Greetings everyone! The following post is something I just started thinking about today. So please tell me what you think about it on the comments page here. OK. Here it goes.
During our lunch break at school today, I walked into the level two classroom and watched a music video that my classmates where playing on the wall. It was a song called Everything by Lighthouse (or is it Lifehouse?). The lyrics to the song are powerful! Here is part of they lyrics:
“How can I stand here with You and not be moved by You? Could you tell me, how could it be any better then this?”
As I listened to it, I started thinking about Judas Iscarriot, one of Jesus’ hand-picked twelve disciples whom He would train and set up to lead His church after He ascended back into heaven. All tweleve of these men (and then some) spent a better part of three years to three and a half years with Jesus. Walking with Him. Talking with Him. Learning from Him. Working hands-on with Him. Judas was even charged with keeping the money bag of what was contributed to help the Jesus and the twelve. Yet over those three plus years Judas made choices to defy his since of right and wrong. He was a thief and helped him self to what was put into the money bag. In the course of the four Gospel accounts Judas would go to the chief priests of the Pharisees and sold his soul to them and the devil himself to betray Jesus to them. They have him 30 pieces of silver to do this.
Judas lead the Pharisees and their cohorts to the very place he knew Jesus would meet with the disciples at. Eventually though, Judas came to his sinces and realized what he had done. He took back his “reward” and wanted to give it back to the Pharisees, but they essentially threw it back in his face with all his guilt heaped on it. Judas went out and hanged himself.
As I think about all of this, I think about that song: how could Judas had spent all that time with Jesus and not be moved by Him?
And I think about myself. Jesus; how can I stand here with You and not be moved by You? Could you tell me how could it be any better then this?
Comments please.
> how could Judas had spent all that time with Jesus and not be moved by Him?
The Gospels’ treatment of Judas always seems unsatisfying to me. It’s the whole prophecy vs free will thing. Judas seems to be trapped into a role. He’s in trouble from the beginning.
It appears that Jesus knew early on who Judas was and what he would do, but he chose him as an apostle anyway. Not only that, but he prompts him to go to the Sadducees and then meets him at the appointed place.
Like other people in the Bible whose hearts were hardened by God, or who were pushed or tricked into doing bad things, Judas doesn’t seem to stand much of a chance.
I don’t know what to do about any of that stuff, but at least he appears to be repentant afterwards, even if his method of repentance is ugly.
Reading through the Gospel of John reveals Judas had a choice to betray Jesus or to truly follow Him. Judas made deliberate choices though to steal from the money bag he was responsible to keep, and no telling what else he did. We aren’t told of the other secret parts of his life. Though when Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus’ feet with expensive perfume, Judas brought objection that it should have been sold and the money given to the poor. But this reveals his true intentions that he could get his own hands on it when it was put in the money bag.
But even with all of this, John’s Gospel reveals better than any of the other gospels that Jesus alone was in charge of what happened to Him. He said that He, and He alone, had the power to lay His life down and had the power to take it up again.
But, yes I agree Colby that it seems Judas had no choice. It is something we all have to wrestle with. What is God doing here with this? I don’t understand. I don’t know if I’m making any since here.
I am moved by what you wrote. How can be in the presence of God, and not know it and be moved by it. And yet we are, each and every day. We take each breath for granted, and all the beauty that God so lovingly gave us, all of it we take for granted and walk right past the face of our God. Amazing. Love you, son!