If you’ve been following along, Jesus has had a very tiring two days. They were marked with huge crowds, lots of speaking and a bunch of opposition from religious leaders (If you haven’t been following, here is Monday and Tuesday’s posts).

Remember, while Jesus is the Son of God, He is also a man and because of all He has done, he’s tired. It is widely believed that on this day Jesus rested in preparation for the Passover that was to come.

While Jesus rested for all that was coming, we see another plot line emerge in this story– Judas.

“Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests and asked, “How much will you pay me to betray Jesus to you?” And they gave him thirty pieces of silver. From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.” Matthew 26:14-16

Yes, someone has finally done it. Jesus all throughout His ministry prophesied that one of His own disciples would betray Him in the end and this was merely a fulfilling of that.

Why does Judas decide to do this? He was one of Jesus’ disciples, not just a casual follower. Also, I didn’t know where else to throw in this tidbit, but today’s “title” is Spy Wednesday.

This is a man who has spent the last three years with Jesus. He was the treasurer for the group and others respected him, yet Judas wasn’t perfect.

I think this is an excellent example of the power of sin in our lives. Have you ever thought, “Man, if Jesus was around today there is no way I wouldn’t believe Him and follow Him (or something along those lines?).”

Let me just tell you– that statement is not true.

When Adam decided to allow sin into the world, God lost His dominion to Satan. We live in a fallen place that will not be fixed until Jesus returns to conquer it all.

That means that no matter what your circumstance is, no matter how close with God you are, no matter how much you don’t want to, sin wraps itself around our lives and we are slaves to it.

Judas was a slave to it. No one in that group but Jesus could’ve predicted what Judas would do to Him…

We all have sins, some are easy. Sometimes you tell a little lie to your friends, sometimes you get on Facebook/Twitter and think mean thoughts towards people you don’t even know and sometimes its as simple as picking up a pen you’re pretty sure is your friends but hey, I need a new pen.

But some sins are hard. You can’t look at yourself in the mirror when you wake up because you can’t stand the sight of what a loser you are. You didn’t actually go to a movie on Friday night, but went with your girlfriend to have some drinks and you end up doing things together you know you shouldn’t.

Every time you try and speak to that one friend nothing but mean destructive comments come out because it’s not fair that she always gets what she wants…

Are you starting to see how Judas wasn’t the worst person in the world, but merely a human trapped in his own sin?

I realize this sounds pretty grave, but take heart! Jesus Christ allowed us to wash all these sins away, no matter how bad or how dark, when He died on that cross for us.

Jesus conquered death, He took the our sins and washed us clean.

What Judas did was wrong, let’s not forget that. To betray the Son of Man after being with Him for so long was a cruel thing to do full of selfish intent and greed, but we are absolutely not better than Him.

Not everyone will be a Judas, but everyone will sin. That’s life, but take heart because with Jesus we can live outside of that sin by getting forgiveness and grace.

Dear Lord, wash our sins away from us.

Take the evil desires of our heart and destroy them. Fill us with You. When the world is falling apart around us and there doesn’t seem to be a way out, give us Your peace and assurance that You are here for us always. We sin, we fall but carry us past these failures Father. Help us to stand strong in the face of our enemy. You love us so much that You sent Jesus to cleanse us of our sin, thank you Father. Amen.

-TK