PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
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.
31 When he
was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in
him. 32 If God is glorified in
him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
33 “My
children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and
just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
34 “A new
command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one
another. 35 By this everyone
will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
36 Simon
Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but
you will follow later.”
37 Peter
asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38 Then
Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell
you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” (John 13:18-38,
NIV)
REFLECTIONS:
What does the Bible tell us about Judas and Peter’s betrayal
of Jesus? We have these verses that lead up to and foretell the betrayals and
we have verses that cover the events of the betrayals. We also have verses that
cover the rest of the story for both Judas and Peter, Judas’ sad death and
Peter’s renewal and leadership throughout the rest of the New Testament
especially in Acts. But I think “we,” the all inclusive “we,” have built up a
story around these men. We have literature, like Dante’s Inferno, and art that
attempts to capture the Biblical as well as the artistic and cultural views.
Also, “we” like our villains to be really bad and our heroes to be really good.
Watch most TV shows and movies, especially Disney movies and their treatment of
villains. See what you think. So, Judas was really, really bad, right? And
Peter, just stumbled, right? I hope to break up my fixed thinking on this topic
and maybe yours with a couple contrary points of view.
How old were the disciples? Art shows them many times as old
men with gray beards with a very youthful Jesus peacefully residing over the
group, right? Ran Vander Laan, who has I believe a very fresh perspective on
many New Testament points of view, makes the argument that the oldest disciple
was Peter and that the rest were under 20. Imagine that and take it with you
when you read the Gospels. The article below gives the pros and cons for this
point of view.
Back to Judas, now potentially under 20, why did he betray
Jesus? And why did Jesus choose him as a trusted disciple, part of the 12 that
formed the inner circle of Jesus’ followers? One more issue, Judas was the
treasurer for the 12 disciples. Usually, only very trusted individuals are
chosen to be treasurers.
Here’s a link to an article that attempts to address these
questions.
I’ve quoted the article because I couldn’t say it any
better…
“The early Christian community,
therefore, would have still counted among its members those who were friends of
Jesus, who were eyewitnesses to the Passion events, or who knew the sequence of
events from the previous generation. All these would presumably have criticized
any wild liberties taken with the story. Rather, as Father Harrington told me
recently, "Judas' betrayal of Jesus was a known and most embarrassing
fact." In other words, the ignominy of having Jesus betrayed by one of his
closest friends is something that the Gospel writers would most likely have
wanted to avoid, not invent.
Overall, though, none of the four
Gospels provides a clear or convincing reason for why one of the inner circle
of disciples would betray the teacher he esteemed so highly. Greed, for
example, fails miserably as an explanation. After all, why would someone who
had travelled with the penniless rabbi for three years suddenly be consumed
with greed?
One Scripture scholar, the late
William Barclay, professor of divinity at Glasgow University, and author of the
widely used multivolume Daily Study Bible, suggested that the most compelling
explanation is that in handing Jesus over to the Romans, Judas was trying to
force Jesus’ hand, to get him to act in a decisive way. Perhaps, he suggests,
Judas expected the arrest would prompt Jesus to reveal himself as the
long-awaited Messiah by overthrowing the Roman occupiers. Barclay noted that
none of the other traditional explanations (for example, greed,
disillusionment, jealousy) explain why Judas would have been so shattered after
the crucifixion that he committed suicide. In other words, only if Judas had
expected a measure of good to come from his actions would suicide make any
sense.”
Well rock my world view!
Also, I don’t buy that Judas was predestined to betray Jesus
and that he was just playing his role like a cog in the machine. I do believe
that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit created the world and mankind and at that
same time knew that Jesus was going to have to come and be the ultimate
sacrifice for our sins. But I don’t believe that at that same moment Judas was
named as Jesus’ betrayer. God will have His will, but there are many possible
paths that events and people can take to act out God’s will. We have choices,
but God controls the outcomes.
I think the key issue with Judas was that he attempted to
shape the outcome. Which makes me think, did Judas really, really, at his core
believe that Jesus was God’s son? Do you? Can we abandon outcomes to God? How
would you act differently? How would that change your hopes for the future?
Here’s another good article that covers this topic. Also, check out “Renovation
of the Heart” by Dallas Willard. Good stuff.
If we believe God is good and has the best for us, why do we
attempt to force His hand and attempt to control the outcomes?
Then there’s Peter. Using Ran Vander Laan’s point of view, I
see Peter as the leader, alpha dog, as long as Jesus wasn’t around. Peter was
that kid eager to please the real leader, Jesus. As long as Jesus was around he
was safe and was the lead student. In these verses, Peter has the right answer,
but Jesus knows Peter’s heart and can see the future. A test was coming for
Peter that would expose his heart and the strength of his inner beliefs. We all
have untested beliefs that are unrefined and we can’t know our level of
conviction until we are tested. This is God’s tough love. I think this test
made Jesus sad. Not so much because Peter would deny Jesus. Mankind’s denying
and betraying God is a long repeating story. I think what might have made Jesus
sad was what it would put the young Peter through. He really loves us, but
wants so much more for us.
I believe that Peter’s issue was Fear of Man. He feared men
more than he feared God. Here’s an article for you if you want to read more.
When we read the Bible and look around at how history and
culture have shaped our points of view, we see why it is difficult to remain
objective. I know I accept others opinions quickly and too often bring a fixed
reference point to what I read or discuss.
At this point in history, God’s will and the world were
headed towards collision and radical change. Jesus and the 12 disciples were at
the epicenter. Now imagine you’re 20 or younger. That’s tough. But Jesus’
ministry was risked on these 12, Judas included, and it would not and still
will not fail. God holds the outcome.
I have to tell two stories on myself that are germane. I’ll
save one for the very end.
Several years ago I was a co leader with June Criner of a
healing ministry. One night our activity was to write confessional statements
on masking tape and put them on ourselves. We were to wear our sinfulness. Then
as we confessed our sinfulness to the group we would remove the pieces of tape and
claim victory through confession, a very powerful activity. The activity took a
bit longer than expected and I as the co leader didn’t have my time to confess,
lucky me. As part of cleaning up that night I removed my pieces of masking
tape, but without public confession. Later with June, I stood and talked
outside PRF. We reviewed what had happened that night and celebrated personal
and spiritual victories that we were seeing. It had been a good night. When I
got in my car I looked down and noticed that I had one piece of masking tape
that I hadn’t removed. It said “Fear of Man.” I realized that God had hit the
bull’s-eye. I cried most of the way home.
PRAYER:
God you hold the outcome, not me. God you know my heart
better than anyone and especially me. Test me so that I can grow into who you
made me to be. Reveal to me your purpose. Help me to find rest in you.
I am David Norris, and I’ve just finished the 60/60 challenge defined in the book
“Soul Revolution” by John Burke. The 60/60 challenge is for 60 days, every 60
minutes have a beep of your watch remind you to reorient yourself into a
continuous conversation of willingness. It has been wonderful. But to the topic
of this devotional it was a test for me. It’s cool to get a watch and every 60
minutes have a reminder, but what about the reality of it going off during the
day at work or wherever I am. How would I explain what I was doing? Would I be
honest or just think up some excuse? I have to admit I was concerned. What a
coward. But I turned from my fear of man and I trusted God with the outcome and
the outcome was good.
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