by Dennis Gladden, By Green Pastures, ©2025
(Apr. 7, 2025) — Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them. And when they heard it, they were glad. (Mark 14:10-11).
Mark and Luke both record the reaction of Israel’s leaders to Judas’s offer to betray Jesus.
They were glad. The Greek says they were “full of cheer.”
You can be sure some people would be glad if you turned on Jesus, if you dropped this Christianity thing and were “normal,” or at least did not take it so seriously.
Peter tells us that we “spent enough time in the past … living in sensuality, sinful desires, drunkenness, wild celebrations, drinking parties, and detestable idolatry.”
And now friends, family, and acquaintances who enjoyed that revelry “insult you because they are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of wild living” (1 Peter 4:3-4, ISV).
They were not happy to see you turn to Jesus. They would be delighted to see you walk away.
A life-defining moment comes to each.
Will you follow Jesus?
Another comes to Christians:
Will you stay with Him?
Read the rest here.