Mark 14:10-16 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, when it was customary to sacrifice the Passover lamb, Jesus’ disciples asked him, “Where do you want us to go and make preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, telling them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you. Follow him. Say to the owner of the house he enters, ‘The Teacher asks: Where is my guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large upper room, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” The disciples left, went into the city and found things just as Jesus had told them. So they prepared the Passover.
In the above passage, we have two men involved with Jesus' life in different ways. Judas intends to harm Jesus; the owner of the house intends to do good for Jesus. Sadly, Judas, whom Jesus chose as one of his twelve disciples, betrays the one who loves him more dearly than anyone else on the face of the earth. But Judas' selfish desires contaminated his love for Jesus. When Luke describes the incident, he says, before Judas went to the chief priests and officers of the guard, Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. (22:3) Therefore, Judas was willing to hand Jesus over to officials who intended to kill him. The owner of the house was also selected by Jesus. But he was a man who was ready to serve The Teacher, ready to offer his best. Even though he did not have the privilege of constantly living in the presence of Jesus, he was willing to serve him by preparing a guest room where Jesus could celebrate the Passover with his disciples. Both men were chosen: one did evil, the other good. One served himself, the other served Jesus. One was focused on his own gain, the other on making Jesus comfortable. Now, we do not know for certain why the man who greeted the disciples knew Jesus needed a place to celebrate the Passover, but we do know he performed his duty well. He was ready just as the colt had been ready for Jesus to ride triumphantly into Jerusalem. (See Mark 11) Sadly, Judas performed a duty as well by turning Jesus over to his enemies. We do know of Judas' repentance: When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. “I have sinned,” he said, “for I have betrayed innocent blood.” (Matthew 27:3-4) We pray that Judas found his Messiah before his demise. But we know Judas' self-serving life led him to his terrible deed of sin and betrayal.
Life can be trying and difficult for all of us, full of trials and temptations. Yet Peter said we have an inheritance that can never perish, kept in heaven for us, and we should greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. (1 Peter 1:6) Nonetheless, without fully understanding the effects of our choices, we sometimes betray our Lord or at least let him down. He has promised to go with us, to be in us; but at times we behave as disheartened children, following Jesus in a negative way for what we can get instead of serving and obeying him. As Christians we live in an alien land with a dusty and barren landscape. The trail of our life is much like the one the Children of Israel walked when they journeyed through the wilderness. The springs of water are rare, the food is rather tasteless, failing to nourish our eternal souls, causing us to feel famished and faint. Our longing for God remains in our souls. However, instead of walking uprightly in God by faith, we lag behind what Jesus wants to do in our lives. We complain about the journey, with our heads down. We kick up the dust with our battered shoes, allowing the particles of doubt and worry to cover our clothing and to blind our vision. Of course, Jesus is ahead of us, looking over his shoulder and saying, "Catch up! I am doing a great work in you. I am doing marvelous things in your life. Hurry, catch up and you will see my glory!" Each of us needs to quicken our steps and catch up to what Jesus is doing, wants to do. Forget looking around at the barren hills that surround us. Jesus is leading us through the valleys to a Land of Promise. Catch up! He is doing something great in our lives. He calls us today: each of us is called by name.
Aleksandr Solhenitsyn, a Russian intellectual and atheist who was imprisoned in the gulags of Siberia where 60 million people died, said this about his prison life, where he found God: "And that is why I turn back to the years of my imprisonment and say, sometimes to the astonishment of those about me: 'Bless you, prison!'" He was initially banished there for the rest of his life. In prison, many were being murdered by fellow inmates; the environment was horribly violent, animalistic. In prison, he almost died from cancer. He lived in constant danger of dying, either from the authorities, the inmates, or sickness; yet he says that was the best blessing anyone could have, for in this horrible experience, he found God. Sometimes, we must stop and consider whether or not we Christians understand the marvelous work God is doing in us right now, the wonderful opportunities He has given to us to prepare a room for him in our hearts and our homes where He can abide forever. In that Russian prison, God performed a miracle in an atheist's heart and mind, who had killed many people, for he was a decorated officer in the Russian army. God was working in the midst of great hardships! It is not a trite religious saying to stand on God's promise that we know all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28) Even in dire experiences in prisons, with sicknesses, heartaches, famines, and in every sort of trouble, we can trust our God. This world is not our home. We are following our Lord, wherever He leads. Jesus is looking back at us as we follow, perhaps reluctantly, kicking up the dirt as we go. He is still saying, "Catch up my child! Look what I am doing! I am changing lives permanently for my glory." Dear friends, quicken your pace and catch up with what God is doing RIGHT NOW in your lives regardless of the difficult circumstances. If you want to keep up with Jesus, He has to be about his Father's business.
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