Today’s Reading: Matthew 26:6-16
Today’s Reference: Luke 16:13 “No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the others, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.”
Why did Judas betray Jesus? For three years he was a full-fledged disciple, doing miracles, preaching to the people. He appeared to love Jesus. He probably even thought he loved Jesus. But he loved money more, and when “crunch time” came, he chose his greater love…thirty pieces of silver. What a worthless exchange for any life, still less the Son of God!
We can’t be too scornful of Judas. We all have the potential for great evil in our hearts, and we all have a tendency to put lesser things—especially money—before God. Some of the things we choose may even be good, like helping the poor or being active in the church. But if we put them before Jesus, if we let them have our heart, we’ve fallen into the Judas trap.
Examine your heart. Have you placed anything above Jesus Christ? Have you, in your own way, kissed Him and sent Him away to be crucified?
Prayer:
Father, I’ve let other things creep into my heart where Jesus should be. Help me be on the alert to weed out those things and serve only one master, my Lord and my God.
In Jesus’ name, amen.