Category: Devotions

Easter Sunday – What Mary saw and heard!

John 20 v 1 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.

She is not alone, the other Gospels help us with that; she is with Mary the mother of James, Salome, Joanna and the other Mary. In a society where women did not count it is amazing how God orchestrates the women to be the first on the scene to witness the resurrection of Jesus.

Her life on earth had been hell before she met Jesus. She had 7 areas of dysfunction in her life. Seven major areas of weakness and of pain and torture. Her life was characterised by these plagues. Then she met Jesus. He gave her a new personality. He restored her and made her whole.

When you have been forgiven much you love much.

No wonder she loved him. Oh how she loved him. This love was not sentimentalism or emotionalism. She owed her all to Jesus.

The first day of the week. God’s new week. It was still dark but the darkness was fading, the sun was rising and the Son was alive.

v2 So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved, and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”

Mary jumps to conclusions. We don’t know who she is referring to, who ‘they’ were. Was she referring to the enemies of Jesus? Having murdered him they are playing some sick joke in stealing his body? Was it Joseph and Nicodemus, this was a temporary tomb anyway, have they re-sited his body to a more permanent place? The conclusion she didn’t jump to was that Jesus had been raised from the dead. They would see Jesus at the resurrection (the end-time Last Day) but not now. This is why John makes sure his gospel reveals a risen Lord and that the resurrection was to man before God the Father (v17 Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.’”)

John (we presume) had looked inside the tomb and Peter had gone inside. But everyone has gone back home and Mary is left. Look what happens.

V11-15 Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb and saw two angels in white, seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot. They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?” “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

Where had the angels appeared from? Or were they there in the tomb but Peter and John had failed to see them?

Your tears of brokenness can give you an ability to see what others are seeing. Angels seen through tears of loss. ‘They have taken’. ‘I have lost everything, my life, my all.’ Spoken to angels that the others couldn’t see.

Your tears of brokenness can lead to you being quite irrational. There was no way Mary could get the body on her own.

Your tears of brokenness can lead you to revelation. We can focus on the fact that she didn’t see Jesus but what she thought was the gardener. That is true. But it was an amazing revelation also. “I am the true vine and my Father is the gardener” and here stands the One who will bring life to a garden of confusion, hurt and sin. She saw correctly in a wonderful way.

v16  Jesus said to her, “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

Powerful, deeply moving and it starts by Jesus calling her name.

He called my name and I ran out of that grave.!

It happened to Lazarus and it happened to Mary!

He is Risen!

v18 “Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.”

Mary, the one who was the most broken of all women became the first witness of the resurrection. You may think you have nothing. You may feel disqualified from many things. However in your devotion to Jesus you heard your name!

Holy Week – don’t be stressing, just keep a Sabbath.

What happened on the second day?

“Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.” John 19 v42

Jesus had no place to lay his head (Luke 9:58) and he had no family tomb either. His death came suddenly for the disciples and no one had thought of what to do with the body of their Lord. Two secret disciples had a solution. Joseph had a tomb very near to the cross that had never been used and so he and Nicodemus before sunset on the Friday laid Jesus there temporarily before the Sabbath began on the Saturday. Isn’t it a lovely thought that Jesus was laid there temporarily?!

So it is Saturday.

What is happening?

Three things.

1. The enemy secured what they thought was their victory.

• The religious leaders were not observing what they taught which was one of the charges they laid at Jesus – keeping the Sabbath, ““The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.” Matthew 27
• They were remembering the words of Jesus more than the disciples. The last thing on the disciples mind was stealing the body! They were not thinking about the teaching of Jesus, there was no expectation, “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.” Matthew 27 v63-64.

 

Sometimes it may feel it is getting worse than it gets better. The enemy of your soul will try and secure your defeat.

Keep your eyes off what you think the enemy has done. Turn your face away. Don’t listen to the voice of negativity that tries to knock at your door. It’s not over. There is someone else who is active.

 

2. Jesus was doing something though we are not absolutely sure what that was.

We know that Jesus told the thief he would be in Paradise with Jesus that day (Luke 23 v42). We also know there are various Scriptures that would indicate Jesus went to preach in hell (Acts 2 v27; Romans 10 v6-7; Ephesians 4 v8-9; 1 Peter 3 v18-20). However, many have debated over the generations on what these Scriptures actually mean. So I think it is fair to say Jesus was doing something but we are not 100% sure what that was even if we might have an idea. I like this position. I don’t like the position of being so sure of what and where God is. Prophecies during a pandemic are to be taken lightly. To have had them before would have been more helpful.

