JUDAS, JOHN, AND THAT TABLE Posted on April 12, 2020

Happy Easter! It’s a different kind of Easter for many of us this morning. It holds a different type of meaning. It holds a different type of appreciation. I think maybe I’ve taken Easter for granted all these years. I have always celebrated Easter as Jesus’s victory over death. I have always associated Easter with the ending of winter and beginning of spring. The opportunity to begin anew. Maybe it’s because I didn’t put on my Easter dress with my white pumps (while most of the country waits until Memorial Day to bring out their white, us Southerners ALWAYS polish those babies up for Easter) this morning but,  in my moments of Mickey and the Roadster Racers blaring in the background, watching the kids dig through their Easter baskets, and thinking about the different moments of this Holy Week, I’m reminded more than ever that I’m the disciple Judas. Judas betrayed Jesus. Judas broke Jesus’s heart. Judas sold Jesus out for thirty pieces of silver. Judas was a coward. I’m Judas.

I’ve always longed to be like the disciple, John. John was the disciple Jesus loved more than any other. John never left Jesus’s side. John held Jesus’s mother, Mary, in his arms as she cried out for mercy for her beloved son. Jesus chose John to care for His mother after His death… can you imagine how special John must have been for Jesus to assign him that privilege? But, I fall so short of John. Everyday, I fall short of John because I’m a Judas. But, God still chose to die for me on that cross. The night before He was crucified, He welcomed me at His table, fed me, washed my feet, and prayed for me. He CHOSE to still love me when He knew I was going to break His heart. He CHOSE to walk the road to Calvary for me, a Judas. On the cross, He looked directly at me and asked God to forgive me because I knew not what I was doing forsaking Him the way I did.  Then, three days later, THIS DAY, THIS EASTER DAY, He arose from the grave and welcomed me with open arms. He waited to hug me and tell me He loved me, a Judas.

On this Easter Sunday morning, this COVID-19 Easter Sunday morning, I’m eternally grateful God loves a Judas. I’m eternally grateful God protects a Judas. I’m eternally grateful God forgives a Judas. I’m eternally grateful that no matter what the outcome of COVID-19 is, I will not only be okay, I will prosper and grow because I, a sinner, a Judas, a lost soul, am in the hands of the one of who holds the whole world.

Throughout history, God has been faithful to His people. He will be faithful to His people during this pandemic. He will be faithful to a Judas. If I allow Him, He will renew my hope, my faith, my strength, my mind, and my heart. He will bless my mess so, I, a Judas, can use my mess as His message. And, I firmly believe His message is this: COVID 19 is more than a physical disease. It is a wakeup call from God. It is a wakeup call to the Judas’s of the world.

We live in a world where we worship money and status. We live in a world where children cannot go to school, moviegoers to a theatre, or shoppers to a mall without the possibility of being shot with an assault rifle. We live in a world where we have refused to take care of the ground below us and the sky above us. We live in a world where over 50% of marriages end in divorce, 28 in 1,000 women receive an abortion every year, and 36% of our world’s population lives in TRUE poverty making less than $1.25 per day. We live in a world where we have allowed 4 MILLION children to become victims of human sex trafficking. We live in a world where we are encouraged to be bullies and prideful or  we are seen as weak. We live in a world where people are judged by the color of their skin before they even speak. We live in a world where people simply refuse to accept personal responsibility. We live in a broken world. We live in a world that betrays God, breaks His heart, and sells Him out for a few pieces of silver. We live in a world of Judas’s. And just like the original Judas, God never stops loving us. He never gives up hope for us. He never forsakes us. He waits for us with open arms.

Thank God, we also live in a world of John’s. We live in a world where there are people fighting the fights that need to be fought, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, caring for the sick, and loving those that have wronged them. I struggle with that last one the most. Maybe that’s my wakeup call moment I’m supposed to learn from the Coronavirus pandemic. Maybe that’s my area of improvement where I can become more like John. It won’t change every life, but maybe it could change a few. Maybe it would change mine. Maybe we could all find one area in our lives to wakeup and become more like a John. With 7.8 billion people in the world, the smallest John like change would have an enormous impact on our future.

That positive impact has already begun. We are in the middle of experiencing the biggest act of global compassion known to man. God is always working and restoring. God is weeping with us as we weep. God recognizes our feelings of hopelessness and vulnerability and is near to us in all of them. God never stops loving us. But, above all, I feel God is inviting us back to that table. He is inviting the Judas’s, the John’s, and everyone in between. It is there we will see the miraculous things He is creating for us all during this time. Be safe. Be strong. Be well.