Wednesday 28 Mar 2018

March 28: Luke 22:1-6

Key Verse: Luke 22:4
And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus

Devotion:
I think it is significant that these words of how Judas was preparing to sell out his own master come before the preparations for the last supper. Judas had given in to the temptation of money, given in to the pressure of the crowd and was now looking for a chance to seal the deal. Although we know he went behind the disciples’ backs, Jesus already knew about this treachery and was going to say something.

Did Jesus exclude Judas from their last meal together? No! He made sure he was there and included in the meal and also included in the breaking of bread and drinking wine before He said there was a traitor amongst them. Notice how He never called out Judas by name and never drew attention to him either. His only words were to make sure Judas was going to make the deal, almost giving him permission to go and do his deed against Christ.

The other disciples were too focused on themselves to see Judas’ reaction to any statements – it takes a very hard man to not show any emotion when he has been called out in from of his friends! That is exactly what Jesus knew had to happen. He knew He had to go to the cross to pay for our debt and nothing on this world was going to stop God’s prophecy. All throughout the history in our bibles we have words telling us how the Messiah would come to save the world, and yet the disciples did not quite get the gravity of the situation.

Jesus knew what had to happen and He was willing to continue showing His love for the disciples despite it all. He knew the world was about to consume another man and yet His love still went out to that man to give him another chance.

There are enough disputes about whether Judas repented and whether he is in heaven or hell – That is not for us to judge! That is between Jesus and Judas alone. We need to follow Jesus’ example and continue to show the love to our friends even when we know that are about to do something silly. Show them Jesus always cares!

Points to Ponder:
Have you got friends who had betrayed you?

Have you always been in the right?