Entertaining the Devil: John 13:1-17

Focus Passage: John 13:1-17 (NIV)

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

10 Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. 16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Read John 13:1-17 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

On the night of Jesus’ betrayal and arrest, He shares a significant last supper with His disciples. While all four gospel writers include this event, like usual, John writes about this event from a different angle than the rest. In John’s gospel record, we see an interesting verse that we might be tempted to skip over.

John tells us that “The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.” (v. 2)

While John does not give Judas Iscariot much mention during this event, from this statement, we can conclude two things. First, Judas Iscariot was there when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet. Second, we can conclude that Judas Iscariot had already made up his mind to betray Jesus.

It would have been simple for John to say that Judas had left if that were the case, but perhaps I wonder if John sensed something different about Judas during that meal. At the very least, the foot washing Judas experienced might have been the hardest thing he ever faced, knowing beforehand what he was going to do, and believing it to be a secret from everyone else present.

However, even more amazing than the realization that Jesus washed Judas’ feet on the night Judas would betray Him is the sobering warning about Judas being prompted by the devil. It would appear that Judas’ mind was already made up and that this was the night for him to act.

I find this verse sobering because it implies that Judas entertained the devil’s temptation and it was running through his mind during the whole meal. Judas’ decision then becomes a warning for all of us about a simple to understand, but difficult to apply truth about temptations: When we entertain the devil’s temptations in our minds, we trap ourselves into falling for what he has tempted us to do. Only by pushing back the moment we realize a temptation is present are we able to effectively fight and win the battle of self-control.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Paying for a Betrayal: Zechariah 11:4-14


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Picking up where we left off in our last two episodes, we turn our attention again to Judas Iscariot the betrayer. One thing that fascinates me about the portion of Jesus’ life leading up to His crucifixion is that the Old Testament is incredibly clear about the Messiah being betrayed for those who are willing to pay attention. In the passages we looked at in our last episode, while some people could make a case that those psalms don’t clearly point to a betrayer, the passage we are focusing in on for this episode leaves very little doubt or ambiguity regarding the Messiah being betrayed.

With that said, let’s dive into our Old Testament prophecy for this podcast episode, and uncover what it teaches us about the betrayer. Our passage is found in the book of Zechariah, chapter 11, and we will read it using the New American Standard Bible translation. Starting in verse 4, Zechariah writes:

Thus says the Lord my God, “Pasture the flock doomed to slaughter. Those who buy them slay them and go unpunished, and each of those who sell them says, ‘Blessed be the Lord, for I have become rich!’ And their own shepherds have no pity on them. For I will no longer have pity on the inhabitants of the land,” declares the Lord; “but behold, I will cause the men to fall, each into another’s power and into the power of his king; and they will strike the land, and I will not deliver them from their power.”

So I pastured the flock doomed to slaughter, hence the afflicted of the flock. And I took for myself two staffs: the one I called Favor and the other I called Union; so I pastured the flock. Then I annihilated the three shepherds in one month, for my soul was impatient with them, and their soul also was weary of me. Then I said, “I will not pasture you. What is to die, let it die, and what is to be annihilated, let it be annihilated; and let those who are left eat one another’s flesh.” 10 I took my staff Favor and cut it in pieces, to break my covenant which I had made with all the peoples. 11 So it was broken on that day, and thus the afflicted of the flock who were watching me realized that it was the word of the Lord. 12 I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of the Lord. 14 Then I cut in pieces my second staff Union, to break the brotherhood between Judah and Israel.

In this Old Testament prophecy, while there are plenty of details that we could focus our attention in on, the key idea that relates to the betrayer is found within the description of the wages that were given. In verse 13, the thirty shekels of silver are described as the value the people had placed on God. In the context of this passage, I suspect that the personal nature of God and the mission-focused nature of the Messiah are connected and interchangeable. This is why we can connect Jesus, as God’s Messiah, to this Old Testament prophecy where God appears to talk to His people through the prophet Zechariah.

Jumping to the New Testament, into the book of Matthew, let’s look closely at how this prophecy is fulfilled.

Following Jesus receiving the gift of the expensive perfume poured on Him that Judas Iscariot thought was too extravagant of a gift, and following Jesus pushing back at Judas Iscariot for being vocal about this apparent waste, we read in Matthew, chapter 26, starting in verse 14:

14 Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests 15 and said, “What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. 16 From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus.

