Read John 13:18-21. Circle the words that stand out to you. What is the Lord saying to you?
18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned[a] against me.’[b]
19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
21 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.”
Reflection on the Word.
Do you know of anyone who has “dropped” out of church lately? Do you know of anyone who hasn’t been coming consistently as they were in the past? Are you thinking about “dropping” out of church as well?
Each of us have our reasons for staying with our church or leaving our church. The reasons may vary from being too busy, being irrelevant, too boring, not spiritual enough, or I just have better things to do. We all have our reasons to attend or not attend our church service or fellowship group.
Jesus says in verse 21, “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.” Jesus was troubled in His spirit that Judas was going to betray Him. Have you ever wondered if Jesus is troubled in His spirit when He sees one of His followers drifting away from Him, perhaps even betray Him?
There are times when no one really notices or even cares if someone is missing from our fellowship group or from a church service. It’s easy to rationalize and have an attitude of “Oh, well. It’s their choice.” Jesus states that His spirit is troubled by Judas’ betrayal. Are we troubled if someone in our church or fellowship stops coming? Does anyone raise the alarm or express concern for that missing brother or sister?
Is “missing in action” be a form of betrayal to Jesus? Is giving our allegiance to someone else or something else other than Jesus a form of betrayal? If Jesus is troubled in His spirit over someone who is walking away from Him, shouldn’t we be troubled in our spirits if one of our brothers and sisters are missing from our midst? Let’s not be passive and say, “Oh, well. She or he isn’t coming anymore.” That’s being callous and unloving.
Are you and I troubled in our spirits when we don’t see someone at our fellowship for a week or two? Jesus is troubled by those who are drifting away from Him and we as His followers should be troubled too! Let’s not just state the obvious, but ask ourselves, “Lord, what do you want us to do about it?” Let’s reach out to an absent brother or sister, lest they continue to drift in betraying Jesus.
-Kingston