Who are you looking for?
On the night of Jesus’ betrayal, a band of armed men came to arrest Him, Jesus asked the question: “Who are you looking for?”
Of course, we know who they were looking for and I think Jesus knew who they were looking for. But sometimes a rhetorical question gives us insights.
Well first, Judas was looking for Jesus to betray him (Matt. 26:47-49). Judas knew Jesus as he was one of the twelve apostles, he knew where Jesus would be. But it was night and it was a week past the full moon, the torches were dim, but he would recognize Jesus as he got close. So he prearranged a sign to the soldiers that he would kiss Jesus.
Earlier that evening Jesus predicted that one of them would betray him. Judas asked if it was he, to which Jesus said it was (Matt. 26:21 & 25). So Judas has gone down in history as one of the most despised men of all time. He’s become the symbol of betrayal. But why? Why did Judas betray Jesus? John described him a thief (John 12:6).
Did you realize that Jesus never mistreated Judas? In fact, Judas was at the Last Supper, and Jesus even washed Judas’ feet. Except of the choosing of his replacement (Acts 1:13-25) he is never mentioned again in Scripture. You would think that someone so bad would be mentioned again.
But here’s the point. The gospel message is that we have all sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Rom. 3:23). That means we all deserve God’s punishment. Paul wrote: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst” (1 Tim. 1:15). But then Paul writes: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (I Cor. 6:11).
So Judas came looking for Jesus that night, and he was leading a band of armed soldiers who were also look for Jesus. Apparently they knew very little about Jesus, only that they hated Him and wanted to arrest Him.
There’s a lot of folks like that. They don’t know much about Jesus, and the people they hang around don’t like Him either, so they are hostile toward Christ.
Jesus answered them that it was He they came for. He didn’t try to hid, neither did ...
