Judas - Mission Statement Facilitator

Why would Jesus recruit someone as a disciple who would betrayed Him? Why would He share His teachings, His companionship, His guidance, and even wash the feet of His betrayer? Judas was placed in the position of treasurer by Jesus, and Jesus was placed in the position of crucified Savior by Judas. Both are positions of trust, responsibility, power, and honor. Still, the exchange doesn't seem a fair. Was Christ just a sucker for an honest face and a zealous heart? I don't think so.


Jesus never did anything without a reason, flawless reason. Like everything He did, it was perfect conservation of motion. His every word and every action was 100% efficient, zero loss. So, what gives? Did Jesus make an error in judgement, drop the ball on this one?. I don't believe that for sacred second. There had to be a reason and I bet it is a good one. Such as....

We all have our parts to play, and Judas had one of the toughest roles in the human story. He didn't think Jesus would be crucified, he expected Jesus to claim His rightful place as Reigning King/Messiah/High Priest of Israel.

The current High Priest danced on puppet strings that were pulled by an absentee emperor Tiberius. who had a family name that was synonymous with profiting from doing Ceasars bidding at the expense of Gods Will. High Priest had a warrant out for Jesus' arrest, but it would be Judas who would force Jesus to take His rightful place. This wandering Rabbi routine was taking way too long and the Romans weren't going to leave on their own. All this time spent telling stories with hidden messages to the poor wasn't going to fulfill the Messiah's mission statement. Then, there was that over the top anointing scandle that happened last night! He had to act now before his Master became another pharasee. Judas would keep things moving in the right direction, on track, no one else seemed to even care. This was his new self appointed role, facilitator. He would be a hero... he would be despised throughout Christian history.

After Jesus was crucified, Judas was despondent, confused, repentant, and so teapped by guilt that he took his own life. Perhaps, the sickening potential that he wasted his life following another pretender, another would-be, another blasphemer devoured any hope for the future. Had he somehow fouled up? Nothing had gone according to Judas' plan, his imperfect, hasty plan. How could this happen when he was motivated by the best of intentions? Something had to be wrong!

Don't you believe it!

Judas' betrayal had to be... because it had to be. That's was God's plan, His perfect plan, and Judas played his part perfectly.

Mission Accomplished

In relationships, sometimes we get hurt by the people we love, by ones we believe in because we want to believe in love. We feel like our love was thrown away, sacrificed on an alter, forsaken, and left for dead. That's because it wasn't love, we had expectations of being rewarded for our love. That's a business transaction, and we got the short end of the stick. Jesus took the cross but we only got the stick, that's the transaction we should be considering.

Jesus cried out,

"Father, forgive them for they know not what they do."  

That's love. Man's law upholds that ignorance of the law is no excuse. God's law upholds justification by love. We can't plead our case on ignorance or self-defense, we are guilty. We are responsible for our sin, but we will never be held accountable for it because of His great love. That's Grace.

We wilfully betray our Father in sin, and He wilfully forgives us of it. He has the final word. For the first shall be last and the last and the last shall be first.

Amen.