One Night, Two Hearts

On the night of the last supper, two of Jesus's disciples stood out in the attitude of their hearts on that fateful night. The first was Judas, and the second was John, the reason these two stood out is that illustrate the two responses to Christ that many people have.

First let's look at Judas, the one who betrayed Jesus. Many theories have been bandied about as to why Judas made the decision to betray Jesus. Most of them have of course centered around greed, since he accepted a bribe from the Pharisees to do so. But I believe it goes even deeper than just greed. You have to remember and understand the culture of Judaism and the Messiah they were longing for. The Jews were not looking for a meek, lowly carpenter turned Messiah. They were looking for a grand political and religious leader. Someone who would lead a overthrow of their Roman occupation and restore Israel as a national power. For part of his ministry Jesus might have fit what a lot of people were looking for. Large crowds were beginning to follow him, he had some influential friends that he had helped, and money was coming into his ministry. In fact Judas was the treasurer for the ministry.

But then Jesus began to talk about his oncoming suffering, about his followers needing to eat his body and drink his blood for eternal life. The large numbers of disciples went away, the treasury started to dwindle. Not only because fewer donations were likely coming in, but also because Judas was stealing from the funds. Judas who had been one of the 12 and one of the 70 sent out to preach the gospel, heal the sick and raise the dead. Decided that it was time for him to cut his losses, he was in a great position as treasurer if Jesus became king. Not a great position though if he's about to be crucified. So he made the decision that because Jesus did not fit his impressions of what Messiah should be. Because he did not want to be king like Judas hoped he would. But probably most importantly following Jesus meant putting himself in harm's way, giving up his way of life, and possibly dying. Judas decided to give up 3 years of walking with Jesus for the price of a slave.

How many others since then have tried Jesus for a little while, maybe visited a church a time or two, picked up the bible and tried to read it. But because Jesus did not fit their preconceived notions, or because what he asked of them was too much. They never follow him down the road that Jesus wants to take them on.

John however had the right idea, or as Howard might say he was in the right posture. He was seated right next to Jesus, so close that he could lay his head on his chest. You want to grow closer and be have a more intimate relationship with God? Follow the example of John, get close enough so that every time Jesus's heart beats, you can hear the pounding of it in your head. Get close enough to him so that his heartbeat becomes your heartbeat. You notice how Jesus may have reprimanded his disciples for arguing about who would become the greatest. But he had no problem with John wanting to be as close to him as possible. The Bible says if we draw near to him, he will draw near to us. He doesn't make us chase him, he doesn't play hide and seek. Instead he promises that those who seek, will find him, and to those that knock the door will be opened.