A Free Gift for You!

We continue our study in Matthew.  Today's reading comes from Matthew 26:17–30.  In these few verses we are reading about Jesus at the Passover meal with his disciples and He is telling them what is about to take place.  In this passage Jesus talks about being betrayed.

I do not think there is one person who wants to be that person that betrays Jesus, but there was one who did, namely, Judas.  Just like other sins it started with a thought.  Then that thought turned into an action when he went to the leaders and took the 30 pieces of silver, but even then he still had time to turn around and change his course of action.

The thing is Jesus died to save us from our sins.  Jesus died for Judas and Jesus died for you and for me.  We all sin and come short of His glory.  The Good News is we have a Savior who died to save us from the wages of sin, which the Bible tells us is death.  We all sin, but we all do not need to suffer the wages of sin – eternal death.  We can have eternal life instead by simply calling on Him and recognizing our great need for His salvation.

To receive the benefits of Jesus’ death (verse 26) we must ‘eat’ and ‘drink’ (verses 26–27) of Him.  What does this mean?  We partake of Christ by trusting in Him (see John 6:47).  Food and drink sustain our lives just as believing in Jesus sustains us.  In my own life I depend on Him, often times moment by moment.  When hard things happen I know I can rely on and trust Him to get me through, but it is not just in the hard times, but all times having that knowledge and awareness that without Christ I am nothing.

As Stephen Dray points out, Jesus appealed to Judas in a gentle way as He does us.  Jesus showed His love for Judas.  (Surely, that was the main purpose of verses 20–25.) But Judas still chose to be against Jesus.  Jesus has shown great love for you and I as well.  Will we respond in kind with love for Him by accepting His free gift and following Him or will we keep on our own path like Judas did?

Father in Heaven, I come to You, not on my own volition, but because of Who You are and what You have done for me.  I thank You that I am able to enter Your throne room and come to You because of Christ’s blood that covers me and makes me righteous in Your eyes.  I admit that without You I am nothing and I am in need of a Savior and LORD in my life.  As the old hymn says, I need You every hour!  Thank You for calling us in gentle ways and loving us so completely!  Thank you for giving us the free gift of Your Son, Yeshua HaMashiach, Jesus our Messiah.  Amen & Amen.