After - Day 32

April 26th, 2023

Acts 1:15-19

15 During this time, when about 120 believers were together in one place, Peter stood up and addressed them.16 “Brothers,” he said, “the Scriptures had to be fulfilled concerning Judas, who guided those who arrested Jesus. This was predicted long ago by the Holy Spirit, speaking through King David. 17 Judas was one of us and shared in the ministry with us.”

18 (Judas had bought a field with the money he received for his treachery. Falling headfirst there, his body split open, spilling out all his intestines. 19 The news of his death spread to all the people of Jerusalem, and they gave the place the Aramaic name Akeldama, which means “Field of Blood.”)

Have you ever denied Jesus, or done anything that distances you from Jesus? Have you ever done something that actually stops Jesus from becoming a savior to someone else? These are hard questions. If you did these things purposefully but have come back, there is forgiveness, but it is sometimes harder when you have done these things with the best intentions.
As a pastor, I know that I have made people run from Jesus by the way that I treated them or a careless word or two. These are not things that I have done purposefully, but rather they happened by mistake, and sometimes they even happened with the greatest intentions of actually bringing someone closer to Jesus.

While this was not the case with Judas, of course, we have all been guilty of moving someone further away from Jesus by a word or deed that was not unnoticed, but was taken in either the wrong way, or we messaged the wrong thing.

Judas betrayed Jesus. We don’t know the motivation completely. There are some who have said that it is because he was trying to force the hand of Jesus to become king of Israel, but that is not 100% clear. What we do know is what he did, albeit not his motivations. He betrayed Jesus for money, and he paid dearly for it. Now they must go about the business of nominating a replacement for this fallen soul.

Through the story of the restoration of Peter, we know that Jesus was in the forgiveness and restoration business. However, the ship had sailed to Judas for that. Therefore, there must be a replacement for this gap that was left. What is interesting, is that they were told that the Holy Spirit was going to fulfill that role. It has always been interesting to me that they took this role upon themselves rather than wait for the Holy Spirit.