what About Jesus

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

WHAT ABOUT JUDAS

John 13:21-30

21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, "I tell you the truth, 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 Iscariot, son of Simon. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. "What you are about to do, do quickly," Jesus told him, 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 Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

NIV

Of course, we know the open story in this narrative. It was the Passover and they all were in the upper room. John does not record the actual events of the meal as others do, but he gives us a greater picture of the divine nature of Jesus. John gives a great deal of the conversation at the dinner table than any of the others, but not the act which we now celebrate as communion. However, there is another picture here which is not so obvious, but we wonder if that does have some relevance to our lives. This is the story of Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. It is not so much about his betrayal or that he was a thief, having helped himself to the money purse. The story here is about the fact the other disciples had no idea about who Judas really was, and what he had been doing and he was the one who would betray Jesus. The fact they asked who it is, indicates they had no idea about Judas. He appeared to be just a much a disciple as they. He appeared to want to know as much as they did. He was the one who appeared to be so concerned about the poor when Mary had poured that expensive perfume on Jesus. Of course, we know now, it was because he would rather have the perfume sold and the money put in the purse, so he could help himself to it. But what is so interesting is all this dishonesty was kept from the others. He deceived everyone, except Jesus. Yet Jesus kept him close to him, knowing this had to be, so the plan of the Father would be accomplished. This leads us to think of how Judas was anything other than transparent. Could that be the case in the community of faith we live in? Are we all hiding some character flaws from others? Surely we are not thieves or that we would betray Jesus, but do we have flaws that we are transparent about? This is not to mean that we should stand in front of the whole congregation and enumerate our secret sin, or that we have some secret sin to confess. But, are we as honest about our flaws as we should be? Do we always want to look good, pure and holy and righteous in front of everyone? When asked, in that polite way, “How you doing?” How do we respond? “Great, Praise the Lord” or “Well, I am having a struggle right now, could you pray with me?”  That is not to say we are always having a struggle, or that everything is not great. However, are we always honest, or are we in fact being a little deceiving? Are we being just a little like Judas?