Did you know Judas was a thief? Did Jesus know?

Did you know Judas was a thief? Not just suspect it, but do you actually remember reading it? Did Jesus know? If Jesus knew Judas was a thief, why would He allow Judas to be the keeper of the money for the twelve disciples?

If you didn’t already know, finding out Judas was a thief probably isn’t a surprise. I mean, he sold out Jesus for thirty pieces of silver.

But did you know the Bible records that Judas was a thief?

It’s one of those things that’s easy to miss. We’re so focused on Judas selling out Jesus that we can just breeze right through one sentence about him being a thief.

And besides, if whichever Gospel author knew Judas was a thief, why was he allowed to continue to be with the group?

On top of that, if Jesus knew, why was Judas allowed to steal money from His inner circle?

It all sounds so weird.

Judas was a thief.

And yet, one of the Gospels does record that Judas was indeed a thief.

When we read the passage where this little tidbit is revealed, we see even more reasons why it can be missed. Or forgotten.

…

…

So what?

OK – so we have reasonable answers to the questions. But so what?

Is this just an academic exercise? Is there a reason for asking/answering these questions?

Or was it just a mind challenge? A memorization question? Maybe something for Bible trivial pursuit?

There was a time when this might’ve been the end. One or more of those things above could be the reason(s) for asking. But not anymore.

Why does it matter if Jesus knew Judas was a thief?

So, why does it matter if Jesus knew Judas was a thief?

We often talk about how God loves us, and will forgive us, no matter what we’ve done. And we can trust that, because we know that God already knows everything we did, are doing, and will do. And He’s already promised us salvation, if we only accept His offer through Jesus’ death on the cross.

That’s awesome news.

However…

However, there’s a flip side to that knowledge. One we don’t really talk about. But one I think about.

Let me tell you why I think about it. Then the explanation of why it’s important will be eaiser to explain, if not already obvious.

I’ve written before about how I retired early, because of a political change when the President at my University campus left and a new one was appointed.

It’s probably time to update it, but I wrote What’s next? – about me, March 2017 update about six years ago. It got a little into why I left my job earlier than expected, and what I felt like God had coming for me next.

If you didn’t read the article mentioned above, what happened is that my VP decided to try to save his own job by getting rid of me and one of the three people reporting directly to him. The other guy just found another job. Easily. God let me know, in no uncertain terms, that I was to retire early. That was one of the best moves of my entire life.

But here’s the thing I came to realize later. That VP still lost his job. The other guy moved to something better. I moved on to something way, way better.

And it all happened because God used the actions of one person who was pretty much hated by everyone to make those things happen.

It was that VP’s character that led him to do what he did to us. Just as he’d done to so many others before us throughout his time there.

So, the moral of it is this. If we think we’re doing well, getting the things we want, we need to be sure that we’re truly following God.

Conclusion – Did you know Judas was a thief? Did Jesus know?

None of the disciples seemed to know Judas was stealing at the time it was going on. It appears that the earliest anyone knew was after Judas betrayed Jesus.

But God knew. Jesus still brought Judas into His inner circle. It had to happen, to accomplish God’s purpose.

Jesus gave no indication to anyone that He knew Judas was stealing money from their funds. He had to keep that knowledge to Himself. He had to, in order to accomplish God’s purpose.

Can you see where this is going?

Judas had no reason to think Jesus had any idea about the thefts or the imminent betrayal. Judas didn’t find out that Jesus was aware of the betrayal until just before Jesus broke the bread and shared the bread and wine at the Last Supper. And it seemed Judas had no idea anyone knew about the thefts from their funds.

It feels like, sometimes, we have choices about how God can use us. And it’s up to us.

We can choose to allow God to use us to do good things for His Kingdom.

Or, we can choose to allow God to use us as a means to an end, where we do evil that God will turn into good for someone else who does love Him.

Ouch.

How are you letting God use you?

At the end of your life, will you hear –

I never knew you

or

Well done