On the Saturday of your trauma it is simply enough to know that God is still active. Whatever He is doing it will be for the ultimate good. That is enough to rest on. That brings us nicely to the third point.

3. The disciples are not stressing, they just keep the Sabbath.

“Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation…” Because it was the day before the Sabbath and everyone rests on that day they laid Jesus in the tomb.

Luke helps us here. The women saw where Jesus was laid, “Then they went home and prepared spices and perfumes. But they rested on the Sabbath in obedience to the commandment.” (23 v56).

It is not a day to do nothing. That feels like a waste to me. It is a day of rest; of sleep; of worship; of silence; of fuelling the tank; of friendship, love and kindness.

So ignore what the enemy has done or may still be trying to do; trust God hasn’t stopped working for you and you choose your Sabbath and rest your soul, heart and mind. For tomorrow will be quite a day!

Don’t be stressing, just keep a Sabbath.

Holy Week – don’t be playing games of gain, just keep giving your life.

They had tried death by spear, by boiling in oil, impalement, stoning, strangulation, drowning, burning – and all had been found to be too quick. They wanted a means of punishing criminals slowly and inexorably, so man devised the cross. It was almost ideal, because in its original form it was slow as it was painful … and the condemned at the same time were placed fairly before the gaze of the people.

A second consideration was nudity. This added to the shame of the evildoer and, at the same time, made him helpless before the thousands of insects in the air.

The Romans adopted the cross as a means of deterring crime and they had faith in it.

Something painful happens at the cross which might not have looked so to the onlooker.

We acknowledge the double-mindedness of the Palm Sunday crowd, the cowardice of Pilate, the vindictiveness of the Religious leaders, the anger and the insults, the spitting and the beating that Jesus received, the thorns and the nails. But something aggressive was taking place in a passive way. Yes, passive aggressive behaviour at the foot of the cross. Let’s read:

When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.  “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.” This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled that said, “They divided my clothes among them and cast lots for my garment.” So this is what the soldiers did. (John 19: 23-24).

It was a game of humiliation

The first Adam came into the world naked. But he turned his back on God and his sin brought humiliation and he sowed fig leaves together and made coverings.

The second and last Adam, Jesus, went to the cross, sinless and clothed. They stripped him of his dignity and he died naked.

As a shepherd was tending his sheep, two wolves attacked. One of the wolves killed the mother of one of the youngest lambs; the other wolf killed a small lamb as its mother looked on helplessly. The shepherd finally succeeded in driving the wolves away, but he was left with a dilemma. He had lost one mother and one small lamb. Now he was in danger of losing a second lamb because its mother had been killed and none of the other sheep would nurse the lamb since it was not their own. Then the shepherd came up with a plan.

He took the sin of the dead lamb and put it over the live lamb. In doing this, he caused the grieving mother to recognise the orphaned lamb as her own. So the mother accepted the little lamb, nursed it and it became her own.

When Jesus went to the cross He laid His coat of righteousness over our unrighteousness so that we are now clothed in Christ. We are accepted by God because His clothes of righteousness are on us.

No one likes being humiliated. To be made small, to flatten and to be weakened. Things may go wrong in your life. However no matter how you try and cover over, whether it be by clothes of education, success, popularity, wealth or religious duty, it is futile.

“Rather clothe yourselves with the Lord Jesus Christ.” Romans 13 v14

It was a game of gain.

Are we at the foot of the cross for what we can gain from it?

They gained from Jesus what He wasn’t giving. They took the clothing of Jesus, but from Jesus they took nothing. They left with his clothes but they walked away empty-handed.

Many deny the cross but take up the benefits of Christianity.

Gain is the most important part of their life

Some church noticeboards should read: PEACE AND PROSPERITY FREE FOR ALL; NEXT PERFORMANCE SUNDAY 11AM

Jesus noticeboard still says: SELL ALL YOU HAVE; GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THE POOR; THEN JOIN US!

There isn’t anything wrong in being rich as long as being rich is not the purpose of our being.

Churches are not car showrooms enticing people to buy their products. People still need to come the way of the old rugged cross.

It is a game which was foretold.

David prophesied it in Psalm 22 v18.

Just because God knew the bad thing was going to happen it doesn’t mean it isn’t bad. Putting Jesus on the cross was wicked and playing a game of dice for his coat in front of him was despicable. It was bad.