I am both surprised and fascinated at this event because it is not Judas Iscariot setting the price to betray Jesus. Instead, it is the religious leaders setting this price, and I find it amazing that they would set a price equal to a price prophesied about in the Old Testament. I suspect that they had something different in mind when they did this, or perhaps they believed that this potential connection to the Old Testament was insignificant because Jesus already had failed to match their picture of the Messiah in a number of ways.

However, this prophecy gets even more amazing when we move to the next chapter in Matthew. After Jesus’ trial and condemnation before the religious leaders, Matthew, chapter 27, opens in verse 1 by telling us:

1 Now when morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people conferred together against Jesus to put Him to death; and they bound Him, and led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate the governor.

Then when Judas, who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” But they said, “What is that to us? See to that yourself!” And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; 10 and they gave them for the Potter’s Field, as the Lord directed me.”

While pulling the passages together for this episode, and studying the details in these passages, it surprised me, as it may have surprised you, that Matthew makes a mistake in his application of this prophecy. Many commentators have weighed in on the detail that Matthew attributes a prophecy to Jeremiah when it is more likely that He was actually quoting from Zechariah. Of the various theories regarding the discrepancy present, the one I suspect is most likely to be correct is that Matthew was recalling this prophecy from memory, and that his mind blended the words in Jeremiah about the potter with this prophecy that also contained a reference to the potter. Also worth noting is that nowhere else in His gospel does Matthew directly quote from Zechariah by name, which also gives weight to the other theory that many of the minor prophets were lumped together under the banner of being with Jeremiah.

However, regardless of Matthew’s mistake, oversight, or miss-attributed-by-today’s-standards quotation, the prophecy is amazing, because it both tags the Messiah being valued at the specific amount of thirty pieces, or shekels, of silver, and that this money would be thrown in the temple, ultimately reaching the potter. While Zechariah’s prophecy streamlines the event, leaving out some details in the transition of the money from the chief priests, to the betrayer, from the betrayer back to the chief priests, and then from the chief priests to the potter to purchase his field, the prophecy gives us a powerful overview of the money used for the Messiah’s betrayal.

Through this entire event, it is amazing to me that from those in the society who should have known better, because they were the ones who would have known the prophecies the best, they let Jesus’ betrayal match exactly what was prophesied down to the exact price they would pay for the betrayal. In an amazing way, this teaches us that we can trust God’s promises.

Everything in this event draws our attention onto God knowing the future and that His plans and predictions will come to pass regardless of those involved. While I wouldn’t be surprised to learn there was a priest who could see the event playing into prophecy’s hand, even if that priest had objected, nothing would change the consensus of the group away from God’s predicted outcome.

In a similarly predicted way, Jesus has promised to return. While His return may feel as though it has been delayed, a delayed trip doesn’t mean the trip has been cancelled. Instead, a delayed trip gives us the opportunity to share Jesus with more people as we look forward to the day He does return and welcome us home!

As we come to the end of another podcast episode, here are the challenges I will leave you with:

As I always challenge you to do, intentionally seek God first in your life and choose to place your faith, trust, hope, and belief in Jesus while also looking forward to the day He returns.

Also, continue praying and studying the Bible for yourself to grow your personal relationship with God. Through a personal relationship with God, we are able to open our heart to His and keep His promises fresh in our minds.

And as I end every set of challenges by saying in one way or another, never stop short of, back away from, chicken out of, or give up on where God wants to lead you to in your life with Him!

Year of Prophecy – Episode 28: When Matthew draws our attention onto the money that was used to betray Jesus, does he make a mistake, or is there something bigger happening behind the scenes that we miss out on being so far removed from first-century culture.

Join the discussion. Share your thoughts on this passage.

Free From Worry: John 8:12-20

Focus Passage: John 8:12-20 (NCV)

12 Later, Jesus talked to the people again, saying, “I am the light of the world. The person who follows me will never live in darkness but will have the light that gives life.”

13 The Pharisees said to Jesus, “When you talk about yourself, you are the only one to say these things are true. We cannot accept what you say.”

14 Jesus answered, “Yes, I am saying these things about myself, but they are true. I know where I came from and where I am going. But you don’t know where I came from or where I am going. 15 You judge by human standards. I am not judging anyone. 16 But when I do judge, I judge truthfully, because I am not alone. The Father who sent me is with me. 17 Your own law says that when two witnesses say the same thing, you must accept what they say. 18 I am one of the witnesses who speaks about myself, and the Father who sent me is the other witness.”

