1 Corinthians 11:23-26 RSV
For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, "This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me." In the same way also the cup, after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.

" . . . on the night when He was betrayed . . . do this . . . in remembrance of Me."

I think that we often want to think about Jesus the glorious, Jesus the Victor, Jesus the King, but we don't often want to think about the fact that Jesus was betrayed by one of His closest friends. That the Lord Jesus, Ruler of heaven and earth, couldn't be enough for Judas to keep Judas from committing that ultimate treason.

Jesus wasn't enough for Judas.

I think we need to ask ourselves why. Judas was one of the Twelve (the apostles). He walked, he talked, he received face-to-face teaching and ministry and love from Jesus for three years. He saw the amazing miracles with his own eyes: Jesus feeding the thousands, healing the blind, curing the lame. And yet, Jesus wasn't enough for Judas.

The fact is, there were many who rejected Jesus. Some of the religious leaders. (Not all, for we have the account of Nicodemus who was a quiet follower.) The rich young ruler who didn't want to give away his wealth. And now Judas.

The one thing all had in common was money and power. Yes, even Judas as poor as he pretended to be, was mesmerized by money, by the seduction and power of having wealth. We are told that, first, he was the keeper of the purse. John tells us that Judas was the "keeper of the money box" and that, in fact, he used to steal from it for his own designs. Controlling the money gave him power and access.

Paul writes, to Timothy:
"For the love of money is the root of all evils; it is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced their hearts with many pangs." 1 Timothy 6:10 RSV.

Money itself isn't evil. Like guns, it's simply a tool that people use for a certain purpose. In the case of money, we use it for exchange, money for products or money for services. Money itself, actually, is meaningless; it only has meaning when we agree it has meaning.

And we have given it meaning. In fact, we've given it meaning beyond what it should mean. Money has come to mean, to many Americans, power, success, comfort, security. We believe that with money our lives will be made easier, our suffering will be lessened, our future will be guaranteed. Jesus taught about this kind of thinking:

"The land of a rich man brought forth plentifully; and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?' And he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns, and build larger ones; and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; take your ease, eat, drink, be merry.' But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you; and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?' So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God." Luke 12:16b-21 RSV

What does it mean to be rich toward God? Jesus went on to teach more to His disciples:
And he said to his disciples, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. . . . And which of you by being anxious can add a cubit to his span of life? If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? . . . . And do not seek what you are to eat and what you are to drink, nor be of anxious mind. For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well. . . . 33 Sell your possessions, and give alms; provide yourselves with purses that do not grow old, with a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Luke 12:22-23, 25-26, 29-31, 33-34 RSV)

The Christian's mindset is a unique perspective because it is both only-today and only-forever. The unbeliever's mindset is concerned about the time in between: tomorrow. For the Christian there should be no tomorrow, only today and then ("then" being heaven). And because of that, we shouldn't be concerned or obsessed with what will happen tomorrow (or the next day or the next). The fact is, those days may not come. And we should let our obsessing and worrying and being anxious over things distract us from the importance of doing what God calls us to do right this very minute.

I think that Jesus wasn't enough for Judas because Judas was worried about all those tomorrows. What would he do when Jesus was gone? What would happen next week, next month, next year? When would Jesus step up to take power (so that Judas would also be in power)? What would happen when he (Judas) became too old to walk along Jesus' side? All worries that were useless and senseless and, in fact, nonsense because Father God had another plan.

The fact is, for all that we worry and obsess about things, God may simply have another plan for us and the things which absorb our thoughts and consideration may never exist in the real future. What we need, instead, to consider is whether or not Jesus is enough for us. We believer in our minds, as Christians, that Jesus is indeed our treasure. Do we believe that with our hearts? Enough to invest our choices, our behavior, our thoughts in it?

Copyright 2008 by Robin L. O'Hare. All Rights Reserved. Used by permission. Permission to reproduce will be given by author by contacting servinggodalone @ yahoo.com. All copies must be reproduced in their entirety and distributed without cost.