But it does mean the bad is held in the hand of good. It is Good Friday.

Everything that happens to us as God’s children is for good. It may be hell at the time, but it is for good. God is behind everything that happens to you as you follow Him. God can take the worst scenario that ever happened to a person and turn it into good so that it would appear to be the best thing that ever happened. Romans 8 v28.

Let’s not play any games but let us once again lay our life down at the foot of the cross.

 

Holy Week – don’t be giving up just keep going: for Edwin.

Waking this morning heavy hearted. Last night another of our wonderful Pastors went to be with the Lord. We were praying much. Again we contended for a shepherd, a wonderful man, fantastic husband and father to 2 sons. It is unthinkable, sobering, silencing. I cannot think in my time in one year of losing so many young Pastors who had so much more to give. Heaven rejoices but we weep.

I have just read the whole of John chapter 18 v1-11

Here are my thoughts.

He went into the garden of grief.

“When he had finished praying, Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley. On the other side there was a garden, and he and his disciples went into it.” John 18:1

John doesn’t tell us of the agonising prayer that Jesus went through, he doesn’t need to, he has already told us the many times Jesus’ heart was troubled of what lay ahead.

The first garden God walked in He ended up banishing us from it because of our sin. But here in what John simply calls an olive grove Jesus commences the road of redeeming us of that sin. Of course John will later get a Revelation of the end-time garden with the Tree of Life planted there.

The Olive grove garden is the battle with grief. A garden of betrayal. A garden of threat from the detachment of soldiers. A garden of revelation as Jesus responds with the ‘I AM’ that John has used throughout his gospel and which is attributed to the name of God in the Exodus. A garden of supernatural activity as the soldiers fall down under the revelation of Jesus. A garden of human activity that tries to take matters into their own hands as sword-wielding Peter did. We deal with all that activity in our lives. Pastors know this more than many as they carry the burdens of people, laying their lives down, battling the injustices and standing up for those who are rejected. One of the things people will say today about Edwin is that he was a shepherd, a caring, strong but gentle man.

The Olive grove was as we know called Gethsemane which means Olive Press. This garden has many emotions as grief locks us down.

The betrayer and the enemy do not spring on Jesus as in an ambush. He knows. He understands the time and the season. He knows the moment. How? It is in the hidden place.

This is the key.

John doesn’t mention it. The praying Jesus. No one needs to know your hiding place either. No one needs to know your cries for help, the battle with grief or your submission to Him. Gethsemane will crush you. It will be your greatest trial to see who’s will you follow, yours or His. Surviving Gethsemane is not to just come out of it but it is to submit to the destiny on your life. It happens through the place that you don’t have to even mention to anyone else.

Holy week – don’t be fighting just be loving

So I learnt this week that due to the corona virus The Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem was closed. This has happened before of course, in 1349! Due to another pandemic called the Black Death.

A few years ago I was privileged to visit this Church which isn’t probably where Jesus was crucified and where he rose again. Nevertheless it is a treasured site and is occupied by six Christian denominations. The primary custodians are the Greek Orthodox, Armenian Apostolic and Roman Catholic Church, with lesser duties shared by Coptic, Ethiopian and Syriac Orthodox churches.

Can you imagine what might happen if 6 Christian denominations occupied a holy site? Well, before you think of the answer let’s read a prayer of Jesus hours before he went somewhere close to this site. Keep reading because I need to tell you about the ladder.

“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, ²¹ that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. ²² I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— ²³ I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.” John 17:20-23

What a lovely prayer for Christian unity!

Back to the holy site and our imagining the Christian unity that Jesus prayed for.

In November 2008 a fistfight broke out which you can see on Youtube! It shows a fight between the blue, the black and the red team. It’s like the worst Churches Together meeting you have ever attended. Areas of the Church are rigorously defended by each group. The Copts and the Ethiopians are in continually fights over a small section of the roof. So there is one Coptic monk at any given time sitting on a chair to demonstrate their claim. In the summer of 2002 with the sun beating down, a monk moved the chair 20cm into the shade and a fight broke out in which 11 people were taken to hospital.

Can you imagine these groups agreeing to take care of the fabric of the building? No of course not and as a result it is in disrepair. This division has gone on for centuries. As a result not one of the groups hold the keys to the Church. In the 7^th century till now the keys have been held by a Sunni Muslim Family. (I thought the keys were given to the followers of Jesus?!)

