John 13:26-27 NIV
[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.”
PART ONE: THE BETRAYER
If you live long enough you'll experience the worse kind betrayal that comes from people who are members of your inner circle.
One thing about betrayals is that it always comes from people you break bread with. There's a Nigerian proverb that says "Na rat wey dey inside dey tell rat wey dey outside say food dey"(the snitch is always from someone within)
I wish it was an outsider, we won't feel as much pain as we do when it comes from someone trusted.
I have had people who i broke my back showing up for turnaround to stab me in the worst possible way ever.
I wept for months unending, didn't get closure and to top it all i had to act like i didn't know cause *Christ in me*
The story of Judas is one we can all relate with so well in our modern day world. Judas didn't do anything our family members,friends, workers,colleagues, spiritual leaders, spouses or even neighbours haven't done yet he gets the most criticism.
We judge him without taking a look at all he had to work with, was going through or if he was at some point a good man.
Today we are unpacking this famous verse from the point of Judas being possessed by a demon.
Stick with me, it'll bless you i promise.
One attribute of the son of man is being all knowing yet several times in scripture we find Jesus saying he works with limited information,as the Father is the only one who knows all things not him being in human flesh.
Also Jesus had very good discernment, he couldn't possibly have picked Judas because he was a thief as Jesus was careful in selecting his 12 disciples you see. Yes he chose the broken people but he also chose people who could bear the burden of the call upon him.
This means Judas wasn't always the way we thought he was. At some point Judas was sold out to the course of walking with Christ. So what actually changed?
You must agree with me that it takes a tremendous amount of self discipline and a lot of Grace of God upon a human being to be in charge of funds and not help yourself to some.
Judas was the treasurer for Christ's earthly ministry, He saw what went in and out, he occasionally took some funds for himself. Remember all of Jesus' disciples were dysfunctional at some point? James and John hot headed, Thomas doubtful, Peter too full of himself e.t.c likewise Judas had zero self control when it comes to money. Let's not be too quick to judge him as we also have one shortcoming or the other ourselves that God is working with us to curb.
He had always stolen from the purse, like Nigerian slangs says *Na where person dey work e dey chop*(a labourer is worthy of his wages) this does not excuse you from being a thief if you always take what wasn't given to you though.
So did he betray Jesus merely out of greed? The answer is NO!!
The previous chapter before this we see Jesus and his disciples reclining on the table of a Pharisee, when Mary of Bethany walks in with an alabaster box worth a year's wages.
She breaks this bottle before everyone to anoint Christ's feet, Judas was also present.
Recall i said Judas saw everything that came in and went out of the purse? Good!! Now do you also know that Jesus literally funded his ministry from pay check to pay check? He made it his duty to teach his disciples to trust God for everything they'll ever need on earth, and also to be content in whatever situation they found themselves. This means the money they had was barely sufficient and they had to live from a place of deficit almost all the time. Case in point: When they needed to pay tax Peter had to go fishing to raise the money needed. So it's not like their purse was filled with stacks of cash.
This bothered Judas so much, not just because he wanted to steal some more like we have been told but because his human mind was calculating all the things they could do with that money had it been given to them. All the people it could feed and the needs they could fulfil easily if Mary had given the money to him directly instead of wasting it (in his words.) He was the accountant of their era.
So his anger was justified i promise you,but Jesus saw the bigger picture that he didn't. Read the entire chapter for proper context.
Scripture always tells us it's okay to be angry but not to allow the sun go down on our anger as this gives the devil a foothold in our life.
Judas failed at this part because he allowed his anger lead him into the enemies slaughter house.
To be continued...
Have you allowed unforgiveness into your heart? In what areas can you use some repenting today? Remember scripture says before taking the match stick from someone's eyes, be sure to remove the log from yours?
I urge you to do some soul searching today!
Shalom Shalom.
Comments
Post a Comment