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The Judas-Heart in All False Belief

 

 

 

There is a remarkable side note made in John chapter 14 that cuts to the heart of what true and false belief is.  The verse states:

           John 14:22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to Him, “Lord, what then has                     happened that You are going to disclose Yourself to us and not to the               world?”

“Not Iscariot” is a very brief note indeed, but it tells us something profound.  It is making sure that we do not attribute a question to the wrong person.  But this isn’t just for historical accuracy.  Getting the wrong person for this statement would become deeply problematic.  How so?  

Because words are always the overflow of the heart.  If you want to know a person, listen to how they speak.  Are actions important?  Of course they are.  Both words and actions give us a window to the heart.  The mouth is connected to the heart, and the hands are connected to the heart.  What someone says and doesn’t say exposes his heart, and what someone does and doesn’t do exposes his heart.  The point is that we are always living, in word and deed, from the overflow of the heart. 

Therefore, if a question like this came from Judas we would have much confusion.  This question has to do with knowing Christ, and knowing Christ is the pursuit of a true disciple.  They want to know him and they want to know how to know him more.  They want to know why they can know him and what may hinder that knowledge.  For the true disciple, it is all about Christ.  Christ is life.  Everything else is counted as loss and rubbish in comparison. 

Not so with Judas and every other pretender and false convert.  They are not ultimately interested in knowing Christ.  They may want to know how to get in good with Jesus, or what will keep them in good favor, but knowing him in order to love him more is not happening.  In fact, we only have 4 statements of Judas recorded in the gospels, and the only statement Judas made where he wasn’t in the act of betrayal was the following:

          John 12:5  “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii                and given to poor people?”

What had Judas’ heart?  It wasn’t serving the poor; it was getting his hands on the money.  Judas was with Jesus because there was money, position and power to be found there.  He was with Jesus in order to get from Jesus all he could get.  Judas was a kingdom-minded man! Yes he was.  But he was expecting a kingdom where he would wield power at the side of Jesus.  He wasn’t interested in a kingdom of joyful giving, led by the ultimate sacrificial giver.

Judas was a million miles away from Paul’s statement “But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.” (Phil. 3:7)  Judas was not about to lose anything for Christ.  He would walk the hard road for a while if that was what it took to have a seat at the big table.  But the only rubbish Judas saw was the foolishness of wanting Jesus alone. 

So, John is making sure that we do not get confused.  There was no impulse of love for Christ in Judas Iscariot.  Judas saw Jesus as the biggest rung in the ultimate career ladder.  And if that wasn’t going to work out, then thirty pieces of silver would do. 

The final point that seals up this whole discussion is, most appropriately, Jesus’s answer to the disciple’s question.  Why was Jesus going to reveal himself to the disciples and not to the world? 

         John 14:23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will           keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him                 and make Our abode with him.

Why will Jesus reveal himself to his disciples?  Because they love him, and that love will flow out in real obedience.  And because they love Christ, he and the Father will not just give sporadic glimpses of self-disclosure, but will make their abode with them.  The triune God will dwell inside and be as a fountain of living water springing up to eternal life. 

But Judas, and all those with a Judas heart, will occupy themselves with looking for another rung to climb, with silver jingling in their pocket. 

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