The Spirit of Judas

Before his notorious act of betrayal the name Judas was a respected if not revered name. It was a common name meaning “celebrated” or “lauded,” that no parent would hesitate to call their child. Yet after selling out the innocent blood of the Son of God for thirty pieces of silver and identifying Him to the authorities with a kiss on the cheek, few parents today have dared to risk identifying their sons with a man like Judas Iscariot.
The question is what was the real Achilles heel of Judas? Was it greed as most believe? I personally don’t think so. The spirit of greed would never have allowed Judas to throw his 30 pieces of silver down and walk away.
I believe the Achilles heel of Judas was revealed when Mary broke the alabaster box of precious costly ointment and poured it upon Jesus. Judas was immediately angry at the act and spoke up and said, this should have been sold and given to the poor.
This is so amazingly shocking and confusing to me.
I mean, even after all that Jesus had done… He healed and filled and fed and blessed and delivered and even raised the dead. But even after all that Jesus had done, for Judas it still wasn’t enough!
Jesus should have done more! The Bible said that Judas was a thief! But maybe it wasn’t money that he was after but the time and attention of Jesus!
In his mind, Jesus should have involved him in this decision of what to do with the alabaster box.
Judas didn’t really care about the poor, he just wanted all of Jesus time to be focused on him and he wanted his voice heard!
This single act I believe for Judas was the straw that broke the camels back. To Judas this simple act was enough to prove to him that Jesus didn’t value his opinion.
His feelings were so hurt, he gladly sold Jesus out! After all, to him he obviously no longer fit into Jesus plans anyway…
Sadly, The spirit of Judas didn’t die with Judas. Even today pastors all over the world weep and worry about disgruntled souls, whom they have invested in and yet these souls seem to easily just walk away because in their mind the pastor hasn’t done enough. He hasn’t used me enough. He hasn’t honored me enough. He hasn’t promoted me enough. Equipped me enough. Fed me enough. Spent enough time with me or been a good enough friend. He hasn’t provided enough resources. He hasn’t done enough for our kids. He hasn’t done enough to pacify our elders…. On and on the excuses go.
And no matter how much the pastor has done, none of that will be remembered for those who have been infected with the spirit of Judas.
Pastor friend, be encouraged! When people walk away, it really wasn’t you!
There’s nothing more you could have done.
Because, nothing will ever be enough to satisfy Judas.
The good news is that though we may all weep and worry when our Judas’s walk away, Jesus still built the church with those who remained. God will never allow us to lose what we need to fulfill His purpose in our lives.