Possessed

Have you ever been so angry that you intentionally did something you knew was wrong?

Now the festival of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was near. The chief priests and the scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve; he went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers of the temple police about how he might betray him to them. They were greatly pleased and agreed to give him money. So he consented and began to look for an opportunity to betray him to them when no crowd was present. Then came the day of Unleavened Bread, on which the Passover lamb had to be sacrificed. So Jesus sent Peter and John, saying, "Go and prepare the Passover meal for us that we may eat it." They asked him, "Where do you want us to make preparations for it?" "Listen," he said to them, "when you have entered the city, a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him into the house he enters and say to the owner of the house, 'The teacher asks you, "Where is the guest room, where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?"' He will show you a large room upstairs, already furnished. Make preparations for us there." So they went and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. - Luke 22:1-13

Luke tells us that it was Satan who caused Judas to decide to turn Jesus in to the chief priests and scribes, knowing they would put him to death.

But they didn't have the authority to do that, did they?

We will discover that they had to go to Pilate and then Herod to have the Romans kill him, and I wonder if Judas believed that would happen.

Perhaps he was angry with the way things were going and he wanted something to change.  Who knows what they said to Judas to convince him to hand Jesus over.

They could have offered to protect him.

Whatever the reason, Judas came to the decision that he had to do this.

Was he possessed?  I don't know.  That seems to be too easy an answer.  After all, he would feel guilty later, when Jesus was crucified.  If he had been possessed by Satan, he would not assume blame for his actions.

So, we have this story of Judas being lured away by Satan, and it makes us think we could become possessed, and it leaves us wondering if we are truly responsible for our own actions.

But we hold Judas accountable for his actions, don't we, even though we blame Satan for luring him into them.

In the end, we are responsible for what we do, even if we lose control, give ourselves over to our anger and madness.

So, whether Judas was led astray by his own thoughts, or by outside influences, he owns what he did, and so do we when we choose to do wrong.

More to come...