Learning God's Precepts

One thing I have learned over the course of my walk with God is that a lot of things I thought would be abstract - because, you know, spiritual things are supposed to be that way - simply are not. Yes, there will be a lot of those types of spiritual experiences, but most of my walk with God has simply been life: putting one foot before the next, going from one day to the next, in simple conversations scattered throughout the mundane things of life.

I have also discovered that a lot of the enemy's attacks on God's children - followers of Christ who have made Him their Lord and Savior - follow a similar pattern.

So, reading the story of Judas again with this knowledge, I finally got some clarity.

Mark 14:3–11 tells the story of Jesus in Bethany, at the house of Simon the leper. As Jesus sat at the table, a woman came with an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. She broke the flask and poured the oil on His head.

Some of those who were there became indignant and said, “Why was this fragrant oil wasted? It might have been sold for more than three hundred denarii and given to the poor.” And they criticized her sharply.

But Jesus said, “Let her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, and whenever you wish, you may do them good; but Me you do not have always. She has done what she could. She has come beforehand to anoint My body for burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus. When they heard it, they were glad and promised to give him money. So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.

Every time I read the story of Judas betraying Jesus, one thing has always stood out to me: Why Judas?

John 13:27 says that after Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas, “Satan entered him.”

Luke 22:3 also says, “Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.” Judas then went to the chief priests and captains and discussed how he might betray Jesus.

I know the Word says that somebody would betray Jesus, but I have always wondered: why Judas?

You see, I always wondered, why Judas? I know that in order to fulfill prophecy, someone was supposed to betray Jesus. I know he did, but why him? Because we know from the Bible that we always have a choice. God gives us a choice.

Why would Judas do that after knowing Jesus so well and for so long?

This was Judas, who had been walking with Jesus for maybe three years at this point. He knew what Jesus was capable of. He had seen Jesus heal the sick. He had seen Jesus raise Lazarus from the dead four days after he died.

What would make Judas wake up one day and decide that he was going to betray Jesus?

I began to read the story again, and I think it was the version in the Gospel according to Mark that really jumped out to me. I finally began to get some level of understanding.

The Gospel according to John identifies the woman in this story as Mary. But Mark simply says that a woman came and broke the alabaster flask of oil.

I try to picture what it would have been like to live in that time.

Some of the Gospel writers didn't even bother to mention her name. This was Mary, who, as far as we can tell, had walked closely with Jesus, and yet in the telling of this story, she is most often simply described as “a woman.” Considering how lowly or inconsequential women were considered to be at that time - that they are mostly not mentioned, and even when mentioned are rarely referred to by name - it makes sense.

And then you have Judas.

Judas was one of the twelve men closest to Jesus.

Jesus was sought after everywhere. Every city they went to, crowds gathered around Jesus to see Him. People came from near and far to hear Him speak or even to touch the hem of His garment.

He was a big deal - He still is.

So, those who wanted personal access to Jesus - outside of when He made Himself available to all - think Nicodemus or the men from Greece, had to work with the apostles to get to see Him. Even the Pharisees knew this. That's why they were looking for someone to betray Him by taking them to see Jesus when He was not out in public.

This meant that the apostles would have considered themselves somewhat important. They were the closest friends of a great man, and proximity to greatness tends to rub off on us. In fact, they were even arguing amongst themselves about who was the greatest.

So picture this.

You have a man who considers himself somewhat important, and then you have this woman, Mary, whom society did not really count as anything.

She comes in and breaks this alabaster box of oil.

Judas corrects her.

Why should she have broken that jar? We could have done so much with this money.

And then Jesus responds:

“Leave her alone. Why do you trouble her? She has done a good work for Me.”

That is a strong response.

In the presence of many people.

Jesus had raised Lazarus from the dead, and people had come from Jerusalem and elsewhere to see Lazarus, the man who had been raised back to life after four days.

Imagine that you are somewhat egotistical. You consider yourself a “bigwig” as one of those closest to a great man. Here is a woman whom you count as nothing.

You – Judas - are correcting her publicly.

Then, as you are correcting this woman, Jesus corrects you too.

Publicly.

In front of the woman.

In front of everybody.

And I realized that there is a chance Judas got offended.

I know that public correction can rub me the wrong way - so maybe it did the same with Judas.

Maybe Judas became offended.

And this happens to the best of us.

We think we are more than we are. Something happens to us, and we think, I shouldn't have experienced this.

Then we become annoyed.

Because we are annoyed, we become offended.

And because we are offended, we make rash, unreasonable decisions.

Maybe Judas became offended and decided that was the last straw, that he didn't have to be there, and that he wasn't going to continue with Jesus anymore.

But he'd “given up” three years following Jesus, and he wouldn't have wanted to leave empty-handed, so he decided he was going to betray Him for the money.

When I look at the end of Judas and the statement he made to the Pharisees, I wonder whether Judas actually expected Jesus to die.

Maybe he didn't.

And this is how Satan deceives us.

Think about it.

This was Jesus, who had performed miracles, raised the dead, and healed the sick. Before Jesus gave Himself up to the cross, no one could touch Him. Judas knew what Jesus was capable of.

The Bible also tells us that there were highly placed people who had come to know the truth but did not associate with Jesus openly because they feared being thrown out or persecuted by the Pharisees.

Judas was an insider. He was part of Jesus' inner circle. He would have known the calibre of people who followed Jesus secretly.