So who does Jesus pray for?

Having prayed for his disciples, “I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message.” That is you and me. For what?

 

“… that all of them may be one … brought to complete unity”.

 

We need to fight and contend more for unity and not to win and gain. What does that look like? Someone has to get on the cross. The Church which is meant to be the holiest site in Jerusalem worship the cross but no one has ever got onto it, though they would love to pin their worshipping neighbours on it. Why?

 

“… just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us … Then the world will know that you sent me…”

 

We love because we replicate the relationship of the Father and the Son.

We love because we desire the presence of God in our lives.

We love because it is the greatest evangelistic tool.

Without love there is none of the above!

 

Let me tell you about the ladder. It is actually called the Immovable ladder. No one knows how this ladder propped against a window got there but presumably to make some kind of repairs. No one knows who it belongs to. So it stands there since at least the early 1700s. It has only been moved twice where the parties all agreed it would be moved temporarily so that repairs could be made.

I wonder how many Immovable ladders there are in Church. Sometimes they are called sacred cows and elephants in the room. What cannot be touched or spoken about? What are we afraid to say? What about the reverse? Are we teachable? Can we be corrected so that we become better people? Or if someone dares mention an area of our life that we are sensitive about do we react? Immovable ladders do not bring people to Jesus, unity does.

As we journey with Jesus during Holy Week don’t be fighting just be loving.

Holy Week – don’t be surprised just be strong

If the world hates you … (John 15 v18)

Where is your world?

A few days ago a friend sent me this link: http://www.asianews.it/news-en/Coronavirus:-Karachi-NGO-denies-food-to-poor-Hindus-and-Christians-49699.html

The title of the link tells you what the article is about. In Karachi, Pakistan, an NGO called The Saylani Welfare International Trust are handing out aid and meals to those in need. On the 30^th March as the corona virus began to increase they made the decision that only Muslims are entitled to them. The reason for this is that giving within the understanding of the five pillars is reserved only for Muslims. Christians are begging for food but to no avail.  As they went into the neighbourhood with their food parcels they moved on if they found the home was Christian.

What world is Jesus referring to?

For the disciples it would be the world where they were martyred.

Andrew was crucified in Greece; Bartholomew crucified upside down in Georgia; James son of Alphaeus stoned to death in Jerusalem; James son of Zebedee beheaded in a Jerusalem prison; Peter crucified upside down in Rome; Philip crucified upside down in Hierapolis; Thomas speared to death in India. The list can go on. Each would have the words of Jesus in their mind, “I have told you this, so that when their time comes you will remember that I warned you about them.” (16 v4)

Even for the apostle Paul in his world, “But the Lord stood at my side and gave me strength, so that through me the message might be fully proclaimed and all the Gentiles might hear it.”

Don’t be surprised just be strong.

For Jesus, the world wasn’t the Roman world but it was the world where people thought they were God’s children in Galilee and Judea. This was the world that he was born into and lived and would lay his life down.

They see the provision miracles of water into wine and the feeding of the crowds but they miss the significance of them pointing to the great heavenly banquet that awaits us.

They see the blind man seeing but miss the fact that Jesus has come to open our self-centred eyes to others.

They see the royal official son’s healing but miss the power of the word as the Word of God.

They see the paralysed man walk again but miss the fact that Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath.

They see Lazarus raised to life but miss that Jesus is the resurrection and the life.

The world Jesus is speaking about is your world right now, where you are. That could be with those who don’t know your God or those that do. Jesus brings that home in v2 “They will put you out of the synagogue; in fact, the time is coming when anyone who kills you will think they are offering a service to God.” Jesus is saying your world of spirituality and religion will contain painful experiences. The attributing to the hand of God the pain on your life who worships God is deeply hurtful. There is nothing like it. The pain is deep and it can last for years. Some don’t make it through.

Is there any comfort? Yes! Jesus says coming into your world is the Comforter! I love the Message of 15 v26 “When the Friend I plan to send you from the Father comes—the Spirit of Truth issuing from the Father—he will confirm everything about me.” In your world there are times when you just need the confirming truth about Jesus: He is Risen! He is alive! He is powerful! He is Sovereign! He is with you!

Don’t be surprised just be strong.

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.

Why didn’t the disciples know it was Judas?

John 13 v 22-25

“His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. ²³ One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” ²⁵ 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.”

