The Rat in our Ranks

¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
²¹ After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, 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, the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 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 festival, or to give something to the poor. ³⁰ As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.       John 13:18-30

The very mention of the name, Judas, stirs something strange within us.  It's a name which speaks of betrayal, as it brings to mind one of those chosen by Jesus to follow him and learn of him.  Yet this one goes against everything Jesus taught and stood for.   The very one in charge of the funds of Jesus' earthly ministry, now held his own hands on the purse strings as if the money belonged to him. 

All kinds of theories have been suggested as to why Judas did what he did.  One looks into the mind of Judas, who has been made aware, like the rest of the disciples, that Jesus will soon depart from them.  The lack of the popularity of the Lord could have given Judas the idea "when Jesus goes down, I will have full control of this money."  From what the scriptures tell us, our summation of the event is simply that Judas had followed Jesus, grown close to Jesus, just like the others. The only difference was that Judas had not, like the rest of the group, followed through with complete faith in the Lord, and yielded himself in complete surrender and love and trust toward Jesus.  And carrying the monies for a group that would soon dissolve, meant the money was his.  And the conniving way he was going a step further in selling his loyalty to Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. 

Our likeness to Judas comes into focus when we hold our hands so tight on our wallets, the poor are not fed, the widows are not supported, the orphans struggle, the church's work suffers.  Perhaps we need to rethink our faith and dedication to the Lord, when the money means more to us than faith and obedience. 

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