Why Judas why?
If the door is open it isn’t theft
John 13 v25-30
“Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.”
Yesterday I took some time to listen to one of my favourite bands, U2.
They have a song called Cedarwood Road which is based around their upbringing in Ireland. Bobo wrote of the song, “Myself and my friends dealt with the kind of skinhead, boot boy culture of the time by creating our own reality, and eventually our own rock and roll band,” he said. “That’s how we dealt with the fear that we felt. When I was writing about Cedarwood, the big revelation for me was that you can’t really leave these things behind because they are who you are, you can never escape your upbringing.” A touch of fatalism perhaps!
One of the lyrics says, “If the door is open it isn’t theft”
Hold that thought for a moment.
The unwanted and unseen guest at the Passover meal was Satan. He was lurking in the background asking to have Peter and menacing with Judas’ thoughts again. Was Judas some robot that was moved around into position? A forced betrayer? No not at all. Judas had plenty of time to change his mind. But the door of his heart was open and Satan took advantage of him. Judas may not have been able to escape from his upbringing and the desire for a militant uprising. But he could have escaped from the thoughts he was having. He had plenty of time to do so.
He had been an unrepentant thief. He could have stopped at any time.
He had his feet washed by Jesus after he had agreed to betray him.
He refused the opportunity to confess when Jesus told all the disciples that someone on the team would betray him.
He could have stopped himself when Jesus showed special friendship and love by handing him a piece of bread.
He could have stayed even when Jesus encouraged him to go and get what he was going to do over with. Satan had filled his mind again with thoughts but he could have stayed.
He could have gone back to the house once he had left into the cold of the dark night. I wonder if he looked back at the light and the love he had received. Why didn’t you turn back Judas? Why didn’t you stop yourself?
Was it his upbringing?
We can’t blame Satan though he was active for sure.
It was because the door of Judas’ heart was open to Satan but closed to Jesus.
Because of that this wasn’t a theft.
Missions Paul 