Jesus wants everyone to have an opportunity to have a relationship with Him. Over the next five weeks, we will look at individuals involved with the story of Jesus going to the cross, that Jesus cared for. In turn, we will talk about how we can share our faith with similar people in our own lives.

Today we will begin with Judas, and we are going to look at his story from the book of John. Judas gets a bad wrap, and understandably so. After all, he did betray Jesus. But what if it was you? What if you were the one who betrayed Christ and was looked down on by people at the time and into the future.

The first time we see Judas mentioned in the book of John is in chapter 6. Jesus teaches the crowd and then feeds the 5,000. He walks on water in the evening to get away from the crowd, and the next day the people are trying to find where Jesus is. They realize He is on the other side of the shore, so they take off to catch up with Him.

Jesus then shares a difficult teaching for the disciples, not just the 12, but the people who followed Him in general. The teaching was really a foreshadowing of the Last Supper… of communion.

Jesus teaches how He is the bread of life. He makes that comparison of partaking in the bread, his flesh. And participating in the cup, His blood.

Many people did not like this teaching, and they turned away from Jesus. Check out this passage in John 6:60-71

Jesus Knows You Better Than You Know Yourself, And He Came For You Anyway

Jesus knew what Judas was going to do from the get-go, and Judas was invited into the inner circle.

As Humans, we are so fast to remember what others have done to us, and we hold offenses instead of letting them go. We struggle to get over something from 10 years ago, and we struggle to forgive that person.

Meanwhile, Jesus was doing life with the individual who was going to do Him wrong and had forgiven Him in advance! If you want to look more like Jesus, we need to consistently move in the direction of putting ourselves in a relationship with the lost and people who might do us wrong and loving them through it.

Ministry is hard, and sometimes it hurts because you are working with people. But guess what. You are a person too. And Jesus knows you better than you know yourself. He knows your faults and failures, and he came for you the same way He came for Judas and everyone else who walked away.

Jesus Values People. Even People Who Don’t Value Other People.

Jesus wanted Judas to have proximity to His ministry because He wanted Judas to view people the way He did. Jesus valued people because they were created in the eyes of God. Judas essentially valued them based on what they were worth on the outside.

The next time that Judas is mentioned in John is John 12:1-8

Judas valued people because he cared about what they could do for him. Could they bring him more stature, more worth? He watched as Mary poured out money that could have been his. At the same time, Jesus was slipping in Judas’ eyes, because He wasn’t the Jesus that Judas wanted or expected.

Jesus didn’t look at people that way. He saw what they could become, and invited them to have a relationship. Jesus saw people that were still in their sin, still at their worst, and saw where they could go and what they could do.

The irony here is that Jesus likely looked at Judas at what Judas could become. That is if Judas would turn his heart over to God and authentically follow Jesus. There is potential in all of us, including Judas, and Jesus wants all of us to have proximity to the Gospel message.

Jesus Will Serve People. Even Those Betray Him.

The next time we see Judas is in chapter 13. Actually multiple times in Chapter 13. The first is John 13:1-5

Read that again. Jesus knew what was about to happen, and Jesus washed the feet of Judas.

What’s my excuse for not forgiving people? What’s your reason for not forgiving people. Jesus had knowledge of what was coming and had already gotten over the offense and forgave Judas. Enough that Jesus was already willing to serve his betrayer.

Why? Because Judas needed the Gospel. Jesus got over the offense, forgave His betrayer, and served his Betrayer all before being betrayed.

Jesus Checked His Emotions At The Door. Because He Loves People

Next, read John 13:21-27 . Did you catch that? Jesus identifies the betrayer in front of all of the disciples. He identifies Judas to be the one who will hand him over to be put to death. And Jesus doesn’t get mad at Judas. Jesus just instructs Judas to do what he has to do quickly.

When we follow what God wants us to do, we realize that things may not happen the way we want, and people may not treat us the way we will like. If we follow God’s will, that doesn’t matter because our objective is not to create a perfect life here but growing God’s Kingdom.

Notice again, in one of the most critical moments of Jesus’ life on earth, Judas had proximity to Jesus, because Judas needed to hear the Gospel.

In John 18:1-4 we see John’s final reference to Judas, and Judas leads the Pharisees as he betrays Jesus. But there is more to the story. In Matthew 26:14-16 we see that Judas received 30 pieces of silver in exchange for Judas

If you do the math of what the silver was worth, it is likely worth about $200 in today's money. But there was a reason for this amount of money. And that reason comes from Exodus 21:32

32 If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels[a] of silver, and the ox shall be stoned.

All parties involved treated Jesus as if He was a slave, that Jesus had no actual worth.

Jesus came from a place of worth, to become like us, to be treated as worthless so that He could give us worth.

Jesus Doesn’t Give Up On Anyone

The reason Jesus invited Judas to the Table? The reason why he kept teaching Judas, why he had hope and saw potential in Judas? Because while Judas might have been destined to betray Jesus, the blood that was poured out on the cross was enough for Judas as well! Even after betraying Jesus.

I’m not trying to preach Judas in or out of heaven this morning. But what I do know is that God’s grace is enough. And in Judas’s last dying words and/or thoughts, he could have asked for forgiveness. And he would have received it because Jesus gave it to him long before it was ever asked for.

The next time you have the opportunity to share your faith with someone who has done you wrong, do it. Because that is what Jesus would have done and did do.

God Bless!
P. Scott