new church life: march/april 2017
Whatever Judas turned out to
be, he started as one of Jesus’ chosen
disciples. Since he was a disciple,
we can safely assume that Judas left
everything behind. As a nomad, he
did not have many possessions that
he could bring with him. We know for
sure that he held the money box, but
otherwise we cannot say what he had
or what he left behind.
We can say with certainty that
Judas walked with Jesus. They all spent
considerable time traveling together.
What drove Judas to remain with Jesus?
Could this have been done lightly?
t’s hard to deny that, at least at
first, Judas must have been committed
to discipleship. Being with Jesus was not the easiest thing to do. Jesus was
constantly moving around, ruffling feathers, and eventually had a warrant out
for His arrest. It takes commitment to stick with Jesus. No one follows Him
casually.
We have evidence from the text that Judas was believed by his companions
to be a trustworthy person. This proof comes from a vignette in the John
account. When Jesus said someone would betray Him, no one suspected Judas.
It’s hard to deny that, at
least at first, Judas must
have been committed
to discipleship. Being
with Jesus was not the
easiest thing to do. It
takes commitment to
stick with Jesus. No one
follows Him casually.
When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” Then the disciples looked
at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke.
Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.
Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke.
Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped
it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.
Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you
do, do quickly.” But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him.
For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him,
“Buy those things we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the
poor. (John 13:21-29)
As we see, even when everyone heard that one of them would betray Jesus,
and Judas hurried out immediately after that, the disciples just assumed that
he was going to buy something or give money to the poor. Clearly they were
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