Lenten Devotion for Wednesday, March 31

Today's lessons:

Isaiah 50:4-9a

Psalm 70

Hebrews 12:1-3

John 13:21-32

Author:

Rev. Sharon Rogers

Associate Pastor, Light of Christ Lutheran Church, Algonquin

NIS Mutual Ministry Committee Lutheran Campus Ministry at Northern Illinois University

Board Member, Lutheran Campus Ministry of Illinois

Theme verses:

John 13:21-32 - After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, "Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me."   The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.   One of his disciples-- the one whom Jesus loved-- was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus answered, "It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish." So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, "Do quickly what you are going to do." Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, "Buy what we need for the festival"; or, that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. When he had gone out, Jesus said, "Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

Meditation:

“…you will betray me.” Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary provides a definition of the word “betray” that fits the actions of Judas: "to prove faithless or treacherous to, as to a trust or one who trusts; to be false to; to deceive; as, to betray a person or a cause."

The truth is that Jesus’ words today should be harsh for us to hear because there is a part of Judas in all of us who are Christ followers. The reality is that we can think we are following Jesus when really we are following our image of Jesus and so our lives and even our faith communities can end up reflecting the values of the society around us instead of God’s kingdom here on earth. Both as individuals and faith community we do, in fact, betray Jesus.

Today we are at the midpoint of the week. After today events in this holiest of weeks intensify. For today however, we sit with the words of truth that speak hard words to us as a morsel of dipped bread is extended, calling us to realize who we really are. For if we forget that we are, in part, like Judas, then we can forget the sin which so readily destroys.

But the good news is that God loves us not on the basis of our lives, but on the basis of God’s love for us and so we reach today for the bread held in the hand of the Bread of Life.

Prayer:

God of grace, as your beloved, we journey remembering these last days Your Son spent on this earth. Help us recognize and confess the ways we betray you. Grant us faith to trust the promise of forgiveness which Jesus came to bring so that You may be glorified in us and through us.