(It has been 4 weeks since I posted one of these stories based upon the signs of Jesus recorded in the Gospel of John. This story is actually a continuation of a supposed gathering of the disciples who were at table when Jesus first instituted the Lord’s Supper, now a full year later.)
We sat together for a while after we had eaten, all of us reluctant to leave the fellowship. Thomas spoke up.
“I’ve been thinking about those men who quarreled with Jesus the day after He fed the multitude. They all would have said with force that they believed in Jesus. But Jesus knows our hearts. He knew they didn’t really believe. Their faith was in what they wanted. They only believed in Jesus as long as they thought they could control Him. It desturbed them when He said He was the Son of God. He was more than someone they could use to get whatever they wanted.
Philip spoke up. “I suppose the same was true of Judas. I for one never saw that he was about to betray Jesus. But Jesus knew.”
James (the younger) said, “When Jesus gave us the power to heal and cast out demons, he didn’t exclude Judas. I partnered with him when we went from town to town. Judas did everything Jesus told us to do. That included miracles that I hardly had enough faith to attempt.
Andrew said, “I remember Judas questioning some things Jesus did, but I was questioning too. He once said he wondered how Jesus came from heaven if his parents still lived in Nazareth. But he immediately said, even though we didn’t understand many things, he knew we could trust Jesus.
Matthew said, “When all the others had abandoned Jesus, as John reminded us tonight, Judas stayed with us. He seemed to be quite as stirred as I when Peter said to the Lord, ‘You have the words of eternal life. And we know and believe that you are the Holy One of God.’”
Peter nodded and said, “Of course, Jesus often warned us that one of us was going to betray him. I think Judas must have told himself that if Jesus really knew that he was the betrayer, He would have sent him away. I certainly would have. For that matter, even though I declared then that we believed, I may have been the weakest of all. On the night of the supper he told me I would deny him. And even after I did, he brought me back.”
Thomas said, “All of us wondered why Jesus did not send us away, me most of all in the end.”
John said, “His clearest word about Judas was on the night of the supper. But even though I was leaning on Jesus, I didn’t understand what He was saying. In fact, when He said it was the one sharing the plate with Him, I was afraid it was me. I do think He was warning all of us that our faith was weak.”
Peter said, “I think Judas may have understood on that night. By then he must have thought he had to go through with it. Of course the devil had him by then. This reminds me that Jesus clearly told us that we need God working in us to believe. We cannot do it on our own. I suppose God had to be working in us from before we were born, for any of us to trust Him.
The idea for this story came from John 6:60-71.
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