Daily Blast - Easter: Day 6
Scripture
“Now the Festival of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.”
Reflection
Today we are looking at Judas betraying Jesus. If we were watching this unfold like a movie this would probably be the moment where we would all start crying knowing full well what is going to come next. Earlier on in this chapter (Luke 22:1-6), Judas agrees with the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard that they can work together to betray Jesus.
Something that stands out to me in this story is that it says in Luke 22:3 that “Satan entered Judas”. How can this be? Well actually things like this can happen and that is what we are going to look at today.
Judas, as we all know, is most famous for being the disciple who betrayed Jesus. He wasn’t the most commonly spoken about disciple and his story of how Jesus called him isn’t found in the gospels. His name is the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Judah which means “Praise” or “Let God be praised”. Back in the times of Jesus, a name was incredibly important, names were an insight into who they were and their character.
So how does Judas, a man whose name means “Praise” allow Satan to enter into himself? Well, there are signs of Judas being a superficial follower in the book of John. In one section of John (13:29) we find out that Judas is the treasurer for the disciples. In another section of John (12:4-6), it is unveiled that Judas has been stealing money from the treasury for his gain. This is where Judas’ downfall is, he has been overtaken by sin which has led to an opening for Satan to enter into his life and cause the moment that would change the course of history.
Challenge
Is there something that you need to change? Is there a temptation you need help to avoid? For today’s challenge, I invite you to pray that God will show you if there is something in your life which you might need to change to make sure that you're growing closer to God and not leaving an opening for evil to enter into your life.