CHAPTER 22:
These last three chapters in Luke record the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ – the Savior of the world. No event in history has had more impact or ever will until He returns. I pray these last three chapters sink deep into our souls and transform us!
Cool start - wouldn’t it have been tight to be Peter & John looking for the guy carrying water and everything be just as Jesus told them!?~! Ha – would love to have been there!
Anyway, we first read about Jesus’ passion to have one last moment & Passover celebration with his disciples. I’m ever amazed at His desire to spend time with people – even those who betray Him. Amazing how someone could spend three years with Jesus and still turn on Him like Judas did. Jesus continued and will continue to reach out, but woe to those who don’t repent!
Jesus then addresses greatness. Our world’s system of leadership brings out a lot of selfishness & arrogance, but God’s system is quite opposite. The way up is truly down. You want to be great, you be a servant of all. Humility is God’s way and Jesus exemplified it!
Then we read of Peter’s painful denial of Jesus. Fear had overtaken his call to follow and three times he denies his Lord. Jesus told him he would, but lest we condemn Peter, Jesus also predicted he would turn back. And certainly God used him greatly!
Then there is the garden. At the most crucial time in His life, Jesus asks his disciples to pray. He returns to find them nodding off – not that any of us would ever nod off in church……. What a lonely & trying time for our Lord this must have been.
The chapter ends with Jesus’ confession that He is God! If the religious leaders were not peeved by now, this would do it. To claim to be God was the ultimate blasphemy………unless of course you ARE God, which they refused to believe He was!
SO WHAT?!
*I believe that just as Jesus had a passion to spend time with His disciples, He has that same passion for us. Yet often times, the first thing to go when we get busy is our Bible reading & prayer time. How’s your 260 in 2010 going? Lets not let the busyness of life to allow us to ditch our time alone with our Creator!
*Are we guilty of denying Jesus? Do your friends, co-workers, family members know that HE is what you live for? Let’s be like Paul who was “not ashamed of the Gospel.”
*Who are your “garden friends?” Friends who will be there in our time of greatest need, who will be Jesus to you & weather storms with you. You need ‘em and so do I. And who are WE that friend to? As believers we were never meant to be “lone rangers”……….. and hey, even the Lone Ranger had Tonto!
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Bill,
ReplyDeleteWhy did the chief priests need Judas to betray Jesus? What role did Judas need to play? In the text, Judas goes up and kisses Jesus, which looks like he is identifying Jesus.
However, it seems to me that the chief priests would know Jesus by sight. In addition, they could have Him followed to find out where He went. I just don't see what role Judas needed to play (other than tarnishing his own name forever).
Corbin
Great question Corbin! Here's my 2 cents:
ReplyDeleteThe religious peeps had been wanting to arrest Jesus and put Him away for quite a while but they didn't have a safe plan where they could do that and at the same time protect them from the people. I believe that is where Judas comes in because it says he did it "apart from the crowd." Amazing that the religious peeps would do this during the holy festival of passover! Maybe God wanted people to see that you can hang around Jesus and still not have a heart change?
Hey Corbin - a bit more info. Checked into the whole deal with Judas kissing Jesus. Most commentaries say it was more of a "now is the time" signal than a "hey, this one is Jesus" signal. Hope that helps!
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