Judas Gives Place to the Devil
July 27th 2010 17:08
First, Judas in spite of all that Jesus gave to him (called him, authorized him, promoted him, empowered him); unknowingly criticized sacrificial intimate worship. In John 12, a woman came into the house with a box of ointment that was very expensive; costing about ten months worth of wages or 300 pence (one pence was equal to one day’s wages). The woman broke the box of ointment open and put some of the ointment in her hair. With her hair, she began to rub the ointment on the feet of Jesus and its fragrance filled the room – which is a picture of worship in the Old Testament.
The longer Judas watched what this woman was doing, the more irritated he became. He did not see worship taking place, all he saw was money being wasted. He said in John 12:5 “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” In other words, “why are we wasting this oil on Jesus when we could be using the money for the benevolence ministry?”
In the same setting, in the same intimacy, at the same time – we see a woman “giving it all” in worship and a man watching the same woman “waste it all”. What caused two people to see two different things in the same context? The cause is found in their "underlying motives". John 12:6 This Judas said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
The word translated “thief” is “kleptace”, from which we get the word kleptomaniac - “a person who steals habitually”. Judas was embezzling ministry funds and the more money that came in, the more that was available for him to take. Judas had an underlying area of darkness in his life – “greed and an eye for easy money”. Remember, Satan travels in our areas of darkness and all he needs is a little crack to slip though.
Second, Judas was upset over how the money was being used. First, he criticized “how the woman worshipped”, then “how the money was being used”. The first murder in the Bible took place over an offering (Cain killed his brother Abel over an offering). Today, many people in church argue over the finances (how they should be spent, where they should be spent, none should be spent, all of it should be spent).
When we have disagreements over money intended for Kingdom purposes, someone has an opinion of their own because God does not send us in different directions concerning His money. Many people give a lot of money to the work of the church, but then feel like they have the right and authority to control what happens in the church, how the money is spent or the decisions that the leadership makes. When the leadership does not make the decisions they desire, they make life hard for the leadership. Of course, such people never consider the fact they are pouting because “their gift” was ignored in the decision process. Judas didn’t care about the poor, but do you think it was to his advantage to say “don’t waste the money that I plan to embezzle” or to say “don’t waste the money when the benevolence committee needs it”?
Third, Judas was secretly conducting meetings with people who were opposed to the ministry of Christ. People with false motives or deceived minds can always find other people who will agree with them; and even unite with them in their opposition efforts. Judas found some “community-minded religious leaders” (Pharisees and Sadducees) to hang out with when Jesus was out of town. In doing so, “he gave place to the devil”. To be sure, these men were not considered the devils crowd. After all, they were respected religious leaders, teachers, and lawyers. Secret meetings with the opposition is not the way God does things. He never uses manipulation, intimidation and domination to accomplish His purposes. Those are areas of darkness that Satan is more than happy to travel in.
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