An interesting thought...

Alright, so I haven't been faithful with blogging as I have with reading...which is not what I was hoping for...but today I was reading Matthew Ch. 10, and decided to delve deeper into it...and realized some interesting things.

First, Bug asked me if Jesus gave the powers to heal and drive out demons and perform miracles to Judas Iscariot. The answer, of course, is yes. Judas didn't join Jesus as a spy, but as a brother; he wasn't planning on betraying him to the Religious leaders from the get-go. No, sin overtook him over time; he may have been skimming off the top of Jesus' funds, and he may have thought that he was getting into the inner circle of the new king for his own benefit, but he was still a student of the master. He loved Jesus and hung on his words for a while, most likely. If that wasn't the case, his betrayal would not be so heinous. Now, it's true that, most likely, from the time Jesus called him, Jesus knew Judas would betray him over...but I doubt Judas did.

Second, when Jesus gives the authority to the Twelve, he doesn't give them, or us, a rosy picture of what's going to happen. He makes it very clear that being a disciple of Christ is going to piss off the people around you. He even says, "...and you will be hated by all for my name's sake." This is after he talks about families betraying one another, hating one another, and warring against one another. He made it clear that to be part of the family of Christ, one would often have to forsake his own family.

Third, If one was going to be a disciple of Christ, he would have to learn to behave impeccably. Jesus called his disciples to be as shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. Why? Doesn't grace cover all sins? Of course. The disciples were not going to be saved by Righteous acts. They were called to make other disciples, and so are we. There are a great number of enemies to the message of Christ, who would blaspheme God and defame his son. If we look like fools, look like the wicked, and give the enemies ammunition with which to slander us and legitimize their persecution of Christ, are we being good messengers? Who will come? True, the Lord uses the foolish things of the World to shame the wise...but if we act according to the wisdom of the world, then we are disobedient...and I know I've been disobedient many times. Lord, forgive me.


Well, that's all for now...if you're interested in more, look up, "Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible." It's in the public domain...and check out Matthew Ch. 10. Or you can read the commentaries on the chapter at www.biblegateway.com.

Later.