Judas Betrays Jesus

And he cometh the third time, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise up, let us go; lo, he that betrayeth me is at hand. And immediately, while he yet spake, cometh Judas, one of the twelve, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and the scribes and the elders. And he that betrayed him had given them a token, saying, Whomsoever I shall kiss, that same is he; take him, and lead him away safely. And as soon as he was come, he goeth straightway to him, and saith, Master, master; and kissed him. And they laid their hands on him, and took him. Mark 14:41-46

Steps: 1, 2, 3, 11, 12

Judas, not accepting the help of Jesus, was captive to his addiction to money. He would do anything to get money including betraying the Son of God to be killed. On top of all of the sad things that Judas did was that he wanted to signal to others that the person he would betray would be the one he would kiss. But Jesus was not deceived by Judas. Jesus knew the character of Judas and He had done everything possible to rescue Judas, and Judas would not surrender to the recovery process. Therefore, Judas had no protection from his addiction after he had broken the trust relationship between the two of them. Judas fulfilled the prophecy of betraying Jesus in Psalms 41:9 and even the amount of money was prophesied. Zechariah 11:13. Jesus also allowed these things to take place so that Scripture could be fulfilled and that all would know that He was intimately entwined with prophecy.

Prayer for Today: God, You know what each of us will do in the midst of crisis. You know whether we will turn to our addictions for help or will we turn to You for help in time of need? Help us not to betray You and help us to look to You for help and deliverance.