Maybe, in his head, he thought, There are influential people on Jesus' side. They won't just let Him die.

I can see that happening.

There is also the fact that Jesus performed miracles. Judas knew that, in the worst-case scenario, Jesus was a miracle worker. Maybe He could simply work His way out of it.

Then I think about the fact that Judas handed Jesus over to the Pharisees - not to the Romans, but to the Pharisees.

This distinction is important.

Why?

Because according to what the Pharisees themselves said, they did not have the authority to put someone to death.

Maybe Judas thought the worst that would happen was embarrassment.

Jesus would get arrested. He would be embarrassed. Then, by the time He went through an actual trial—not the sham trial He ultimately received - they would discover that Jesus hadn't done anything worthy of whatever punishment they wanted to give Him.

He knew Jesus wasn't guilty of anything worthy of death.

Maybe they would put Him in prison for a bit.

Maybe they would flog Him.

Then they would release Him.

When you're offended, you can think, Good. Let him see what it feels like to be embarrassed the way I felt embarrassed when he corrected me in front of all those people.

I've been here before.

Not in circumstances anywhere near this extreme, but I recognize what happens when Satan begins to convince us to justify evil or bad behaviour by telling us:

It's not as bad as it looks.

But we cannot see the other side.

We cannot see the consequences of our actions.

Satan keeps telling us, It's not that bad.

You're offended, and you think, Let them get a little taste.

Your plan isn't for them to die. Your plan isn't for them to suffer huge consequences. You just want them to taste a little of what it feels like to be on the receiving end of what you think they've given you.

But offense blinds us.

Offense makes us close-minded so that we cannot see the bigger picture.

I've been there before - many times.

I've been in situations where Satan was lying to me: This isn't such a big deal. This is only how far it will go. You're not exactly taking revenge. You're just letting them see what it feels like to be on the receiving end of what they've given you.

Offense pushes you toward making terrible decisions.

And because I have been there, I can look at the story of Judas and see how it could happen.

Satan keeps lying to you.

It's probably not that bad.

You get thirty pieces of silver for handing Jesus over.

What's the worst thing that could happen?

Maybe Jesus performs a miracle and gets Himself out.

And even if He doesn't, there are people among the Pharisees who won't let anything bad happen to Him.

If it goes to trial, they'll speak for Him.

And even if they don't speak for Him, what's the worst that can happen?

He's not guilty of anything.

Maybe He gets flogged publicly.

Maybe He gets sent to prison for a while.

Then He gets released.

Nothing He did was worthy of death.

And even if they wanted to kill Him, they didn't have the authority to do it themselves. To actually kill Him, they would have to hand Him over to the Romans, and Jesus had done nothing worthy of being handed over to Rome.

I can actually imagine this thought process.

Maybe Judas thought, I can walk away with thirty pieces of silver. Jesus gets out in two days. I'm on my way. I have enough money to start my life, and I don't have to subject myself to this embarrassment anymore.

And it makes me think about how terrible offense is.

How much offense wrecks our lives.

When we allow offense in, we turn away from the precepts of God and begin thinking, Well, I'm going to do this, and I don't think the consequences will be that bad.

But that is the lie.

The consequences are worse than you think.

How many times have you seen something seemingly inconsequential snowball into something so big that we could never have imagined it?

I once read something along the lines of: sin takes you farther than you ever thought you would go, keeps you longer than you ever thought you would stay, and costs you more than you ever thought you would pay.

When Judas entered into this, I don't believe he thought it would lead to Jesus' death, much less his own.

I believe he thought he would walk away with thirty pieces of silver, and that would be the end of it.

But it is always a big deal.

Because the enemy of our souls is wicked.

He is always prowling around, looking for whom he may devour. The Bible tells us that his work is to steal, kill, and destroy. He is always looking for someone to deceive, and Jesus said that he would deceive, if possible, even the elect.

So we need to be watchful.

We need to watch and pray.

Even when something seems small.

Even when we think, It's not a big deal.

Judas probably thought the same.

And look at where it ended.

Help me, O Lord. Open up my heart. Soften my heart. Help me not to be offended.

Because I have seen the consequences of offense in the life of Judas, and I never want to be there.

You said that offense will come. So when it does come, grant me the grace to reject it and to recognize that I have the right to choose whether or not I will be offended.

Open my eyes so that I won't be small-minded.

Help me see the big picture.

Help me recognize that something may seem offensive, but that doesn't mean that it was.

And that even if I feel offended - feelings can lie - it doesn't necessarily mean that I have actually been wronged or offended.

Jesus was their leader.

He was their teacher.

He was their Lord.

Is Jesus Christ your Lord if He cannot correct you?

He had the right to correct them.

But because of pride and ego, instead of accepting correction, Judas may have taken offense.

And it happens to us often.

Instead of accepting correction, we take offense.

And when we become offended, we then begin to plot our own downfall and ruin, thinking we are plotting for others.

God, please help me not to be offended.

Help me to recognize that the enemy is always lying.

If he says there will be no consequences, I know he's lying.

If he says the consequences will be mild, I know he's lying.

Because it is his nature to lie.

Help me, Lord, not to fall for offense.

Help me not to take the bait of offense.

Instead, help me live life the way You have called me to live it - free of offense.

Lord, open my eyes to always see things the way You would have me see them, to see things the way You see them, and to react in the way You want me to react.

I pray in the mighty name of Jesus.

Amen.