Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In Mark 14:20-21, Jesus utters heart-rending words about His betrayer: “And He answered and said unto them, ‘It is one of the twelve, that dippeth with Me in the dish. The Son of man indeed goeth, as it is written of Him: but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! Good were it for that man if he had never been born.’” For the Jewish people, the Passover service was part of a night of hope, looking back to God’s miraculous deliverance of the Israelites out of Egypt and looking ahead to another miraculous intervention of God – the coming of the Messiah. Yet, Judas chooses hopelessness rather than hope. John 13:21-30 clarifies that the “one of the twelve” was Judas (verse 26) and that “Satan entered into him” (verse 27). Jesus shows Judas special attention and friendship by giving him this choice morsel of food, but the traitor spurns this act of love: “He then having received the sup [the choice morsel] went immediately out: and it was night” (verse 30) – the time of darkness, of evil, of Judas’s eternal decision. The other disciples do not suspect Judas even then (verses 28-29), for he is in a place of honor next to Jesus and is also the respected treasurer of the group. Driven by greed, Judas betrays Jesus. What restraint our Lord demonstrates here! How easy it would have been to expose Judas’s duplicity! Instead, Jesus shows Judas love, evidencing our Savior’s mastery over even hatred – personal hatred. “Hallelujah, what a Savior!”