At last he stood up again and returned to the disciples, only to find them asleep, exhausted from grief. “Why are you sleeping?” he asked them. “Get up and pray, so that you will not give in to temptation.” But even as Jesus said this, a crowd approached, led by Judas, one of his twelve disciples. Judas walked over to Jesus to greet him with a kiss. But Jesus said, “Judas, would you betray the Son of Man with a kiss?” (Luke 22:45-48 NLT)
Here is an interesting scene. Jesus has been praying — struggling with his flesh to submit to the Father’s will — and eleven of his disciples have gone to sleep. While they slept, the Lord’s enemies crept upon them and now approach their camp. Then with a kiss, the twelfth disciple betrays Jesus to the enemy.
We can get all blustery in our Christianity and pompously berate Judas, but we never seem to find any criticism for those eleven men who slept while the Lord fought the flesh. He conquered his and they surrendered to theirs.
On this beautiful Friday, it may benefit us to consider some questions about our selves. What if we were guilty of the same betrayal as Judas? What if we were sleeping when the Lord needed us to watch his back? Oh, yes, I know we wish we could vehemently proclaim that we never have and never would, yet think about it. Have we failed in other ways? We all know the undeniable answer to that last question.
O happy day! when Jesus washed my sin away! Now it is because of Christ and his grace that we reject a careless attitude. The grace of God is too valuable for us to be inconsistent in our commitment and service. Of course, we cannot trust in ourselves and our ability to be faithful. Yet, we must act in faithfulness. We must be committed to Christ and act consistently in that commitment.
While it is true that our “works” will not save us, that is only half of the equation of being a disciple of Christ. “Now faith is the substance of our hoping (1st half), the evidence of our undertaking (2nd half) not of our seeing” (Hebrews 11:1). The Hebrews author explains what faith is and what it isn’t. Faith is BOTH ‘substance’ and ‘evidence.’ Study this passage and you’ll discover that belief is the substance and action is the evidence of that belief. And you cannot have the one with the other, because separately they are dead (James 2:20 & 26). And of course, sight is not faith, for then what would be our hoping? (see Romans 8:24-25; 2 Corinthians 5:7). Faithfulness in hope to the end!
Dear Father, thank you for your grace and mercy through Jesus Christ, Our Lord and Savior. Empower us with an enduring faithfulness. This I pray in the name of Jesus. AMEN