https://substack.com/home/post/p-192796896
Apr 1
Many Christians
around the world will, today, participate in the Tenebrae, a religious ceremony
where candles in churches are extinguished to represent the growing darkness in
Holy Week.
Two thousand years
ago, Judas Iscariot went out to negotiate away the life of Christ.
In the Gospel of
John, John used a Greek literary device to highlight right and wrong choices.
Read the Gospel and you will see Judas and Peter often together in the same
story. Both betray Christ. One abandons all hope. The other seeks and finds
restoration. John’s subtle message is to be a Peter.
Jesus chose Judas
to be an Apostle. Jesus knew Judas would betray Him. Judas saw the miracles,
and Judas was empowered by Christ to perform miracles.
5 These twelve
Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no
town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of
Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’ 8
Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, cast out demons. You received
without paying; give without pay.
Matthew 10:5-8
(ESV)
Did you catch that?
Jesus empowered the man who would betray to heal the sick, raise the dead,
cleanse lepers, and cast out demons.
Judas, in a bit of irony,
would play an instrumental role in raising the dead.
A few days before
Jesus’s death, Judas went out into the night, and the darkness began to close
in. The man whom God Almighty gave power betrayed God for his own advancement.
We live in the end
times. People are turning away from the God of all creation for the old gods —
the idols and the damned. People want their ears tickled. They do not want
salvation. They want affirmation. Instead of a savior from a spiritual crisis,
people want political power that papers over the real problems.
You can feel it all
around you. Something is off. Something does not feel right. The darkness is
creeping back in. The candles are going out.
But let not your
heart be troubled. The darkness cannot shut out the light. It will get worse.
But it will get better.
Judas Iscariot
could raise the dead and cast out demons. Tempted by the ultimate demon, Judas
Iscariot tried to put the giver of life in a grave and appeared successful. But
it did not last. Judas Iscariot, charged to raise the dead, did so by betraying
the way, the truth, and life. He played a role in God’s master plan.
Even in the
darkness, God’s plan prevailed, often in unexpected ways. Don’t lose patience.
And don’t expect your life to play out exactly as you planned it. God has a
plan for you. Trust him.
Eternity is coming.
Christ is coming. Easter is coming. Get ready.
