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HYPOCRISY AND TREACHERY
SATURDAY, MARCH 12
Mark 14:12-21

Revelation 19:1-9

 

“…One of you which eateth

with me shall betray me.”

 

HYPOCRISY AND TREACHERY
 
In the early morning of Thursday, Nisan 14, Jesus instructed Peter and John to prepare for the Passover. A furnished upper room had already been booked, and they were to get it ready. The lamb had to be slain in the temple forecourt in the evening (Exod 12:6), and unleavened bread, bitter herbs, wine, etc., had to be purchased before the day ended.
 
In the evening, Jesus sat with His disciples for the Passover meal. He told them that He desired very much to eat the Passover with them before His suffering and death. This tells us how much He valued the companionship and fellowship of His disciples. This was going to be His final meal with them, and He was overwhelmed by emotion; another attestation of His true humanity. He also announced that He would not eat and drink of the fruit of the vine until the time of His return when He celebrates the consummation of His kingdom at the wedding supper of the Lamb (Mark 14:25; Rev 19:9).
 
At the Passover table, Jesus told the 12 that one of them was about to betray Him. The disciples looked at one another, and wondered to whom Jesus was referring. They were extremely saddened by this—that one of them should betray the Lord. One by one they asked Him with a self-critical, “Is it I?”, save Judas who asked with a hypocritical “Surely, not I!” Evidently, none of them had suspected Judas. It is not unreasonable to say that Judas was a crafty two-timer. He had two faces. Outwardly, he appeared loyal, but inwardly, he was full of treachery.
 
Jesus said concerning Judas, “…but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! good were it for that man if he had never been born” (Mark 14:21). God had predestined that Judas should betray the Lord Jesus, and yet at the same time it is not God who is blameable but Judas. How do we reconcile this? Hear the banana skin story of the Rev Dr Timothy Tow: “Suppose I invite you to dinner and you break your knee cap on the way by tripping on a banana skin. Who is liable? Not the remote (i.e. God) but the immediate cause (i.e. Judas) is liable.”
 
THOUGHT: “Treachery is an unpardonable sin.”

PRAYER: Lord, never let me betray Thee in thought, word, or deed.

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