews 9:13-15^(NLT)

If you tried to explain the faith we hold in Jesus, and the extreme gratitude we must have for his gift of atoning for our sins on the cross, you would be hard-pressed to do better than these few sentences.  Christ offered himself as a perfect sacrifice…a new covenant…we can receive eternal inheritance…set free!

I read a quote attributed to Nadia Bolz-Weber last week about our faith:

The Christian faith, while wildly misrepresented in so much of American culture, is really about how God continues to reach into the graves we dig for ourselves and pull us out, giving us new life, in ways both dramatic and small.

Nadia was trapped in that kind of grave-life that was angry at everything, and yet offered no hope.  Miraculously touched by God’s grace in Christ, she has become a refreshingly honest voice for the younger generation (and, truthfully ALL generations) as she does-away with religious trappings and the pomposity that normally accompanies the stuffiness of religion.  And she does it in favor of blowing the clouds of religious smoke away from a clear understanding of life at the foot of the cross.

Holy week can be that for us.  Holy week should be intense in many ways:

·       Anticipating Easter

·       Dreading the crush of extra activities

·       Wishing for more than egg hunts and bunny appearances and dull services and sermons that touch nothing.

Holy week should be more than these;

·       it ought to blow the doors off minivan religion in favor of a bloody Corvette cross that washes our lives every whit clean. 

·       it ought to be the nervousness of a six year-old waiting for his first big birthday party, or a ride on the roller coaster. 

·       it ought to be Christmas, Easter and birthday party all rolled into one. 

·       it ought to be execution day, and we are the guest of honor.  The repentance of the holding cell on death row should have prepared us in the last 6 weeks for the piercing sting of nails in our hands and feet.  The idea of being crucified with Christ should have sunk-in by now, and our whole nervous system must needs be set on edge with anticipation of the cross.

It ought to be this and more as we awaken from the bleak darkness of midwinter.

For You Today

Do we get the idea that preparing for Easter involves much more than shopping for a new outfit and laying-in a fresh supply of Cadbury eggs?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

Lenten Walk - Part 10

[1]

Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Put your trust in the light while there is still time; then you will become children of the light.”  After saying these things, Jesus went away and was hidden from them.  But despite all the miraculous signs Jesus had done, most of the people still did not believe in him.  This is exactly what Isaiah the prophet had predicted:  “Lord, who has believed our message?  To whom has the Lord revealed his powerful arm?”  But the people couldn’t believe, for as Isaiah also said, “The Lord has blinded their eyes and hardened their hearts—so that their eyes cannot see, and their hearts cannot understand, and they cannot turn to me and have me heal them.”  Isaiah was referring to Jesus when he said this, because he saw the future and spoke of the Messiah’s glory.  Many people did believe in him, however, including some of the Jewish leaders.  But they wouldn’t admit it for fear that the Pharisees would expel them from the synagogue.  For they loved human praise more than the praise of God.  John 12:36-43^(NLT)

The real time of what John writes about here is during Passion Week. Jesus has entered Jerusalem just days before he will be crucified.  The crowds hailed him with loud hosannas, acclaiming his entry as the coming of Messiah, the promised one who would save Israel from the domination of Rome’s legions.  By the time Jesus says some disturbing things about losing your life in order to find it, the crowds have begun to die-down, and the media crush about the Messiah turns to a new cycle. 

Religious fads come and go!

What is born in the midst of religious fads is religious fear. 

John makes note of the fact that even some of the Jewish leaders began to believe, but they put more stock in their place in the synagogue, than in the Lord of creation and eternity.  Little faith comes…and goes.

As we’ve noted in previous parts of this Lenten Walk series, this is a time of preparation, which cannot be effective without introspection…looking within to see the condition of our ongoing conversation with God.  And while we’re looking at our hearts we measure the progress of where we’ve been with who we are now.  Like the doorpost where your Mom measured your height from last year in third grade, to this year’s height.  We keep track of such things to see how far we’ve grown. 

It is the same in Christian living; we take stock of our walk with Christ in areas of faith:  stewardship, witness, ministry, prayer, and devotion in worship.  I believe[2] it was William Barclay, or perhaps C.S. Lewis, who wrote that with every decision we make we become more like a child of heaven, or more like a child of hell.  For me Lent is the process by which I keep track of my progress away from one and towards the other. 

The measuring stick of growth, however, can be tricky.  When you try to measure your spiritual commitment you can be fooled by lots of busy-ness.  When you’re busy doing something, like trying to write a good devotion, or a sermon, or answer six dozen emails about this or that…or if you’re serving meals at the homeless shelter, or visiting the nursing home, or, or……  Busy-ness may be because you’re growing, and the opportunities to serve are also piling up; it may also be that you’re busy because you’re not growing and simply too busy to pay attention to the voice of God.

For You Today

Lent is a time to slow-down, turn-down the volume of tv, media-turbulance, activities, and the tyranny of the urgent thing to be done…and listen…listen for that still, small voice.  It’s that voice of God calling your name…the voice that says:  hi, child; how about you climb up here next to me…let’s visit awhile.  Sound good?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

Go to VIDEO

---

[1] Title Image:  Courtesy of Pixabay.com

[2] Source not remembered

Pedigree or Passion?

Simon Peter, when he saw it, fell to his knees before Jesus. “Master, leave. I’m a sinner and can’t handle this holiness. Leave me to myself.”  When they pulled in that catch of fish, awe overwhelmed Simon and everyone with him.  It was the same with James and John, Zebedee’s sons, coworkers with Simon.  Jesus said to Simon, “There is nothing to fear.  From now on you’ll be fishing for men and women.”  They pulled their boats up on the beach, left them, nets and all, and followed him.  Luke 5:8 - 11 (TMSG)

Before Jesus called Peter to follow him in ministry, his occupation was fisherman.  They’d fished all night and came up empty.  Jesus showed up and told them to cast their nets one more time.  When they did what Jesus asked, the nets were so full they started to break from the weight.  Peter was a simple fisherman, but he knew a miracle when he saw it and came unglued at the thought of being in the presence of holiness. He knew his pedigree was too spotted to be near God.

Nobody would've ever expected Marshall Taylor to be a great man of God.  He was a self-proclaimed "redneck" with weird ideas.  He was only 60, but looked 80.  (Hi-rise steelworkers age hard.)  He ate all the wrong foods in all the unhealthy ways imaginable.  He had minimal formal education, and didn't talk or pray in a fancy way.  He was married to a wonderful Christian lady, who was (in Marshall's words)  "...the only one with manners this family will ever have."  Marshall understood, like Peter, his pedigree was pure Mississippi backwater and hardly refined.

I first met Marshall in my last year of seminary, when a little church on the outskirts of New Orleans lost its mind and asked me to be their pastor.  Marshall Taylor was an absolutely earthy, both-feet-on-the-ground country boy, with no apologies; he didn't need any.  He shared his faith in Christ with steelworkers 250 feet off the ground, straddling an I-beam.  He shared Christ with children playing ball in the street. 

Marshall was too humble to be the “boss” of anything, but everyone looked to him for leadership.  I learned to lean on Marshall’s wisdom also.  Looking back I realize that Marshall was actually that church’s pastor.  I was the one with the “book knowin’” (as Marshall called it), but he knew the people and the community.  I led worship services, preached sermons and visited hospitals.  But seldom did I visit a hospital room where Marshall hadn’t already been there.  The man had a heart for people and the things of God.

And that’s the point – to be a person who loves and serves God we don’t need a pedigree that will fill out a resume’, rather cultivate a passion for souls. 

God can use you, but He won't do it against your will, or your laziness.  All you need is a heart for God.