“Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, which is called the Passover, was approaching. The chief priests and the experts in the law were trying to find some way to execute Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. Then Satan entered Judas, the one called Iscariot, who was one of the twelve. He went away and discussed with the chief priests and officers of the temple guard how he might betray Jesus, handing him over to them. They were delighted and arranged to give him money. So Judas agreed and began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus when no crowd was present.” —Luke 22:1–6
Even though the chief priests and teachers of the law were looking for a way to kill Jesus, they were paralyzed by their fear of the people. The word translated “afraid” in verse two actually means “to put in fear, terrify and frighten; to cause to run away fearful and afraid” (Hebrew Greek Key Word Study Bible—New Testament Lexical Aids).
Sounds to me like these guys were afraid of the wrong thing—better to fear God than man! We find this truth expressed so well in Acts:
“And they called them in and ordered them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. But Peter and John replied, ‘Whether it is right before God to obey you rather than God, you decide, for it is impossible for us not to speak about what we have seen and heard.’” —Acts 4:18–20
Peter also said in the next chapter of Acts:
“We must obey God rather than people!” —Acts 5:29
Proverbs tells us that we are not to be fearful of man:
“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding.” —Proverbs 9:10
“The fear of people becomes a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD will be set on high.” —Proverbs 29:25
God places His people in a position of testimony—giving us an opportunity to proclaim how He has been kind to us, the deeds He has done, and the compassion that He has shown us. We are not to be intimidated by those around us—the glory of the Lord is worth more than the approval of people! To tremble or be fearful of human approval will inevitably be a noose around our necks luring, ensnaring, and entangling us into sin. In pleasing people over God, we are asking for sure trouble. We are to be faithfully following the way of Jesus, boldly teaching His truth in love through our actions and through our words.
In our verses for today, we find Judas, one of the twelve, sadly selling his soul for mere silver. And yet, Jesus, knowing exactly who would betray Him, treated Judas no differently than his other disciples—even to the point that all of them questioned who Jesus was referring to when He told them one would betray Him:
“When he had said these things, Jesus was greatly distressed in spirit, and testified, ‘I tell you the solemn truth, one of you will betray me.’ The disciples began to look at one another, worried and perplexed to know which of them he was talking about.” —John 13:21–22
Become More
Nothing takes Jesus by surprise. Great is God’s mercy, love, and faithfulness through Jesus. Follow Him!
“There is a wideness in God’s mercy, like the wideness of the sea.” —Frederick William Faber
Further Reflections
“Never, for fear of feeble man, restrain your witness.” —C.H. Spurgeon