"Jesus Predicts His Betrayal"

   "I am not saying these things to all of you; I know the ones I have chosen. But this fulfills the Scripture that says, 'The one who eats my food has turned against me.' I tell you this beforehand, so that when it happens you will believe that I am the Messiah. I tell you the truth, anyone who welcomes my messenger is welcoming me, and anyone who welcomes me is welcoming the Father who sent me." 

 Now Jesus was deeply troubled, and he exclaimed, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me!" 

 The disciples looked at each other, wondering whom he could mean. The disciple Jesus loved was sitting next to Jesus at the table. Simon Peter motioned to him to ask, "Who's he talking about?" So that disciple leaned over to Jesus and asked, "Lord, who is it?" 

 Jesus responded, "It is the one to whom I give the bread I dip in the bowl." And when he had dipped it, he gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. When Judas had eaten the bread, Satan entered into him. Then Jesus told him, "Hurry and do what you're going to do." None of the others at the table knew what Jesus meant. Since Judas was their treasurer, some thought Jesus was telling him to go and pay for the food or to give some money to the poor. So Judas left at once, going out into the night." (John 13:18-30 NLT) 

 This might be one of the most difficult portions of this Book to share about, as it involves a man that is chosen to be with Jesus, while he is going to be the one that is going to betray Him. The whole thing makes me think of all the people I have seen, over the span of several decades of being involved in ministry, who, after being called into serving the Lord, they are discovered to be a disruptor of the church. 

 Not that it happens often, but that is one of the reasons that Paul tells Timothy, "Never be in a hurry about appointing a church leader." (1 Timothy 5:22 NLT) Those appointed should be watch and prayed over, a person that has been with the fellowship for a certain length of time. Someone that has been proven to be fit for service. Even then, there is no guarantees; people can have things happen in their lives that can cause friction; even a small disagreement can cause some people to get sideways. 

 All of that said, this instance is different and involves a man that was chosen to betray the Lord. That might sound crazy to some; but Jesus had known quite a lot about Judas, before He had even meet him. Yet, he was chosen to fulfill a certain task, even though that task was a wicked act of betrayal, it was something that needed to happen, to fulfill the most important task of all: Jesus getting hung on a cross! 

 If you study the timelines involved with all of this, you might be amazed by all of things that needed to happen in order for all this to happen. The crucifixion on the cross, which the J.W.'s depict as being on a stake, was something that the Romans had perfected. Having found a way to allow someone to hang on the cross for days, just to show them suffering a slow death, that anyone seeing it would be fearful to step out of line. 

 That is one of many things that needed to happen; even the terrible killing of children that were two years old and younger, it was all to fulfill every single part of the very complex plan...

"Thus saith the LORD; A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation, and bitter weeping; Rachel weeping for her children refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not." (Jeremiah 31:15 KJV)