Jesus Loved Judas | Matthew 10:1-4

Till the very end

Author

Caleb Lee
February 27, 2024

In most friend groups, there’s a weird one.

And if you can’t think of who the weird one is, it’s probably you.

But being the weird one in a group is by no means a bad thing!

Take the 12 disciples — They were as weird of a group as they come.

And he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, who is called Peter, and Andrew his brother; James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and Matthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus; 4 Simon the Zealot and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Matthew 10:1-4

Yet even with a motley crew, Jesus gives all of them the authority to cast out unclean spirits and to heal every disease.

Even the one who was to betray Him.

It’s interesting to think of Judas as one of the early disciples. He was in the midst of the group, seeing the miracles and hearing the sermons.

He was even given the authority to cast out demons and heal diseases the same way his Teacher did.

And yet Judas betrays Jesus.

Goes to show that you can be in the innermost circle and still not believe.

You can experience the most amazing, spiritually rich things and still not believe.

But Judas was just as much of a disciple as the other 11. We can see that through the reactions of the other disciples when Jesus gives Judas the morsel of bread after saying, “one of you will betray me.”

26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.

John 13:26-29

Jesus literally tells them that Judas will be the one to betray Him, yet the other disciples are confused.

All that to say, Jesus knows what’s in your heart.

You may be able to fool everyone on this planet, but Jesus knows what goes on in the deep recesses of your mind.

But He loves you anyway. And He wants you to come to Him.

Notice that when Jesus was washing the disciples’ feet, He didn’t skip over Judas.

He didn’t give all the disciples except Judas the authority to heal or cast out demons.

He wanted Judas to experience those things. Because until the very end, there was hope for him to come back in repentance.

And that hope extends to all of us.

Have a blessed Tuesday, friends.