Judas Iscariot--my kind of guy

Our Bible Study today was a biographical study on the life of Judas Iscariot. (The sketch is a Da Vinci drawing for the figure that would eventually be in the Last Supper.) My main thesis was that he has been excessively villified through the centuries. No one names their kid Judas Iscariot. His name is synonymous with traitor and he is commonly seen as nothing but a black hearted villain. But if that is true, several questions arise.

Why did Jesus choose him as one of the Twelve in the first place? Did he choose poorly?

Why did the other apostles not censure him during their ministry with Jesus? Sure, John the Evangelist, writing years after the fact, describes him as a thief. Apparently he was known to skim a little for himself since he was in charge of the moneybag for the group. But what person with a responsibility hasn't felt a twinge of entitlement along with it?

Didn't Judas go out on mission with the others, healing with supernatural power?

Here are my conclusions: First, Judas Iscariot started out as just a regular guy. Jesus called him to be one of his disciples and close associates so he must have had at least the potential to become a genuine believer. But Judas seems to have had a couple of personality flaws. He had a greedy streak and a sense of entitlement. He probably had his own agenda, perhaps trying to force Jesus into open rebellion against Rome. Satan started tempting Judas and Judas started considering a plot. I bet he thought he was doing the right thing. Maybe he was a Zealot, trying to get Jesus to show his cards, as it were.

Here's the zinger: I have character flaws and weaknesses and I can sometimes bring my own agenda to bear on a situation instead of looking for God's plan. Placed in the same situation, with the same temptations and prodding, I might have fared about as poorly as Judas. There but for the grace of God go I.

Here are some passages about Judas: Judas Iscariot )

24 Hour Support

A friend of ours has recently found out she has breast cancer. After several weeks of consultation, biopsies, prayer and deliberation she went ahead with the big and difficult decision. She had a double mastectomy. Yesterday as I was driving past her house I was startled to see that her fence was adorned with numerous brassieres. My simple mind spent several hours pondering the meaning. Since the bras seemed to be in all shapes and sizes I decided that these had been placed there by friends as a sign of their “support”. What an incredible, overt act of love and defiance and solidarity. You go, girl. We are still praying.

Love?

Yesterday we talked about 1 John 4:7-12

7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)

We reached a few conclusions:

• John must have been talking about some special type of love, a supernatural or Godly love. Certainly not everyone who just loves their dog or cares about someone else is necessarily "born of God."
• This kind of love that Christians are called to exhibit is not really natural. This type of love was most clearly and convincingly demonstrated to us in the Christ event: God sent his Son to pay the price for our sin and make us right with him.
• If we have trouble mustering up much love for other people, then there are a few things that we can do. We can:
• Simply ponder what God has done for us in Christ. Meditate on that sacrifice.
• Consider the magnitude of your cancelled debt, like the woman in Luke 7
• Obey his commands. Jesus said in John 15 that if we obey, we abide in his love.
• Ask God to increase our love for others. Jesus prayed in John 17 that we could have that kind of love that already exists inside the Trinity: "I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them."
  John 17:26 (NIV)

Have a loving week.

Surreal Saturday

surreal : marked by the intense irrational reality of a dream ; also : unbelievable, fantastic



This is a rambling post about several non-related events that happened Saturday that created for me a surreal experience. None of this is terribly profound. If you are looking for depth and meaning, you'll need to wait for another post.

1. It was Saturday morning and I looked out the window and there was an absolute deluge going on. Cats and Dogs. I was already at the computer so I pulled up the weather radar:

Do you see it there? It was absolutely pouring and all I got was a shower about 2 pixels in diameter. I laughed out loud. I think I must have had my own black cloud following me around this weekend. I thought about starting an Ark. Well, at least now you know where I live.



2. We drove to Tuscaloosa to begin retrieving my daughter's things, as her academic year was almost over. As I trudged out with her mini fridge and file cabinet on the hand truck it dawned on me: didn't we just last weekend haul all of this stuff in here? I know time flies but give me a break. Her year may have seemed like a long time to her, but to me it had passed in a moment. Surreal. This is also surreal: I just used the words "academic" and "Tuscaloosa" in the same sentence! While there, I also used the word "surreal" in a sentence while eating ribs at Dreamland, (imagine a mouthful of meat and sauce), "these surreal good ribs."



3. Last, but not least, while walking out the front door of a nice store in a nice area of town, there was a lady just standing on the sidewalk. After I walked past her, I did a complete double-take to make sure I had seen what I thought had seen. She was flossing her teeth! I'm all for oral hygeine, don't get me wrong, but come on! Let's floss at home people. Unless you just ate at Dreamland.