Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Things I Never Noticed in the Bible

John 6:70 Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

Of course, we all know that Jesus chose His own disciples but I never noticed how striking this verse is. Not only did Jesus choose those disciples that loved and served Him but He also chose the one that betrayed Him.

Furthermore, He here states that Judas is a devil. He doesn't mean that Judas is literally a devil. Judas is a man. But Judas is in the service of the devil. He is a disciple of Jesus because Jesus has chosen him, so he is serving Jesus, in a way. But his service to Jesus is deceitful. His real master is his own flesh and desires after the manner of his father, the devil. So, if Judas is a devil, then Jesus chose the devil.

Another thing that is bothersome about Judas and Jesus. Judas has one of the chief positions among the disciples. He is the treasurer, the keeper of the money box. Does it not seem odd that Jesus let him do this? Woudn't that have been a temptation to Judas to fall further into his own misery and sin? Clearly, the disciples did not suspect Judas's wickedness related to money but Jesus knew about it.

If anything, this means that Jesus had a different set of priorities than we do. Sure, we ought to be good stewards of our stuff and the Lord's stuff. But there are more important things going on than what is going into the money box. Judas didn't know that. Maybe that is why Jesus kept His first faithful disciples away from the money box?

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