Day 6

Scripture

Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!” (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.) – John 6:70-71

Devotional

We always talk about “The Twelve,” the twelve disciples of Jesus. We always talk about Matthew, the tax collector and betrayer of the Jews, his own countrymen. We always talk about Peter, the fisherman who became the “fisher of people”. But it’s rare we talk about Judas. He’s the weird one of the bunch. Chosen by Jesus, but he himself did not choose Jesus.

Let us imagine something for a second. Imagine you knew one of your best friends was going to report you to the government and inevitably get you the death sentence as a result. Also imagine that you knew, with 100% certainty, that this would happen. I don’t know about you, but I would stop being friends with them.

Well, this happened to Jesus. John 6:64 reads, “For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him.” A few verses later we learn that Judas was going to betray Jesus. Yet Jesus actively chose, in every waking moment he had with Judas, to continue loving him…even though Judas didn’t love him back. Unconditional love.

A couple versus later, John 6:66 reads, “From this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.” And yet still, Jesus died on the cross for these people, even after they had turned their back on him.

I suppose this goes to show that Jesus can save us, but on the flip side, we must want to be saved. While Jesus wants everyone to come home, the choice is up to each individual.

I know almost everyone has had these thoughts: If God is infinitely powerful, why does Satan exist? Why do bad things happen? Why did Jesus allow Judas to exist if he was going to be used by the Devil? With how many people from which Jesus had driven demons, why didn’t he intervene with Judas?

Let’s go back to Judas. Jesus loved him, but Judas didn’t want to be saved. The truth is that Jesus wants to save you, but you must want to be saved. God wants relationships, not a dictatorship. He wants you to choose him, just like how he chose you.

But if God wants to give you the choice to pick him, he also has to give you the choice to pick the other side. It’s called free will. Jesus gave Judas free will to either choose him or Satan, and Jesus still loved Judas even though Judas would ultimately pick Satan.

John 6 tells us that Jesus will have some challenging messages, ones that will make us want to leave. But it also shows us that he loves us unconditionally. The story of Judas actually says less about how bad Judas is and more about how good Jesus is.

Prayer

“Dear God, thank you for choosing me. Forgive me of the times I have betrayed and backstabbed you, and help me forgive myself. Help me to see that behind your conviction is unconditional compassion. Amen.”