 

Imagine the scene. The team with Jesus are lying on the floor encircling the table. Perhaps leaning on their elbow and eating with their hand.

One of the disciples (let’s agree it is John!) is next to Jesus and Judas is on the other side.

The disciples are discussing around the table what Jesus had just said that one of them would betray him. Peter wasn’t nearer enough to Jesus to ask the question so he asks John to ask.

Why didn’t the disciples know it was Judas?

1. They were not closest to Jesus around the table and they were not as close in terms of relationship to ask Jesus openly from their position.

The closer you are to Jesus the more questions you can ask and more revelation is given.

 

2. John didn’t tell them.

John leaned back onto Jesus so that the others couldn’t hear and Jesus told him the answer again out of ear-shot.

John knew it was Judas, it was confirmed when Judas took the bread that Jesus offered. John could be trusted.

Can we be trusted with what we hear? Even what God shares with us?

 

3. John was loved more than the others because he loved more than the others. He would be the only disciple left at the cross and Jesus commissions him to take care of his mother Mary.

Knowing you are a disciple loved by Jesus gives you the confidence to step out in faith whether that is asking of Him some searching questions or to risk your life at the cross.

What’s wrong Jesus?

Why did Jesus choose Judas?

John 13 v18-21 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfil this passage of Scripture: “He who shared my bread has turned against me.”¹⁹ ‘I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. ²⁰ Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.’ ²¹ After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, ‘Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

v 21 “After he said these things, Jesus became visibly upset, and then he told them why. “One of you is going to betray me.” (Message)

We have been seeing on the way to the cross Jesus being visibly upset a few times. Here, John writes Jesus was troubled and we remember how he entered this state concerning his own death in 12:27. But also before that in 11:33 when he becomes angry over the impact of the power of death on people who loved Lazarus. But here Jesus goes on to explain it is because of Judas though the disciples don’t understand at the time.

So why did Jesus choose Judas?

1. For the prophetic Scripture to be fulfilled.

We love how the Bible prophesies so much about Jesus. Where he was born, where he would live and where he would die. In fact we love the promises of the Bible. We underline them, we buy fridge magnets of them and we post pretty pictures on social media about them. I have yet to see this Bible promise of David anywhere being held on to, I certainly don’t have it displayed:

Psalm 41:9 “Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me.” Hallelujah?

From an early age Jesus had been underlining the prophetic Scriptures in his heart. He was aligning himself up on the path that his Father had laid out. Jesus had to choose a friend, a follower, one of the team to betray him.

The prophecy was originally set around David of course. He was running away from his own son, Absalom, who was trying to kill him. But the hurt for David was not only this but his confidante, counsellor and friend, Ahithophel who shared his table and ate his food was part of the conspiracy to kill him.

Jesus chose his Ahithophel and we saw it in Chapter 6 v70-71 “Then Jesus replied, ‘Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!’  (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.)”

And we may think well that’s unfair on Judas, he had no choice. If we do then we have missed the prophetic insight. Jesus was chosen but was he forced to go the path of the cross, NO. He chose. The same applies to Judas.

If we still think it is unfair then here is another reason Judas was chosen.

2. Judas is us!

Judas became disappointed in Jesus that he wasn’t doing what he wanted. Jesus was not turning out to be the Messiah Judas longed for.

Ever not had your prayers answered the way you wanted?

Judas had got to the point of ‘do this or I leave’. Ever threatened God?

The lifting of the heel is a picture of a horse kicking back. Ever tried to force something to happen? Judas so wanted Jesus to be a certain Messiah, he knew Jesus was innocent, but he created a scene, a stand-off that surely Jesus would rise and fight back physically against the religious regime and then ultimately Rome. The stand-off was really Judas v Jesus.

Judas helped himself to the money. No one knew. Everyone just saw Judas like themselves. Judas had sacrificed 3 years of his life. Had left everything and followed Jesus. Had taken part in miracles and life-changing stories. He was ready to die for Jesus, just like them. They liked him. He was one of them, a friend of Jesus.

Ever been let down by someone who was charismatic, full of faith, a friend and yet under scrutiny you heard how they had been fiddling their expenses, Illicit gain and dodging the taxes that you agree to pay? Judas is around us. And maybe you know how close this is to your testimony. Judas is us!

The gospel of John is written that we may know Jesus has taken our sins upon Him, even the sins of lifting up the heel, of betrayal against our friend of all friends. So that we may believe and follow.