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Simply being in the same place where God’s Spirit is present and working wasn’t enough for Yehudah ish Kariot (Judas Iscariot, “man of Kariot”). It isn’t enough for us either. That is why a simple morsel of food from Yeshua’s hand blessed the 11 other closest students but cursed Yehudah.
In the last study, we got an overview of Yeshua’s last Pesakh, the “Last Supper,” from the accounts in Matthew, Mark and Luke. In this and following studies, we focus on what the Messiah said and did during the meal, as recorded in John 13–17. Today, we’ll look at Yeshua’s interchange with Yehudah, recorded in John 13:21–30.
There’s a night vs. day and light vs. darkness theme in this passage. The darkness is descending and for the most part, the Disciples were unaware of how dark their situation was turning. When God “turns the light on,” are we like the cockroach who runs away or the plant that turns towards the light for energy and growth (John 3:14–21).
We will look at this concept of light and dark. It’s a huge factor in how taking the morsel of bread could be a blessed event or seal one’s doom.
How could Yehudah sell out his Master for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave? The Son of God, the one who was present at creation, the one of carried the weight of Israel, the one who was to heal all Israel and to bring the true representation of the Father to the earth, worth the price of a slave. Yeshua is priceless yet Yehudah sold Him out for so little.
Even today, people don’t understand the value of human life.
The Disciples had to ask themselves if the pain they suffered to follow Yeshua was worth the pain. We have to ask ourselves this question 2,000 years later.
Abraham went out and didn’t know where he was going yet he knew that there was a place he should go and find rest.
In Heb. 10:32–11:2, which draws on Hab 2:1–5, we learn that we must choose whether to shrink back from trusting in Yeshua as our High Priest or actively live according to that trust, joyfully accepting whatever comes from that decision and encouraging others to hope in more than what our grubby little hands can grasp. Yehudah rejected his High Priest, preferring the crumbs.
The prophet Habakkuk saw how Israel were perverting justice and God would punish them by allowing the Babylonians to trample over them and exile them. The prophet pleaded with Israel to end the violence and wickedness. They ignored Torah and perverted justice. When they failed to listen to the prophet — and others — the exile happened. That had to happen so the people would open their eyes and see their condition. The people of Israel were living in syncretism and idolatry, and the 70-year timeout shook some of them out of it, but many of them stayed behind even after the 70 years were up.
The Apostle Paul quoted Hab. 2:4 in Rom. 1:16–23. The Creator is going to come in and clean up our mess and set things right. This is our hope. This is why the “end of time” (Revelation 21–22) looks like the beginning of time (Genesis 1–2). The Kingdom of God is all about restoration.
Are you OK with a program that is eventually going to return us to Eden? Do you understand that the path is לעולם l’olam, going to go “over your horizon,” that you can’t see the path in full?
What we are living is the same song, 1,000th verse. God has been betrayed over, and over, and over again. Betrayed by those close to Him. Yeshua, the greatest representation of God, was also betrayed in the most intimate of ways. Yet, in the midst of betrayal, there is hope.
Pagan deities seek revenge when slighted but God, when betrayed, doesn’t seek revenge but restoration.
What happened at that last Passover table? Yeshua said at the Passover table:
“And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.'” (Luke 22:19)
and
“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” (John 13:20)
Even before this Yeshua said:
“He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him.” (John 6:54–56)
Simply eating the “body” of Messiah — represented by the bread — wasn’t anything in and of itself, just as the eating of the “daily bread” in the Exodus and the following 40 years didn’t reverse the exclusion of the eaters from “life” and “rest” in the land. Simply being in the same place where God’s Spirit is present and working wasn’t enough for Yehudah. It isn’t enough for us either.
Speaker: Jeff. Summary: Tammy.
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