We saw last time how Jesus spent the whole night in prayer, and then gathered His students to Him and chose 12 of them as apostles.
Luke 6:12-16
12 It was at this
time that He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in
prayer to God.
13 And when day came,
He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named as
apostles:
14 Simon, whom He
also named Peter, and Andrew his brother; and James
and John; and Philip and Bartholomew;
15 and Matthew and
Thomas; James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon who was
called the Zealot;
16
Judas the son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor.
This is a question I have never really been able to find a good answer for. Jesus spends the entire night in prayer with the Father, and then when He comes down and picks the disciples, He picks JUDAS! Remember, there were a large multitude of people from all over following Jesus. He had plenty of students to pick from! Most people (myself included) have always believed that Judas was an unbeliever. Why would the Lord have chosen an unbeliever to be His representative to present the Gospel?
Was Judas a believer or an unbeliever?
In our current passage, in verse 16, it says that Judas Iscariot BECAME a traitor. The Greek is the word GINOMAI, and it does mean to become. This indicates that Judas was NOT a traitor when he was selected by the Lord. In the Greek it’s in the middle voice, meaning that he became one as a result of his own decisions and choices. Let’s start by looking at some history about Judas, and the road to his decision to betray the Lord.
John 12:1-6
1 Jesus, therefore,
six days before the Passover, came to
One
interesting side point about Lazarus. Of course, the Pharisees and
scribes are still trying to get rid of Jesus.
They want to kill him! Of course,
Lazarus is a great witness to the fact that Jesus was truly the Son of
God. So what do you think they wanted to
do about Lazarus?
John 12:9-11
9 The large crowd of
the Jews then learned that He was there; and they came, not for Jesus' sake
only, but that they might also see Lazarus, whom He raised from the dead.
10 But the chief
priests planned to put Lazarus to death also;
11 because on account
of him many of the Jews were going away and were believing
in Jesus.
Anyway, back to the dinner:
2 So they made Him a
supper there, and Martha was serving; but Lazarus was one of those reclining at
the table with Him.
3 Mary then took a
pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and
wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of
the perfume.
This nard was oil, infused with spices, that was imported
from
Contrast the attitude of Mary with the attitude of Judas:
4 But
Judas Iscariot, one of His disciples, who was intending to betray Him, said,
5 "Why was this
perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given
to poor people?"
6 Now he said this,
not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as
he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.
Notice the arrogance of Judas. He disagrees with how Mary uses the perfume. He really wanted to use it for his own benefit! Contrast the two – Mary was appreciative, and expressed that gratitude in what she did. Judas was unappreciative, and condemned her in what he said.
We see from verse 6 that Judas used to pilfer the money box. Here’s one question: do you think that Jesus knew Judas was taking money? More importantly, did Judas know that Jesus knew? I believe that’s where Judas’ real problem was. He didn’t entirely trust in the Lord!
So, what do you think? Was Judas a believer, or an unbeliever? Don’t worry – we’re going to look at this question in more detail! But be thinking about it.