Luke 18:31-34

After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”

Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial

When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.

REFLECTION (Pastor Chad johnson)

In the middle of Holy Week, this passage allows us to reflect on the Lenten journey up to this point by presenting some very direct questions that continue to challenge us. Lent is largely about doing a spiritual assessment of our lives. How close am I really to Jesus? Am I really living like Jesus has asked me to live? Am I really trusting Jesus with everything I am and everything I have?

As you read the passage, Jesus clearly is speaking about his death and the events that will proceed from his crucifixion. We typically want to rush past the difficult, awkward, convicting moments of Holy Week and jump right to the celebration of Easter. But this passage demands that we sit and listen to Jesus and find ourselves in the story. Jesus has washed the disciples’ feet, participated in dinner, and Judas has left the twelve. This starts a chain of events that lead to Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion. 

Throughout the Gospels, the disciples have asked how they get to sit at Jesus’ right hand and how they can be great in God’s kingdom. They wanted to be with Jesus, but they often misunderstood what they were asking. He tells the disciples that they will not be able to go with him, speaking not of a geographical place but leaving the disciples to a divine place. They cannot join…yet. In other words, they don’t know what they are asking.

In the meantime, they can do something now. Jesus offers a new command to love one another. Jesus is about to show all humanity what kind of love he is talking about. That love for one another is costly, it requires sacrifice, and surrender of oneself for the sake of others. Mutual love is the cornerstone of Christian life. It is embedded in the DNA of the people of God. This is how the world will know that the disciples are followers of Jesus.

Peter picks up on Jesus’ allusion to the cross and declares that he can go where Jesus is going. Peter says he will lay down his life for Jesus. That he can love like Jesus loves. He is ready to do what is required of him! Jesus asks, “Would you really?” Without giving Peter a chance to answer, Jesus states that Peter will deny him three times before morning! How can Peter love like Jesus loves if he cannot even stay loyal to Jesus? How can Peter love others when he’s going to deny Jesus? How can he say he is ready to follow Jesus when he will deny any relationship with Jesus?

A lot of times we think we can love like Jesus, to fulfill his command to love one another, to go where Jesus is going. As Jesus asks Peter that haunting question, so too it comes to us today, “Do you really?” Are we really ready to follow Jesus to the cross? Are we really ready to surrender our lives for Jesus?

Lent demands that we be honest with ourselves. That we are authentic in our assessment of our spiritual lives as they are, not as we hope them it to be. Do we acknowledge Jesus with our lips and go on living our lives? We can easily say we’ll follow Jesus and love like Jesus loves, but will we really?

PAST DEVOTIONALS

  • Luke 18:31-34

    Jesus took the Twelve aside and told them, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and everything that is written by the prophets about the Son of Man will be fulfilled. He will be delivered over to the Gentiles. They will mock him, insult him and spit on him; they will flog him and kill him. On the third day he will rise again.”

    The disciples did not understand any of this. Its meaning was hidden from them, and they did not know what he was talking about.

    REFLECTION (Pastor Stephanie johnson)

    Have you ever had someone try and tell you something that didn’t make sense? Or maybe you heard what they said, but then you immediately questioned whether you heard it accurately? Maybe you quickly asked those around you what was just said to confirm what you heard in hopes that you would understand it a bit better. I wonder if this is what is going on with the disciples here. This is the third time that Jesus has predicted his death and each time the disciples do not understand what Jesus is talking about.

    Remember, the disciples have spent time with Jesus. They have witnessed Jesus perform miracles. They have seen the power of Jesus. They have left everything to follow Jesus, yet now He is telling them that the Gentiles will mock him, insult him, and eventually kill him. How could this be? It didn’t make sense. It seemed contrary to everything they knew about Jesus. The disciples struggled to reconcile the words they were hearing to the man they knew Jesus to be. Surely Jesus would have more power than to allow the Gentiles to overtake Him. They did not understand that Jesus was doing this for them.

    Whether the disciples couldn’t believe these things would happen to Jesus or whether they couldn’t understand how this would fulfill Scripture, we see that they were blind to understanding Jesus’s prediction. Yet while the disciples could not comprehend what Jesus was saying, Jesus was actively walking towards His death. He did this alone, with His closest followers not understanding what was to come.

    I can’t imagine what Jesus was experiencing. Remember, Jesus was human. Jesus felt pain, suffering, and betrayal like we do. He walked this road alone. As we near Palm Sunday and the start of Holy Week, we may feel like the disciples at times. We may not always understand the things that Jesus is showing us. We may question, turn to others to see if we are understanding things accurately. But no matter where we find ourselves these last two weeks of our Lenten journey, do not forget the prediction that Jesus was making to His disciples and the voluntary actions He continued to take during these final days of His life on our behalf. Even when we don’t fully understand the things of God, God is always actively pursuing us with His love.

    I am thankful for God’s patience with us when we don’t always get it. As we prepare for Easter and approach Holy Week, let’s lean into God to see what God wants to share with us. May we listen to understand the gravity of God’s love and calling on our lives.

