JUDAS ISCARIOT: Lessons learned from a 'villain' of the Bible

TRICIA'S TWEET OF THE DAY:
There's no ultimate meaning in money, but there is an ultimate meaning in spending time with the Lord.

RANDOM OBSERVATION:   

I’ve been substitute teaching in our small Bible study group when our leader is away.   I started a series on “Villains of the Bible” .   I think there’s a lot to be learned from them.   Basically it’s a good look at what NOT to do.    They make a lot of mistakes and I can relate to that more than I can relate to having my act together and doing everything correctly.   I’m not saying these Villains are good guys and gals.....hey....they’re Villains.   But maybe by looking at where they messed up, we can avoid the same pitfalls that they fell into.   We all know there’s lots of pitfalls on the road of life.  I won’t go into as much detail as I did in the class, but I thought I’d hit on some of the main mistakes of the Villains as a way of seeing how we can avoid those mistakes in our own lives.   

Today’s villain will be Judas Iscariot.   Just think about that.....how many people do you know with the name of Judas?   His act of treachery must have stuck in the minds with lots of people, believers and non-believers, because it doesn’t seem to be a popular name.  ( If you don’t know the story of Judas, he is the disciple that betrayed Jesus by leading the Sanhedrin priests to Jesus.  Judas did this for a price of 30 silver coins and the events led to the Crucifixion of Jesus)

Judas is a prime example of wasted opportunity.   Think of the rarity to be one of the 12 disciples and to have the opportunity to spend so much time with Jesus while he was here on Earth.   What a huge privilege to be one of the 12 that were part of the inner circle of Jesus during the years of His ministry.  

Jesus wasn’t the Messiah Judas was looking for though.  Judas had more of a military/warrior type Messiah in his mind.   So when things weren’t going the way Judas liked, he tried to take matters into his own hands.    Quite often, that doesn’t fare well for us in life, and it didn’t for Judas either.    Driven to madness by his betrayal, Judas hung himself.  

In modern times, I think the disillusionment of Judas could be similar to those that get disillusioned with church.   An example would be when the church isn’t doing the style of worship someone likes and so they take matters into their own hands and become destructive and negative, losing sight of the big picture and what it's really all about.   

Similar to Judas, we can often get caught up in the politics of church and miss the true meaning of why we are there and what we are to be doing.    Judas gave his life to Jesus, but he never truly gave his heart.   Something to be mindful of.   Judas is a visual reminder that it is possible to be near Christ and associate with Him, but only in a superficial way.   In time, if we fall into this pattern we become hardened to sin.

There’s lots more to be learned from the story of Judas, but I think the main question we should ask ourselves from observing his behavior is this:

Are we true disciples and followers.....or are we just going through the motions? 

Until next time........