The great thing about reading the Bible is that as you read and ponder it, it speaks to you. Listen closely as you read and reflect and God will direct your lifeRead Luke 22 and John 13 here
I leaned back in my chair after reading the first paragraph in today’s reading, enjoying the rich smell of french vanilla wafting from my coffee cup, and mulled over the idea that satan could enter into someone like Judas without it being immediately obvious. It would seem to be a contradiction…to be enjoying reading my Bible and sipping a coffee….while what I am reading is beyond terrifying. I am reminded that even though we have God’s Word, we are removed from the actual experiences accompanying it. This is all history to us….we know how it turns out, so we can relax and enjoy the suspense and the treachery.
It is interesting that satan entered into Judas, and yet none of the other disciples knew it. In fact, they didn’t even suspect it when Jesus told Judas “what you are going to do, do quickly”. You know where I am going…I wonder if the devil has entered into others that I interact with, and yet have no idea that they are possessed. My mental image of a possessed person is the man from the tombs who ran around naked, or the boy who threw himself into the fire and had seizures, or maybe even the woman who was bent over double and couldn’t straighten up. But this seems to be different…a demon possession that allows the man to converse with friends and practice treachery at the same time. It’s interesting.
Luke 22:16 says “until it’s meaning is fulfilled” which means that Passover was an incomplete expression that was about to be completed. Catch this…from the time that God rescued the Israelites from Egypt (about 1500 B.C.) by using the blood of a lamb and having the death angel “pass over” them, this has always been the intended outcome. Everything that was done in the past points to this moment. This is the eve of the birthday of the kingdom of God, when humans are able to be forgiven of sins, escape slavery and enter into freedom of life with Christ. No wonder Jesus said “I have been very eager to eat this meal with you before my suffering begins”. This was the launch of the new kingdom.
I wonder why each disciple wrote what they did. Luke doesn’t mention the footwashing ceremony, which brings to the forefront the role of serving others. Service to others is an enormous part of Christianity, serving God by serving others…we are told to do this right here in this chapter. How could Luke miss such an important thought? I suppose that’s why God called upon 4 men to pen a Gospel…so that we would have a more complete account.
Jesus asked the men to pray in the garden so that they wouldn’t “give in to temptation” (Luke 22:40). I wonder how many times I have given into temptation because I haven’t spent enough time in prayer? I wonder how many difficulties we have struggled with as a result of “giving into temptation” that were completely unnecessary….if only we had prayed more? How can a person know if they are praying enough? I don’t think I’ve even met a godly person who felt they prayed enough…every one of them thought they could pray more. I wonder…at what point should prayer become conversational, (as we work) instead of private time alone with God? If Jesus had spent all his time praying, where would we be? Finding the balance seems difficult.
At the same time, Jesus stopped everything and prayed all night before His suffering began. There is a time to work, and a time to stop working and pray. Or maybe prayer is the work.
Thinking about it, there are two examples here: one of a man who spent the night in prayer: He responds calmly to accusations, endures great pain without becoming agitated or violent, even though He has superior strength and intellect. In the process of being detained He heals a man who is injured.
The second example, the man who slept instead of praying: becomes agitated and excited when the accusers come, misinterprets the moment, draws his sword and cuts off the servants ear, and then runs away..only to follow at a distance….and deny that he knows Jesus at all. By the way, Peter was what we would call a “Christian” at the time this happened. He wasn’t filled with the Holy Spirit, but Jesus had pronounced him “clean”. So his problem wasn’t sin…it was a lack of power. And his lack of power came from lack of prayer.
Hmmm… If you will excuse me, I think there’s somewhere else I need to be.
Faithfully,
PR