Lord of life, Your heart loves this dear reader and I ask that You bless him or her in all that they face today. In Christ Jesus' Name I pray, amen.
Today is our day of prayer and I shared with you the text from John 13:21-32 which reads: 21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me." 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23 One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" 26 Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. 31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.
Television shows and movies make light of situations at restaurants when the check will come and one of the parties present will excuse themselves to leave for the bathroom or act like they didn't see the check come -- all to avoid having to pay. You know several of those folks, as do I. The most famous is from Two and Half Men, the Jon Cryer character never pays for a meal, lives rent-free with his brother and mooches off his food supply as well. The real truth of the matter is to do that sort of thing is to betray the friendship or relationship between family. We all have an obligation to share with each other. Can you imagine Jesus' heart knowing that someone was to betray Him that very night? Not that Judas Iscariot was going to leave without helping pay the check, it was a more serious betrayal; selling Jesus for 30 pieces of silver.
Sunday I mentioned that Judas was the Zealot of the group. He held very strong beliefs that the Jews needed to revolt against Rome and reclaim their nation and power once again. Many scholars believe that he was calling Jesus' hand by selling him out. Whether that was true or not, the damage was done. It set into motion a fast pace of events that led to Jesus' arrest, trial, sentencing, and execution. It completely broke Judas' heart, for the Bible says he repented, though he did hang himself.
Read again those verses above and remember that we all go through agony. Jesus was "troubled in spirit," meaning to the depths of his soul he ached over what He knew had been done to Him by one whom He loved and trusted. We have been in the same situation as well. John writes that "Satan entered into him" and yes, some of us have been betrayed or let down in ways that seemed satanic at the time. But it did not paralyze Jesus and His mission. He accepted it and moved on, as should we.
The awesome hymn, "What a Friend We Have in Jesus" has that one line, "Do your friends despise, forsake thee?" It answers, "Take it to the Lord in prayer." In Jesus we have the only friend who has never and will never let us down. With His help we can continue to have earthly friends whom we can love and forgive as we move on.
PRAYER: Lord, on this Wednesday of Holy Week, the message is clear, we have no better friend than You. You have never despised me, nor forsaken me, and for that I am thankful. Make my life be more like You, so that I can be a better friend and servant to You and a better friend and servant to others. I ask this in Jesus' Name. Amen.
Eradio Valverde
P.S. Dear friends, please don't forget that Holy Week is made more holy by our being in worship on these very special, holy days. Here in Harlingen at 7 tomorrow we have a Maundy Thursday service with Holy Communion in cooperation with our brothers and sisters from Wesley UMC. And on Friday with our Wesley friends and St. Alban's Episcopal church sisters and brothers we will be at Wesley UMC to celebrate and remember the Seven Last Words at 7 p.m. Let God bless you! Come to worship!
