08. The Offer of Love

Wednesday 21st Feb 

(for more details see here)

 

Pause:

As we approach God today, we reflect on the invitation of His Word:

Try to realize what this means - the Lord is God!
He made us - we are His people, the sheep of His pasture.

Go through His open gates with great thanksgiving;
enter His courts with praise.
Give thanks to Him and bless His name.
For the Lord is always good.
He is always loving and kind,
and His faithfulness goes on and on
to each succeeding generation.

PSALM 100. 3-5 (THE LIVING BIBLE)

 

Today's reading: John 13. 21-30

William Barclay in his commentary on this passage offers us an incredible insight. We need to banish from our minds DaVinci's painting of the now famous long table and view this scene afresh:

"The Jews did not sit at table; they reclined.
The table was a low solid block, with couches round it.
It was shaped like a "U" and the place of the host was in the centre.
They reclined on their left side, resting on the left elbow, thus leaving the right hand free to deal with the food.
Sitting in such a way, a man's head was literally in the breast of the person reclining on his left.
Jesus would be sitting in the place of the host, at the centre of the single side of the low table.
The disciple whom Jesus loved must have been sitting on his right, for as he lent on his elbow at the table, his head was in Jesus' breast..."

WILLIAM BARCLAY (The Gospel of John)

That place of intimacy that John (the disciple whom Jesus loved) knew!
Close enough to hear Jesus' heartbeat...
Close enough to whisper a question to Jesus and hear His voice in reply...
Incredible.

But there is more to see here:

"But it is the place of Judas that is of special interest.
It is quite clear that Jesus could speak to him privately without the others overhearing.
If that be so, there is only one place Judas could have been occupying.
He must have been on Jesus' left, so that, just as John's head was in Jesus' breast, Jesus' head was in Judas'.

The revealing thing is that the place on the left of the host was the place of highest honour, kept for the most intimate friend.
When that meal began, Jesus must have said to Judas: "Judas, come and sit beside me tonight; I want specially to talk to you."
The very inviting of Judas to that seat was an appeal."

WILLIAM BARCLAY (The Gospel of John)

There are many things that are unclear about Judas... but one thing we see most clearly through his betrayal is the sheer determination of Jesus' love:

• The seat of highest honour: "Come sit at my left..."
• The invitation of friendship: "I want you to be close to me..."  

Jesus also knows that there are eleven fiercely loyal disciples in the room (and two swords). If He reveals the ugly betrayal of Judas' heart to the whole group, that man may never have left the room alive. But rather than appeal to their anger or violence, He appeals instead to Judas' heart:

One final thought from William Barclay:

"But there is more. For the host to offer the guest a special tit-bit, a special morsel from the dish, was again a sign of special friendship.
When Boaz wished to show how much he honoured Ruth, he invited her to come and dip her morsel in the wine (Ruth 2:14).
T. E. Lawrence told how when he sat with the Arabs in their tents, sometimes the Arab chief would tear a choice piece of fat mutton from the whole sheep before them and hand it to him (often a most embarrassing favour to a western palate, for it had to be eaten!)
When Jesus handed the morsel to Judas, again it was a mark of special affection...

There is tragedy here. Again and again Jesus appealed to that dark heart, and again and again Judas remained unmoved.
God save us from being completely impervious to the appeal of love."

WILLIAM BARCLAY (The Gospel of John)

 

Reflection: Betraying and Befriending

Lord, there are times when sin creeps up on me
And I have broken promises without thinking
Unprepared and unguarded I have slipped 
Slipped down from the place You have called me into
Slipped away from You and out into the night
Lord, have mercy

But Lord, You also know that it is not always the way
Yes, sometimes sin has chased me down
And exhausted, I have succumb to it's charms
But others times I have gone looking for it
And embraced it with open arms
I've made my plans
I've done my deals
No excuse no alibi
Just betrayal, pure and simple.
Betrayal, impure and complex.
Lord, have mercy

And even as I tell You this, I'm aware that You know
You know not just what have I done, but also how and why
You see it all
You know

You see the sin I've done, and You see the shame I feel
You see how many times I have needed to come back to You for grace
And how many times I will need to again in the future
You know

Lord, have mercy

You have always known
Before You went to the cross for me to suffer and die in my place
You knew
You saw my entire life -
all the sin I would commit before I met You and tasted Your forgiveness
and all the betrayal I would go on to commit
It was all there before You on the table
And You still chose to die
Even death on a cross
for me

And yet Lord, You are still reaching out to me
Even in my very worst moments, You are right there
Holding out to me bread dipped in the dish
Signs of Your friendship
Glimpses of the sheer determination of Your love
The place of highest honour: "Come sit at my side..."
The invitation of friendship: "I want you to be close to me..."  

I knew You were my Master
I'm so grateful You are my Saviour
But here and now I see most profoundly
What a friend I have in You.
 

Questions for today:

Have I become deaf, hard or cold to the friendship of Jesus?
 

Prayer:

In moments of intimacy
In moments of love
I choose to take the bread
Stay at Your side
And call You friend

And in moments of temptation
When the world offers thirty pieces of silver
I choose to take the bread
Stay at Your side
And call You friend

And every moment in between
Between the highs and the lows
The battles won and the bruises felt
The ground claimed and the ground lost
The sweetest of victory and the bitterness of defeat
May I never lose the taste of Your grace
The hunger for Your presence
The warmth of Your embrace
Whatever the world has to offer
I choose to take the bread
Stay at Your side
And call You my friend

 I prayed this.

My prayer for today: (if you would like to, please feel free to add your own prayer here):

 

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