Washing Feet For Jesus Series

And then the second verse of the introduction is the first mention of Judas as the betrayer. It says, “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.”

This tells us that Judas wasn’t a victim or patsy of the devil but He was a willing participant in his plan. He had heard the message of salvation and since he had been on the various preaching trips with the other disciples he probably even preached the gospel he rejected. He had seen Jesus performing many miracles and he may have even been the instrument God used to perform some of them. After all, he was one of the seventy who had come back and reported about the cases of healing and deliverance as they had gone from town to town. He watched Jesus closely for three years and would later testify to the chief priests that the Lord was sinless when he said, “I have betrayed innocent blood.” But, in spite of all he saw, heard and experienced he knowingly rejected the Son of God.

I can’t help but think that he was sitting at this dinner table seething with anger and trying to find out how he can get even with Jesus because he had been rebuked over the incident of Mary’s anointing Jesus. And also because he saw the chances of getting rich were gone. Everyone else was sitting at the table hanging on every word Jesus said but Judas was sitting there trying to figure out how he could cash in on Him. And yet we might ask ourselves, why was he so angry? Jesus hadn’t done anything wrong? The problem was in his mind. His shallow approach to life had been exposed and he couldn’t take it and refused to repent.

There could be other things as well. He might’ve always resented the fact that he was not one of the inner circle. I mean, it’s obvious that Peter, James and John were chosen to accompany Jesus to places and situations where the others weren’t invited, like the Mount of Transfiguration, the raising of the young girl from the dead and even into the garden of Gethsemane where Jesus went to pray. And unlike the other disciples who didn’t even seem to notice Judas might have been slighted by the attention these three were receiving.

Then again, Judas was the only disciple who wasn’t a Galilean. He was from Judea and Judea was an upper class area compared to where the others had come from and he might have been ribbed by the other disciples for being a cut above them. And whether it was real or imagined he might have felt like he was never accepted.

And so, he may have had a poor image to start with and being different from the others would only add fuel to his fire or his anger might have stemmed from his guilt. He knew he was stealing from the funds he was in charge of and rather than assuming responsibility for his actions he projected his anger outward.

Or maybe he was frustrated because he wanted an earthly kingdom and now Jesus was making it clear that the kingdom He was offering was not of this world. And then again, it could have been that he was just rebelling against authority and let’s face it, Jesus was the ultimate authority figure.