利益薰心的猶大(二)談欲望

‧猶大的動機很複雜, 因為他本身是一個複雜的角色。他貪婪,從公款偷錢來滿足自己;他欺騙,在克西馬尼園裡設圈套陷害耶穌;他嫉妒;他有野心,他希望耶穌建立政治王國,自己當財政部長;他恐懼,看自己計畫搖搖欲墜,背叛就成了他最後的救命稻草。

‧這幾點本身都不算什麼：比如野心，比如嫉妒。這些都還算是小事。但是，就是這些很小的縫隙，就可以讓那惡者進來，利用我們造成沖突，分裂和毀滅。

‧猶大向我們展現了一個把欲望當作偶像敬拜的人是什麼樣的。我們很容易把欲望理想化，總想要以我們的方式，實現我們想法。他給上帝定了一個計劃表，並不惜一切代價的去實現他的計劃。

‧在猶大眼裡耶穌是一項事業,是一個理想。人對耶穌氣憤, 是因為耶穌不認同他們所認為的真理. 那麼當耶穌的教導讓你感到不安的時候，你不應該放棄他，而是要放棄自己錯誤的想法。

‧女人膏抹耶穌的見証讓我們看到，我們要把耶穌當作一個人來榮耀，而不是把他當作一項事業。與猶大成為鮮明的對比,馬利亞的慷慨、公開的敬拜主、謙卑和無比的委身是值得我們學習的。

‧個人財富，政治權利還有名聲，是猶大的追求。如果我們離開基督，也去追求那些東西，那我們的心裡永遠都不會有平安。在這段經文裡，我發現猶大一個完全不一樣的秘密。這個秘密對於我來說，不是為什麼他那樣對待耶穌。這個秘密對我來說，是他為什麼從來都沒有讓耶穌進入他的生命，他拒絕了耶穌的邀請。

Judas: Blinded by Desire

People have often been intrigued by the complexity of Judas' motives. If you study Judas, you'll come up with at least five or six reasons why he was such a complex character. Such as Covetousness; Deceit; Jealousy; Ambition and fear.

Some of those things can look petty. It only takes a crack to allow the evil one to come in and begin to use us to bring conflict, division, and destruction.

Judas portrays the idolatry of our desires. It is easy to idealize our desires and want our way.

Judas saw Jesus as a cause instead of as the Christ. He saw Christ as a cause instead of as a person. If you want to really learn from Christ and he tells you something unsettling, you won't throw him out. You'll throw your wrong thoughts out.

Jesus invited him to be his follower. Jesus took him as one of the twelve. He prayed over him. He taught him in secret when no other ears could hear, just those twelve. He entrusted him with their finances. He washed his feet. He even gave him the privileged piece of bread at the Last Supper.

Jesus did everything to say to this man, "Open your heart." And the mystery to me is that he said no.