JUDAS ISCARIOT

meditation by Alan Jameson

Prayer: We praise you, Lord Jesus, for blessing us with the promise of hope that no despair can overcome; for calling us out of the tombs of our past mistakes into the light of new possibilities; for breathing life into our weakness and blessing us with fresh strength. Amen.          

Bible Reading: John 18: 1-13

Judas Iscariot was one of the chosen Twelve, he came from Judah while most of his fellow disciples came from Galilee. He was the appointed or self-appointed ‘keeper of the money bag or purse’. Known in some references as ‘the pilfering treasurer’. Apparently he regularly helped himself to the contents of the purse – a thief.

Toward the end of Jesus ministry it is thought by many that Judas thought if he hastened the end of Jesus’s life we would witness an amazing revelation of Jesus’s powers and so he privately arranged with the Chief Priests, for a certain amount of money, to betray Jesus indicating where he could be quietly arrested away from the public crowds.

As Jesus was handing out the bread which he had dipped in wine at the Passover Meal he indicated to Judas, without putting it into words, that he knew about Judas’s agreement with the Chief Priests to betray him. Judas immediately left the Upper Room and went to meet those appointed by the Chief Priests to make the arrest. Judas knew the place in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus and his fellow disciples would be as they went there regularly to pray. Judas, leading the crowd who were to arrest Jesus, said “Greetings Rabbi” and kissed him on the cheek to which Jesus responded, “Do what you came for”. Jesus was arrested.

The next day after Jesus’s trials before the High Priest and Sanhedrin, he was being led, bound as a prisoner, to Pilate to be crucified, Judas was devastated, things had not worked out as he thought, he was full of remorse. He went to the Temple threw in the money he had received for the betrayal and went and either committed suicide [hanged himself Matt 27:3-10] or had a serious fall from which he died [Acts 1:18] Perhaps the whole of his misused/abused life appeared before him and he saw no other escape!

Do we face up to our short comings? We should and lay them at the foot of the cross in faith seeking forgiveness in Jesus’s name.

Hymn - What a friend we have in Jesus:


  

  1. What a friend we have in Jesus,
    All our sins and griefs to bear!
    What a privilege to carry
    Everything to God in prayer!
    Oh, what peace we often forfeit,
    Oh, what needless pain we bear,
    All because we do not carry
    Everything to God in prayer!

  2. Have we trials and temptations?
    Is there trouble anywhere?
    We should never be discouraged—
    Take it to the Lord in prayer.
    Can we find a friend so faithful,
    Who will all our sorrows share?
    Jesus knows our every weakness;
    Take it to the Lord in prayer.

  3. Are we weak and heavy-laden,
    Cumbered with a load of care?
    Precious Savior, still our refuge—
    Take it to the Lord in prayer.
    Do thy friends despise, forsake thee?
    Take it to the Lord in prayer!
    In His arms He’ll take and shield thee,
    Thou wilt find a solace there.    

Poem:

A world lost in darkness

No light could they see;

A ray came from Jesus

To save one like me.

A brightness like noonday,

Shone down from above;

God’s beam lit my pathway,

With Jesus' pure love.

Do you live in the shadows,

Discouraged and lost?

See the light from the Saviour.

He paid the cost.

 

Prayer:  

King Jesus, you are the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, before all things and far beyond tomorrow, the same yesterday, today and for ever, exploding all our preconceptions, our fears, our assumptions and expectations. Enter our lives, go before us, walk beside us; may we always honour your name.        Amen.