Beyond The Basics

Have you ever thought about how Jesus felt when Judas betrayed Him? I never did until recently. Which is strange. I mean, we read this gigantic book that’s thousands of years old with God Himself as the central character and we never think to consider how God feels about things humans do.

Maybe it’s because it’s God. How does one assign emotions to One who is so far above and beyond all human comprehension? Does betrayal even feel the same way when you’re eternal? Or, for that matter, compassion, or anger, or joy?

Maybe there is just a disconnect between our culture and the culture the authors lived in. The Bible gives us all kinds of emotional descriptors but never in the places that we as modern, western Christians would want them. I don’t know about you, but I’ve thought the way the Bible describes emotions is borderline unhelpful at times. How dare those old dead guys be so unbearably vague?

They were vague, though, at least according to our standards. And there’s a very good reason for that. We, as readers, no matter what culture or time period we live in, are invited to meditate on what the authors were saying between the lines. Sure, they could have laid out all the information for us perfectly and neatly. You know what that’s called? That’s called a textbook. But by omitting certain information the reader is now required to have an actual conversation with God in order to understand what was written. And that’s where I was when I read the first couple verses of John 13 recently:

John 13:1-2 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him…

It suddenly struck me: Judas was one of Jesus’ best friends. Jesus was constantly surrounded by 12 guys for three years straight and one of those guys was Judas Iscariot. Judas was sent out with the other eleven to “heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons.” (Matthew 10:8) Judas was a highly dedicated student of a distinguished Teacher and of the Law. He left everything behind to follow Jesus. Jesus confided in him, trusted him, and gave him everything for three years straight. They ate together, laughed together, fished together, traveled together. Imagine how Jesus must have felt. How much did that hurt Him? Does Jesus still miss Judas?

Here’s the terrifying part. If Judas, who spend three years face to face with Jesus, could betray Him, how much more could I? I’m not any better than Judas. And I’ve certainly never seen Jesus in person. Judas stole from the treasury which is what gave Satan an open door to influence his decision to betray Jesus. Allowing sin in my life gives Satan an open door to influence me to betray Jesus. I’m just as easily led astray as Judas was. How would Jesus feel if I were to betray Him like that?

Wait, if Jesus is God, didn’t He know Judas would betray Him ahead of time? Yet He called Judas to follow Him anyway. That’s a much more comforting thought. If Jesus gave a chance to the guy who was destined to betray the Son of God over to murderers, certainly that invitation has been extended to all of us. And just as Jesus loved Judas to the end, He loves us to the end.

Maybe those vague old dead guys were on to something.