John 13:21-30. The narrative of Jesus saying that one of the disciples will betray him. Jesus says, "Whoever I dip the bread and give to, is the one". Then he gives it to Judas. Jesus tells him, "What you have to do, do quickly". Judas goes out. But the disciples thought Jesus told him to buy something for the festival, or to get something for the poor.
A few things are very obvious. No one expected Judas to be the one who would betray the Messiah. Despite the very obvious sign from Jesus in the above passage, no one even suspects that Judas would do it. The disciples thought he was going out to buy something for the festival, or to get something for the poor (vs 29). Moreover Jesus always entrusted Judas to get stuff, or to buy things for the poor. So this was daily life for them!
Judas as perhaps a good man, a man who was better in some ways than the rest. Was it love for money that prompted him to do what he did? No. He definitely did not have to go to that extreme, that too for 30 silver coins. If that much wickedness and greed was there in his heart, to show the Lord for money, it needed only much less wickedness to steal the same money from the money bag, since he himself was the keeper, with no one even auditing it.
Did Judas do it to give Jesus an opportunity to prove He is Christ? Possible. Many times, we like to create situations for God to prove Himself. But then, at those moments, are we trying thereby make him "not-God", since we try to stage-manage these situations?
It is easy to condemn Judas. However, do we see him in the mirror?
Two verses are interesting here. a) As soon as he got the bread from Jesus, Satan entered him (13:27), and b) As soon as he ate the bread, he went out, and it was night.
We are all vulnerable to be attacked by Satan. If we are not watchful, he can enter us through the most holy interaction, as in the above verse. The nights of our lives can come any moment. When we think we stand, that is exactly when we fall.
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