All out of anger!

Greetings and happy Tuesday everyone,

I pray that your weekend went well and that you praised God with all of your heart during Psalm Sunday. Sunday we started a week long journey with Christ which ends up at Golgotha (place of the Skull) on Friday. We will see and feel all of Christ emotions during this week along with the agony of betrayal and the denial of friends. As we look to our text today we encounter Judas as he agrees to betray Christ.

Matthew 26: 14-16

Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priest 15 and said, What will you give me if I betray him to you? They paid him thirty pieces of silver. 16 And from that moment he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

In the text it's amazing that Judas was not approached about betraying Jesus, it was his idea. Judas left the other 11 and went seeking to betray Christ. Wow! How relevant is this piece of the story, that he was not persuaded, swooned, conned, or begged, but volunteered to tun Jesus over. This section can be hard to swallow, but it can also be true. Sometimes the people whom we value most in our lives will turn on us, and begin looking for ways to get rid of us. We wonder WHY Judas, Why?

It could not have been for the money because Judas did not know how much they would give him until he went to the chief priest, so why Judas? I believe it was because Judas did not understand Jesus and how Jesus was going to restore God's kingdom. Judas became frustrated and disillusioned. Then he acted out in a most surprising way?

This is all very disturbing because we often get frustrated and upset at one another which causes us to turn on and betray each other. Tragically we don't stop there but we also tun on Jesus, just like Judas and find our selves betraying Christ and the church in the mist of our frustration and anger. As we walk this Easter journey again please be mindful of how we treat God and one another through out the year. Let us learn from this section of scripture to think first and act last, to seek God and understanding first and control our emotions more.

Until next time Be Well,
pastor J.