The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 103: Judas' Secrecy (2023)

Episode Date: April 13, 2023

Fr. Mike points out the secrecy in Judas' life, and highlights Jesus' words of conviction to the disciples before his death on the cross. He also explains how important it is to bring Jesus into our temptation, and to not hide our hearts from him like Judas did. Today's readings are John 13-15 and Proverbs 6:6-11. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 103. We have three more days, including today, of the Gospel of St. John. So we're reading from John chapter 13, 14, and 15. The context

today is the Last Supper. So Jesus is going to be saying a lot of words. He's giving a lot of teachings here at the Last Supper in John 13 and 14 and 15. We're also reading from Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 11. As always, the Bible translation that I am reading from is the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You also can subscribe to this podcast, and that way you get to receive daily episodes every day, because that's what daily means. That means you get them every day.

Once again, we're reading from the Gospel of John, chapter 13, 14, and 15, Proverbs chapter 6, verses 6 through 11. The Gospel of John, chapter 13. Jesus washes the disciples' feet. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. And during supper, when the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going to God,

rose from supper, laid aside his garments, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, and Peter said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him, What I am doing you do not know now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him, You shall never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no part in me. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him, he who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but he is clean all over. And you are clean,

but not all of you. For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said, you are not all clean. When he had washed their feet and taken his garments and resumed his place, he said to them, Do you know what I have done to you? You call me teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Truly, truly I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of you all. I know whom I have chosen.

It is that the scriptures may be fulfilled, He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me. I tell you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly I say to you, he who receives anyone whom I send receives me, and he who receives me receives him who sent me. Jesus foretells his betrayal. When Jesus had thus spoken, he was troubled in spirit and testified,

Truly, truly I say to you, one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was lying close to the breast of Jesus. So Simon Peter beckoned to him and said, Tell us who it is of whom he speaks. So lying thus close to the breast of Jesus, he said to him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, It is he to whom I shall give this morsel when I have dipped it. So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, What you are going to do, do quickly.

Now no one at the table knew why he had said this to him. Some thought that because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for for the feast or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel, he immediately went out and it was night. The New Commandment When he had gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you, where I am going, you cannot come. A new commandment I give to you,

that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Jesus foretells Peter's denial. Simon Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, where are you going? Jesus answered him, Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you shall follow afterward. Peter said to him, Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.

Jesus answered, Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly I say to you, the cock will not crow till you have denied me three times. Chapter 14 Jesus, the way, the cock will not crow till you have denied me three times. Chapter 14. Jesus, the way, the truth, and the life. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God. Believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And when I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself,

that where I am, you also may be. And you know the way where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the father, but by me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. Henceforth, you know him and have

seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and we shall be satisfied. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long? and yet you do not know me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, Show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. Truly, truly I say to you, he who believes in me will also do the works that I do,

and greater works than these will he do, because I go to the Father. Whatever you ask in my name, I will do it, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask anything in my name, I will do it. The promise of the Holy Spirit. If you love me, you will keep my commandments, and I will ask the Father, and he will give you another consoler to be with you forever, even the spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you desolate.

I will come to you. Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me because I, but you will see me, because I live, you will live also. In that day you will know that I am in the Father, and you in me, and I in you. He who has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me, and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him. Judas, not the Iscariot, said to him, Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us and not to the world?

Jesus answered him, If a man loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me does not keep my words. And the word which you hear is not mine, but the Father's who sent me. These things I have spoken to you, while I am still with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.

Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you, not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. You heard me say to you, I go away and I will come to you. If you loved me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place, you may believe. I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here. Chapter 15. Jesus, the true vine.

I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine. You are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit. For apart from me, you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers,

and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples. As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be full.

This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing, but I have called you friends. For all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you,

that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you. This I command you, to love one another. The World's hatred. If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore, the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, a servant is not greater than his master. If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will keep yours also.

But all this they will do to you on my account because they do not know him who sent me. If I had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin. But now they have no excuse for their sin. He who hates me hates my father also. If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin. But now they have seen and hated both me and my father. It is to fulfill the word that is written in their law. They hated me without a cause. But when the counselor comes, whom I shall send to you from the Father,

even the Spirit of truth who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness to me. And you also are witnesses, because you have been with me from the beginning. The book of Proverbs chapter 6 verses 6 through 11. Go to the aunt, O sluggard. Consider her ways and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her food in summer and gathers her sustenance and harvest. How long will you lie there, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a vagabond, and want like an armed man.

