This edition of Uncommon Commentaries, has the Bible Story Teller asking you to think back to by-gone days. Did you have to be called for supper when you were a kid? Did mom or dad call you to put down what you’re doing and come and eat? Were you so engrossed in what you were doing that supper time snuck up on you? Playing too hard, knee deep in school homework, at a friend’s house too long, grooving to the music or riding that bike too long and too far? Ever notice that adults never have to be reminded to come to supper? They watch the clock and anxiously wait for supper to hit the table! Eating is a powerful habit to break. Our stomachs often remind us when mealtime is approaching with a slight grumbling or that special smell of something cooking. It’s the intestinal track reminding you that there’s plenty of room in case there’s meat and potatoes coming to visit!
When you’re young, you eat with friends and family. When you’re older, you almost always eat with family, friends, and those you’re acquainted with. You will find yourself at the supper table where there are some you know and some you might not know. Jesus had twelve close disciples that he traveled with and knew intimately. They ate together almost every day. At Passover, there was special attention paid to the food prepared and who would eat at the table.
The last Passover Jesus spent with his disciples was the very evening he would be betrayed and turned over to the Romans and judged by the governor. At the last supper table that evening, Jesus said something very disturbing and quite unexpected. He said that one of the twelve disciples seated together at the table would “betray” him! Everyone but two were surprised. Even more surprising was the response from the disciples.
“They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?’” Mark 14:19
Judas wasn’t alone. We may also forget that while Judas betrayed Jesus, all the disciples abandoned him. With the other disciples, Judas shared a persistent misunderstanding of Jesus’ mission. They all expected Jesus to make the right political moves. And when he kept talking about dying, they all felt varying degrees of anger, fear, and disappointment. They didn’t understand why they had been chosen if Jesus’ mission was doomed to fail. No one knows the exact motivation behind Jesus’ betrayal. What is clear is that Judas allowed his desires to place him in a position where Satan could manipulate him. Judas didn’t like the way his plan was working out, but, it was too late, the wheels of God’s sovereign plan had been set into motion. How sad that Judas ended his life in despair without ever experiencing the gift of reconciliation God could give even to him through Jesus Christ. Judas made his own choices. Fact is, God knew what that choice would be and confirmed it. Judas didn’t lose his relationship with Jesus, rather, he never found Jesus in the first place. He was called “doomed to destruction” (John 17:12) because he was never saved. Judas doesn't do us any favors when he makes us think we can choose despair and death when we can choose repentance, forgiveness, hope, and eternal life. Judas’ betrayal sent Jesus to the cross to guarantee that second choice, our only choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment