Betrayal

 DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO LUKE

BETRAYAL

Luke 22:1-6

22:1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

NIV

We have difficulty with how Satan entered Judas when Judas was one of the disciples of Jesus. We know from the gospel of John that Judas kept the purse, or the money bag for Jesus, that contained all the support money people gave for his ministry and that Judas would take money or steal money for his own needs. There was something off about him from the beginning of his following Jesus. This betrayal was about the money, although Luke tells us that it was about Satan prompting or entering Judas and we do know that Satan would want to take any possible way to get rid of Jesus. We would also think that although the chief priests and officers of the temple were supposed to be holy and righteous men dedicated to serving God, they too were being influenced by Satan because they were looking for a way to kill Jesus. How can sacred men who devote their lives to God even think of committing murder? Then Judas, a follower of Jesus thought of betrayal. This would make us think that even though we believers think we are always steadfast in our following Jesus, or have faith in Jesus, or think of ourselves as Christians, it might be possible that Satan could or is trying to influence us in some way. Perhaps it would be so sly, or sneaky that we are not aware of his scheme until it is too late, and we are sucked in. This is why we have to get dressed each and every morning, or maybe we need to even sleep in the armor of God, so that our mind and heart and our faith are completely guarded against any of the flaming arrows, or a sneaky scheme of the devil. It was only one disciple out of twelve chosen that fell prey to Satan, so it would seem our odds are fairly good that Satan is not even trying to get to us, but then there are forces of evil in the heavenly realms and dark forces of evil in this world, so attacks could come from many directions, many fronts all around us. So we must be constantly on guard being fully dressed at all times in the armor of God, so that Satan has no opportunity to even get close to us, let alone enter us, for besides the armor, we have the Holy Spirit dwelling within and He would never give Satan any open door into our hearts and minds. We can live in peace, and security fully dressed, living indwelled by the Spirit, and we would therefore never think of betrayal.