FROM TODAY’S READING (4/8/2020)...
EASTER WEEK
“For Judas, it was the night that would know no morning. How utterly alone he was. Judas skulked about and concealed himself as Jesus and his men crossed the Kidron and climbed toward Gethsemane. He had the information he needed. As he hurried through the dark streets to the chief priests and elders, his last glimpse of Jesus would be by torchlight as Jesus was taken away...
In Jesus' reaching out to Judas we see him loving an enemy, a sinner, and an ungodly man—and he does the same for each one of us. Through his atoning death on the cross Jesus did it all. There is hope for us amidst our ungodly ways. There is deliverance for those who are caught in sin. There is reconciliation for the most hardened enemies of God.”
R. Kent Hughes (Luke, Vol. 2)
Luke 22:1-6 (NLT) The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is also called Passover, was approaching. The leading priests and teachers of religious law were plotting how to kill Jesus, but they were afraid of the people’s reaction.
Then Satan entered into Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve disciples, and he went to the leading priests and captains of the Temple guard to discuss the best way to betray Jesus to them. They were delighted, and they promised to give him money. So he agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus so they could arrest him when the crowds weren’t around.
John 12:4-6 (NLT) But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
Luke 22:20-23 (NLT) After supper he took another cup of wine and said, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood, which is poured out as a sacrifice for you. “But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. For it has been determined that the Son of Man must die. But what sorrow awaits the one who betrays him.” The disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.
Psalms 41:9 (NLT) Even my best friend, the one I trusted completely, the one who shared my food, has turned against me.
Image: Public Domain (Almeida Júnior-Remorso de Judas, 1880)
