Advent- When Love Comes to Town

Introduction:

When Jesus walked among us, people like you and I were eternally impacted. Some surrendered while others refused. Come with me on a journey this week as we explore His encounters with Judas, Pilate, His mother, and His encounter with each of us. I invite you to open your heart afresh as we walk the narrow streets that end at the cross-- and your response to His sacrifice.

The Head-On Collision

Read: John 12:1-11 & 13:18-30 & 18:1-11; Matthew 16:24-25

Crumpled, charred metal and shattered glass--one rarely walks away unscathed from a head-on collision. So, it was when Judas Iscariot and Jesus Christ collided. Lives entangled; bodies shattered, yet only One walked away. That’s what happens when selfishness and love collide.

It’s astounding that one could walk beside the Incarnate Christ and remain unchanged! Perhaps Judas remained aloof, always observing with critical, cynical eye, yet never committing. Perhaps he was simply along for the ride, playing the part while keeping deep relationships at bay, lest the truth be known. To accept Christ’s message requires life-change. Someone like Judas would neither own wrong-doing nor admit life-change was necessary. 

 Perhaps Judas waited in vain for Jesus to drop the selfless message and pivot toward a militant one, overthrow Rome and reinstate Israel’s Golden Age. As he observed the mounting tension between Jesus and Jewish leadership, waited in vain for Jesus’ political coup, and saw no immediate benefit to loyalty, perhaps he decided to cut his losses; save himself. In so-doing, he played directly into the devil’s hands, brazenly betraying the Son of God with a kiss—to his own gruesome demise.

Something to Ponder

What a wasted life; true of any life consumed with self. Though we recoil from the comparison to Judas on any level, wherever selfishness reigns, we are like him, especially when Jesus calls for life-change, yet we refuse. He calls us all to life-change, how will you respond?