19 They asked, “Where is your father?”

   Jesus answered, “You don’t know me or my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father, too.” 20 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the Temple, near where the money is kept. But no one arrested him, because the right time for him had not yet come.

Read John 8:12-20 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

While reading the passage for this journal entry, a phrase jumped out at me. While I am sure that I’ve read it numerous times before, this particular time, it stood out as distinct.

The phrase is how this passage ends. The last portion of verse 20 says, “But no one arrested him, because the right time for him had not yet come.

This stood out to me because John, the author of this gospel, is drawing our attention onto something significant: There were God-established times for each of the events in Jesus’ life. There was a time to grow (the younger years), a time to witness/preach/teach, a time to heal, and a time to be arrested (and be crucified).

In Jesus’ life, He had a lot of flexibility in how He ministered because He understood that nothing would happen to Him unless it was included in the God-approved events for His phase of life. Jesus was able to be free from worry because He had complete trust in the Father’s care.

This leads me to think about my life today, and it prompts me to ask myself some challenging questions:

  • If God is in control and He had established times for Jesus’ life, does He have established times for my life?

  • If so, knowing that everything that happens has passed the “God-allowed” test for this period of life, would that prompt me to live differently – maybe even more trusting and more fearlessly?

God has promised He will not allow anything beyond what we can handle to come our way, however, God may have a bigger idea of what can be handled than we do. Sometimes it feels like He pushes us out of our comfort zone this way – though in some cases, we could also understand this as God waking us up out of our state of laziness.

God didn’t allow Jesus to be arrested until the time was right, and He will never allow us to face anything in our current phase of life that didn’t pass His approved list of events for our lives.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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Being a Descendant of God: John 8:31-59

Focus Passage: John 8:31-59 (NIV)

31 To the Jews who had believed him, Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. 32 Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. 36 So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”

39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! 46 Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.”

48 The Jews answered him, “Aren’t we right in saying that you are a Samaritan and demon-possessed?”

49 “I am not possessed by a demon,” said Jesus, “but I honor my Father and you dishonor me. 50 I am not seeking glory for myself; but there is one who seeks it, and he is the judge. 51 Very truly I tell you, whoever obeys my word will never see death.”

52 At this they exclaimed, “Now we know that you are demon-possessed! Abraham died and so did the prophets, yet you say that whoever obeys your word will never taste death. 53 Are you greater than our father Abraham? He died, and so did the prophets. Who do you think you are?”

54 Jesus replied, “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me. 55 Though you do not know him, I know him. If I said I did not, I would be a liar like you, but I do know him and obey his word. 56 Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.”

57 “You are not yet fifty years old,” they said to him, “and you have seen Abraham!”

58 “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus answered, “before Abraham was born, I am!” 59 At this, they picked up stones to stone him, but Jesus hid himself, slipping away from the temple grounds.

Read John 8:31-59 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!

Part way through Jesus’ ministry, as He is visiting Jerusalem for a festival, the gospel of John records a powerful discussion Jesus has with some Jews about Him and His ministry. In this discussion, we find Jesus pushing this crowd, and them missing Jesus’ point on several different points.

While talking about the truth setting people free, the Jews responded that they have never been slaves and that they are Abraham’s children. This statement might speak to their immediate lives, but not to the history of the Jewish nation, where slavery had been present on a number of occasions.

Picking up on this, Jesus tells this crowd a couple verses later: “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.” (v. 37-38)

The crowd responded by saying, “Abraham is our father.” (v. 39a)

Knowing what they were saying, but knowing how untrue they were, Jesus counters their statement by saying, “If you were Abraham’s children, then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.” (v. 39b-41a)

Becoming more irritated at Jesus, the crowd protested, “We are not illegitimate children. The only Father we have is God himself.” (v. 41b)

Now that Jesus has their focus exactly where He wants it, He tells them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.” (v. 42-44)

In this challenge, Jesus calls these people out for being unable to hear what He is saying. Jesus attributes this to those present being children of the devil and not children of God the Father like they claimed to be. Jesus also challenges these people in regard to them looking for a way to kill Him. Jesus points out that because they are looking for a way to kill Him, they are more closely aligned with the devil, who is a murderer and a liar.

This conversation draws us to pay attention to an important point: Our actions speak louder than our words, and even though we can claim to follow God like these Jews, if our actions do not reflect God, we might have fallen into the trap these Jews fell into and be children of the devil. Jesus invites us out of sin and into a new life with God, and part of this new life is learning to reflect God accurately in our own lives.

This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!

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