Note: this week being Holy Week, my devotions will follow the reading schedule that I suggested in yesterday’s bulletin, reading through the Passion account in one week.
Scripture: John 18:1-11
“’I am he,’ Jesus said. (And Judas the traitor was standing there with them.)" -- v. 5
The story of Judas is a familiar one. One of the 12 disciples who formed Jesus’ inner circle, he betrays Jesus for a fee. He guides soldiers and officials to the garden, where they are then able to arrest Jesus.
For us, Judas is a reminder that even those who eat at the Lord’s table, even those who are intimate companions with Christ, even those who hang out with him all the time, still have a part in the story of Christ’s death and resurrection. No matter how good we think we are, we are still contributors to his death.
Who are we to think otherwise? We often look upon Judas with scorn, preferring to think of ourselves as being one of the other disciples – the ones who didn’t betray Jesus. But perhaps we don’t identify ourselves with Judas because he represents the dark temptation that lies in all of us – the temptation to sell out our Lord and Savior.
Judas represents the worst part of us, the part we’d rather not look at. But today’s scripture forces us to look at the greedy betrayer living within us. It makes us squirm, but it reminds us we are not free from blame for the events that are about to take place.
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