Heartbreaking

Laura Digan April 13, 2022 0 2

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John 13: 21-33 (NRSVA)

21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23 One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ 26 Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, ‘Do quickly what you are going to do.’ 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the festival’; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, “Where I am going, you cannot come.”

My heart breaks for Judas. He is about to do something he can never take back. Commentators have said that Judas thought that Jesus’ kingdom was here on earth, that as the Messiah Jesus would overthrow the Romans, giving the Jews back their land. He therefore became disillusioned when Jesus talks of dying instead of setting up his kingdom. Maybe Judas no longer believed that Jesus was the Messiah. This disillusionment then gave space for the devil to enter into Judas and encourage him to betray Jesus. 

My heart breaks for Judas as I think if we are honest all of us have been like him at some point in our lives. We can seriously misunderstand another person’s motives or plans, be they a loved one, a friend, or a work colleague. We get the wrong end of the stick but still we let it fester. And it grows. And it plots. Until we let it get the better of us and we betray our loved one, our friend, our work colleague. Then we find we got it wrong, we misunderstood but the damage is done and we can’t take back what we did, what we said. 

Judas misunderstood who Jesus was. But if Jesus was to come back today would we be any different? Would we recognise Jesus? Or would we too misunderstand and judge him based on our own desires and prejudices? 

PRAYER:

Lord God, 

Forgive us when we are quick to judge and fail to see the bigger picture.

Forgive us when we are quick to judge instead of taking time to understand another’s thinking and motivations. 

Forgive us when we are quick to judge and fail to see the truth. 

Forgive us when we give up on others too soon

Forgive us Lord and give us your patience and vision.

Amen