Father in heaven, we give you praise. Father, we thank you. You are our good dad. And because Jesus Christ has sent the counselor, has sent the redeemer, he is the redeemer. He has sent the consoler. He has spent the spirit of truth into our hearts. We can call you dad because you look at us and you call us your sons and your daughters. And so this day, this day, we praise you and we give you thanks. This day we also come to you with our need because we know that you are a good dad and you see us in the

midst of our needs and you come to us with your help. Father in heaven, help us to never have mercenary hearts that just come to you when we need, But help us to have hearts like yours, hearts like your son, hearts like Jesus, where we love you in the midst of all seasons and all circumstances, where there's nothing that can stop us from doing your will and nothing that can stop us from abiding in the presence and in the heart

and the grace of your son, Jesus. Help us to abide in you this day and every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So in John chapter 13 and 14 and 15, we have not only the washing of the disciples' feet, right? So that's incredible teaching of Jesus where he's revealing that no servant is greater than his master and that as I have done, so you also must do. And that's an incredible reminder of the reality that Jesus said, I did not come to be served,

but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many. But he also foretells his betrayal. And one of the things that I think is remarkable, and we might repeat this as we get back to this Messianic checkpoint multiple times, is that when Jesus announces his betrayal, he says, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And then the next line in chapter 13, verse 22, it says, the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. Now, I think about this. There are 12 men here, 13, including Jesus, but 12 men here, and they have been camping. They've been living together day and night, honestly, for the last two and a half, three years, but they know each other really well. They would have to know each other very well at this point. And yet when Jesus prophesies that

one of them will betray him, none of them have any idea who it is. They're at a loss in other gospels that says at a loss as to whom Jesus meant. And you think about, here's what Judas must've been living like. Judas must've been living such a private life, even in the midst of these brothers of his, even in the midst of these other apostles that day and night, again, once again, he was even given the responsibility of the money box, right? He was given the responsibility of distributing money to the poor and buying stuff that was needed. He was given a place of responsibility that everyone would have known, oh, this is Judas. Of course we know Judas. And yet he had this secret life. He had this secret in his heart. And I just wonder if Judas had not confided in someone, if Judas hadn't realized, you know, for whatever reason, we don't

know the reason why he betrayed Jesus. We don't, I mean, people have speculated on this, but we don't know why. If he had just turned to someone't, I mean, people have speculated on this, but we don't know why. If he had just turned to someone, turned to one of the brothers and said, you guys, here's what I'm wrestling with. Or even this, maybe better, turned to Jesus and said, Jesus, here's what I'm thinking about doing.

Is this wrong? Is this right? Obviously it was wrong to hand Jesus over. But just think about number of times people just try to go on their own. We try to live on our own. We try to live this life of the Christian on our own. And yet, whenever we try to do that and hide the depth of our heart because we're protecting ourselves, we think we're protecting others, it almost always ends in disaster. You have Peter's denial foretold as well. And Peter is so sure of himself. Peter says,

Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you. And Peter gets revealed to him by Jesus. Actually, Peter, you're weaker than you think. Peter, you need more help than you realize. I'll tell you before the cock crows, you have denied me three times And yet we also have these words of promise like that's words of conviction, right? Oh my gosh, one of you will betray me peter Even though you say you'll lay down your life for me. Do you have denied me three times? But then here is jesus who talks about no i'm going to prepare a place for you Or i'm going you know the way and there's powerful lines. I'm the way and the truth and the life. I will come back to you and take you to myself. And it's so powerful and so good and so incredible. And also we have this promise, the last couple of things, we have the promise of

the Holy Spirit. In fact, I love this because in John's gospel, Jesus says, I will give you another consoler, another consoler. What does that mean? That means that he is the first consoler. And I love, someone had once pointed this out to me, that if the Holy Spirit is the other consoler, another consoler, that means Jesus is the first consoler. And this is the, are the arms of the Father reaching out to embrace us. That one arm being the Son and one arm being the Holy Spirit, the arms of the Father, our dad in heaven who reaches out to embrace us. And yet we have the choice whether we want to live in that embrace or not. And that's why Jesus' words of power, Jesus' words of abide in me as I abide in you. He says, without me, you can do nothing, which is just so convicting. Oh my

goodness. Gosh, without me, he says, you can do nothing. He doesn't say you can do less, although that's how I interpret it in my head too often. In my head, I have Jesus saying, without me, you won't be able to do as much as you can do with me. But he says, without me, you can do nothing. But in me, all things, all things. I don't know what you're struggling with today, what kind of battles you're facing right now, what kind of challenges you're in the middle of right now, what kind of fears and anxieties are dominating your heart or at least threatening to dominate your heart. But right now, what we're called to do is we're called to find ourselves abiding in the heart of our Lord. So I'm praying

for you that you do that. And please pray that I can do that, that no matter what the circumstance, no matter what the situation, whether it's been revealed that I'm a Judas or been prophesied that I'll be a Peter, we pray for each other that we always will abide in Christ's heart and abide in his presence. Because the truth of the matter is, at one point and many points maybe in our lives, we are that Judas who betrays the love of Jesus. And we are that Peter who denies that we've ever been close, that we know this God who has given his everything for us. So help us, God in heaven. Let's pray for each other, you guys, that when we do find ourselves as the betrayer, as the denier, as the one who has walked away or run away, that we allow the grace of Jesus to bring us back. Keep praying for each other. Please pray

for me. I'm praying for you. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless. you