“Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. And he sought an opportunity to betray him.” Mark 14:10-11
Every good story needs a good villian. Right in the midst of Jesus’ final week leading up to the cross, Judas becomes the ultimate villain. Judas was a man who walked with Jesus just as long as the other disciples. He witnessed the same miracles, heard the same teaching, lived the same close life with Jesus as the rest of the disciples. But instead of devotion, Judas decided that thirty pieces of silver was worth betraying his rabbi to be killed.
In one of my favorite movies, The Usual Suspects, Verbal Kint (Kevin Spacey), while being interrogated about why he didn’t stop the massacre in the harbor by the enigmatic Keyser Soze, claims, “How do you shoot the devil in the back? What if you miss?” Judas should have asked a similar question. How do you shoot the God of the universe in the back? How do you betray the King of Kings?
Despite Judas’ time spent with Jesus, I don’t think he ever understood who he was dealing with. Who in their right mind would ever betray the God of the universe? Who would try to shoot the King of kings in the back?
Judas was definitely a villian, and his actions were deplorable, but is what he did significantly different from what we do? All of us betrayed Jesus for the sake of keeping our sin! We have all sold him to death for the silver of self! And we do it for the same reason Judas did, we forget who it is we are betraying.
The reality of Jesus being God should change the way we live. It should change the things we do and the choices we make. Of course, there is no way we will ever fully stop sinning in this life because of the old sinful self that remains with us till death. We stand before the Father, Praise God, by the grace poured out through his Son’s atoning death. However, knowing Jesus as Lord should make us think twice before sinning. If Jesus is God, we ought to pursue with all of our being a life of righteousness, a life free of sin.
How can you pursue righteousness more in your life?
How does your view of Jesus affect the choices you make?
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