  • Luke 9:10-17

    When the apostles returned, they told Jesus everything they had done. Then he slipped quietly away with them toward the town of Bethsaida. But the crowds found out where he was going, and they followed him. He welcomed them and taught them about the Kingdom of God, and he healed those who were sick.Late in the afternoon the twelve disciples came to him and said, “Send the crowds away to the nearby villages and farms, so they can find food and lodging for the night. There is nothing to eat here in this remote place.” But Jesus said, “You feed them.” “But we have only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered. “Or are you expecting us to go and buy enough food for this whole crowd?” For there were about 5,000 men there. Jesus replied, “Tell them to sit down in groups of about fifty each.” So the people all sat down. Jesus took the five loaves and two fish, looked up toward heaven, and blessed them. Then, breaking the loaves into pieces, he kept giving the bread and fish to the disciples so they could distribute it to the people. They all ate as much as they wanted, and afterward, the disciples picked up twelve baskets of leftovers!

    REFLECTION (Pastor Emma Swank)

    What keeps a human alive? Scientifically, our basic needs aren’t entirely complex. We need food, clean water, oxygen, sleep, and shelter. And yet, as simple as these needs sound, our dependence on them is almost constant. As a human myself, I begin to notice if I haven’t had food in a few hours. It’s estimated that if a healthy human has water, they can survive without food for a month or even two, but you and I both know that survival and living aren’t the same thing. It’s no secret that if we haven’t had a meal in several hours, most of us quickly become “hangry”!

    Here, we find a large crowd without food, water, or shelter.  The disciples recognize that when thousands of hungry people stand before you, you may have a problem. They bring this to Jesus’ attention, but his response isn’t what they expect. He doesn’t fix the problem; he doesn’t even offer the disciples potential solutions. His response? “You feed them.”

    On one level, Jesus recognizes that there’s a physiological need that must be met. The crowd hasn’t had food for a significant amount of time, and he knows this needs to be fixed. However, he also sees this as a spiritual formation opportunity. Jesus, who is capable of miracles, could easily cause the crowd to discover ham sandwiches in their back pockets… but he doesn’t. He commands the disciples to act. The disciples were to instruct the people on how to sit; the disciples were to distribute the bread and fish to everyone; and after they had eaten their fill, the disciples were to collect the leftovers. Right after this scene, the disciples come to the realization that Jesus is the Messiah, and I’m compelled to believe they understood his identity because they had served alongside him in ministry.

    What keeps a human alive? Food certainly plays a large role in this. But what gives a human life? Could it be the community carrying out the instructions of Jesus to care for one another? Although Jesus could certainly have carried out this ministry by himself, he invited the disciples into a role of service, and because of that, they became aware of who he was. The same opportunity is set before us. Who needs to be fed during this Lenten season? Will you feed them?

    I invite you to quiet your spirit, take a deep breath, and listen to what the Spirit might be telling you. Reread this week’s Scripture and see if you resonate with any specific characters or groups of people in this scene. Then, finish by reading this prayer:

    Almighty God, the Creator of my belly that rumbles, my heart that yearns, and my hands that work, I recognize that you care about my physical needs and my spiritual needs-- my body and soul. You are the one who ministers to me in the remote place, the one who feeds me abundantly when all I can see is desolation. You are also the one who invites me to participate in the restoration of the world around me when your activity surpasses my imagination. Help me to see those around me who need you and to hear the rumbling stomachs and souls of your people. Oh, Lord, make me an instrument of sustenance.

  • Luke 13:18-21:

    Then Jesus asked, “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it to? It is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his garden. It grew and became a tree, and the birds perched in its branches.” Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds of flour until it worked all through the dough.”

    REFLECTION (Pastor Nathan Lahr)

    Metaphors are an art form. They can help explain so much just by painting a picture in our heads. In this passage, Jesus uses two different metaphors to help explain what the Kingdom of God is like. To understand the metaphor though, we must paint the picture. A mustard seed is an incredibly small seed which quickly grows into a full shrub. The mustard plant can easily take over a well-organized garden in a short amount of time with how rapidly it spreads. Similarly, Jesus also compares the Kingdom of God to a tiny amount of yeast in sixty pounds of flour. Yeast, while small and seemingly insignificant, in no time at all can spread through every pound of flour.

    Jesus’ metaphors speak to the reality of the Kingdom of God in a way that is often hard to swallow. The Kingdom of God begins, and exists for quite some time, as a small, humble, and seemingly insignificant kingdom. Instead of being a grand walnut or a large oak tree, the kingdom is a meek mustard seed. Yes, the kingdom spreads quickly and is resilient. Yet, we are often left wondering, “how can anything grand come of this?” There are other living things that spread quickly, why describe the kingdom as something so small?

    That’s just the thing about the Kingdom of God, it simultaneously subverts all expectations, brings all glory to God, and culminates in more greatness than ever thought possible. The way up is down. The one we follow was beaten, stripped, humiliated, and broken. The one we follow was killed in the worst possible way for a crime he did not commit. And he wants you to pick up your cross with humility and follow in his footsteps. He wants you to be more like him. Will you embrace the smallness of the mustard seed and the humility of the Kingdom of God this Lenten season?

