Matthew Chapter 26

"17 Now on the first day of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, “Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?” 18 And He said, “Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, ‘The Teacher says, “My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples.”’ 20 When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. 21 Now as they were eating, He said, “Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.” 24 The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, “Rabbi, is it I?” He said to him, “You have said it."

Two observations here. First from vs. 18 where Jesus told them just find a certain man and tell him we'll have Passover in his house. If there were someone that did that to us now, we would've thought the person crazy. We would've probably thought, "Who are you, and why should I be obligated to open my house to a bunch of strangers?" This is the same situation when Jesus requested for the donkey to ride into Jerusalem. But somehow, it was never recorded what the reaction of these people are. But both incidences were done sucessfully, Jesus rode into Jerusalem on somebody else's donkey, Jesus held Passover at somebody else's house. Which then perhaps means that the donkey and the house are not really somebody else's, but belongs to Jesus. If there was a king who rules over a nation, everything in that nation somewhat belongs to him, he can take possession of it as he wished. With the same likeness, everything on earth belongs to God, and we are just given portions to take care of. When God needs it, he will come and get it. But unlike a worldly king who will take away for his own gain (e.g. Ahaz wanting Naboth's vineyard 1 King 21), God will take away for his purpose and glory to benefit us in His plan of Salvation.

Second observation I have always wondered about. That is Judas' inability to jump out even though he knew he was the one to betray Jesus. He was already found out before his deed that he was the guilty one. He had the chance to get out before being condemned. I think for most people, if they were planning to do something bad to someone, but that someone found out before the bad things happened, the planner would probably not carry out his plans and look like a guilty fool. But yet, here Judas did just that. It makes no sense, I can only attribute that to being possessed by Satan and unable to withdraw himself from the hole he already started digging for himself early on. He had already left a foothold for Satan to enter (Ephesians 4:27). From there, Satan helped him dig a deeper hole where he is unable to jump out. It is quite scary if you think about it. Knowing it's bad, being found guilty prior to the deed, but yet unable to correct it. Hopefully we will never come to this point in our lives where not even God can save us. Even Jesus said, "It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Let us not start a trap for ourselves and invite Satan to dig a deep hole for us, to the point where God would give up on us. May the Lord help us.