Food for Friday
And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor. Luke 6:16
A man known as the Monster of the Miramichi went on a killing rampage in the summer of 1989 after escaping from custody while he was serving a lengthy sentence for murder. In 1986, Allan Legere had killed New Brunswick store owner John Glendenning in Blackville, for which he was given a life sentence. During a visit to a Moncton hospital for an ear infection in May of 1989, Legere escaped, despite being secured with handcuffs, a body chain, and leg shackles. Legere was captured seven months later after one of the largest manhunts in Canadian history. During his time at liberty, he murdered three women and a Catholic priest, and created an atmosphere of terror that is still disturbing to many people in the Miramichi region. He was a deeply evil man, one of the worst criminals in New Brunswick’s history. But his name is a fairly common one in the province. A man with the same name operated a garage in Saint John at the time. During the time that the killer Allan Legere was committing his crimes, and for some time afterward, the mechanic Allan Legere did very little business. His name was enough to turn people away. And so it is when we consider the disciple named Judas, the one who was not the traitor.
The name Judas, even without the surname Iscariot, has become synonymous with treachery and betrayal. But the other Judas in Jesus’ company was nothing like Iscariot. We know very little about him, other than his relationship to James. Most Bible historians identify him as the Thaddeus who is listed as a disciple in Matthew and Mark. The silence of Scripture concerning him means he was as good a disciple as the others, and was not singled out for any problem. So we can see in this Judas a man who is typical of most faithful and valuable Christians, a man who like most faithful and valuable Christians is not affected by what those around him might misunderstand him about. And it is certainly true that the world around us will often take offense at us because of what they don’t understand.
Judas – the faithful one – was interested in the work of the Lord Jesus, deeply committed to His Lord, and was to become a leader of the Christians during the months and years that followed Pentecost. One of his primary goals in life would be to see that others were brought to repentance and faith in Christ. That should be a primary goal for us, too. But around us are those who are traitors to the Word of God, those who seek to peddle false doctrine and who make a mockery of the Gospel. Because they call themselves Christians, their evil deeds and bad reputations are applied by many of those around us toward all who call themselves Christians. What can we do about that?
The only thing we can do when misunderstood about our Christianity is to be like Judas, or Thaddeus, and remain faithful to our Lord in all things. – Jim MacIntosh