  • Luke 12:22-31:

    Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

    “Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

    REFLECTION (Pastor Kelly Bogart)

    Worry. How many times do we use that word in casual conversation? We worry about our kids, we worry about money, we worry about what to make for dinner, we worry about which outfit to wear, we worry about our job, we worry about our image, we worry about our reputation, we worry about… so many things. Our world is brimming with things that pull at our hearts and minds to worry about. Just turn on your local news station, scroll through social media, or listen to multiple advertisements manipulating us into the great fear of missing out. The world thrives and capitalizes on worry.

    Worry turns the preoccupation of our hearts and minds towards itself, and if we are not careful, it will completely consume us. Reflect on this. Worry is an all-consuming, self-centered act. Has worry taken over the life God wants you to live? What distracts your heart? What thoughts cause your mind to spin? If you are unsure, look at how you spend time or money. These things will often reveal to us what is consuming us.  Think of it this way… it's as if we are wearing glasses with a bad prescription. We look at our lives and the world through the lens of not having enough or a fear that we will run out. But Jesus wants to give us new lenses. The adjustment is simple: the new lens changes our focus.

    In Luke 12:22-31 Jesus calls us to reconsider who we are, who God is, and what we do with that knowledge. When we peer through the lens that we are dearly loved children of God and that God is our provider and can always be trusted, we turn ourselves from a self-centered, worry-filled focus to God-focused. God desires that our hearts and minds will be captivated with His kingdom, not the empty things the world has to offer. Seek Him wholeheartedly, for He is truly the only One worthy of our dependence and trust. May we be people who do not misplace our trust in the things of the world but trust and obey the God who loves us more than we can imagine.

  • Luke 21:34-22:6:

    “Take care that your hearts aren’t dulled by drinking parties, drunkenness, and the anxieties of day-to-day life. Don’t let that day fall upon you unexpectedly, like a trap. It will come upon everyone who lives on the face of the whole earth. Stay alert at all times, praying that you are strong enough to escape everything that is about to happen and to stand before the Human One.”

    Every day Jesus was teaching in the temple, but he spent each night on the Mount of Olives. All the people rose early in the morning to hear him in the temple area.

    PLOT TO KILL JESUS

    The Festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the legal experts were looking for a way to kill Jesus, because they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve. He went out and discussed with the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard how he could hand Jesus over to them. They were delighted and arranged payment for him. He agreed and began looking for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them—a time when the crowds would be absent.

    REFLECTION (Pastor Tyler Abraham)

    Distraction. It’s one of those universal experiences that we all have. Whether we are stuck gawking at the endless options on our streaming services or we’re doomscrolling through our social media feeds, we all know what it feels like to be distracted. We walk through this life and there are countless voices shouting at us for our attention. Buy this thing. Dress this way. Believe this. Don’t align yourself with that. The list goes on and on.

    This scripture today is a simple but powerful reminder for us as the people of God. Be ready. Be prepared. Be aware that this world is competing for your attention, your allegiance, your life, and divert your focus on to what truly matters. The Kingdom of God. The presence of the Holy Spirit, moving and active in the world around us.

    When Luke tells us to “be ready”, we are invited to take stock of our life and the world around us. What is pulling our attention away from God? Where am I listening to outside voices that are drowning out the voice of the Holy Spirit? What priorities are out of order in my life? How can I embrace fasting and discipline in this Lenten season and lean into the richness of spiritual growth?

    The second half of this passage is a direct example of why it is important to focus our attention on Christ in our life. It might be easy to read about how “Satan entered into Judas” and to simply give him a pass as if it was not truly him acting on his greed in betraying Jesus. But the reality is that the enemy was able to distract Judas heart long enough for him to choose. For Judas to make a conscious choice to go from Christ’s companion and helper, his friend, and to give him over to the officials.

    Where in our lives are we like Judas? Have we gotten so entangled in the distractions of money, power, political affiliation, and so many other things that we have lost sight of the one right in front of us?

    Take a few moments today to quiet your spirit. Find some silent space and pour out all the ways that you are being distracted by this life and all it’s worries. Then invite the Lord to just speak to you. Sit in the silence and just listen for what the Holy Spirit might say to you. End by praying the prayer from Martin Luther below:

    Behold, Lord, an empty vessel that needs to be filled. My Lord, fill it. I am weak in the faith; strengthen me. I am cold in love; warm me and make me fervent, that my love may go out to my neighbor. I do not have a strong and firm faith; at times I doubt and am unable to trust you altogether. O Lord, help me. Strengthen my faith and trust in you. In you I have sealed the treasure of all I have. I am poor; you are rich and came to be merciful to the poor. I am a sinner; you are upright. With me, there is an abundance of sin; in you is the fullness of righteousness. Therefore I will remain with you, of whom I can receive, but to whom I may not give. Amen.