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Walking in Truth Devotional Update, What You do, do Quickly
“What you do, do quickly.”
(Mat 26:21-25; Mk 14:18-21; Lk 22:21-23; Jn 13:21-30)
“When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, ‘Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.’”
singled out, and the sacred company would soon be rid of his presence.
While the disciples could see that Jesus was troubled, they did not know that Judas would be the one to betray Jesus. Notice their response in verse 22: “His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.” “Lord, is it I? It cannot be me! Lord, who is it?” Judas, reclining at the table alongside Jesus, coolly mouthed the same words. I did not know that some Theologians surmised that Judas was a man of more education and higher social standing than the rest of the apostles until I began writing this article and came across this point. I don’t know if this can be proven.
Even though Jesus knew Judas’ heart, he wanted to reach out to help him. What a beautiful illustration of how Jesus reaches out with His accepting love to the world. It reminds me of the cry that came from the heart of the Lord when confronted by the rejection of His own people: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!” (Matt. 23:37). Please understand that Jesus, our Lord and Savior, will accept anyone who will turn to Him in obedience to His Word. If you do not know Him, the love that Jesus manifested in the Upper Room is something to behold and to gravitate to. When he washed the disciples’ feet, he washed Judas’ feet too. Imagine that! He told Peter as he washed his feet, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you” (John 13:10). “Judas, My friend,” Jesus was saying, “you’re not clean.” He was appealing to Judas’ conscience, giving him reason to reflect and repent.
Peter asked John, who had only to turn back a few inches and say, “Who is it?” And Jesus quietly responded: “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon (John 13:26). But the door had slammed shut. Judas, as Matthew records, replied, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus responded: “Yes, it is you” (Matthew 26:25). At that moment Judas signed his own death warrant. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him. “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus said.
Judas was a victim of his own sinister motives and would bear responsibility for what he did. Mark records Jesus saying: “The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had never been born” (Mark 14:21).
When Judas was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come” (John 13:31-33).
I would like for you to remember the love of Jesus displayed in this terrible crime of the betrayal of Christ by His friend, Judas.
