The Greatest God, Part 1

Today is Good Friday, the day our Lord was crucified upon a cross. My post today is about Judas Iscariot, the one who betrayed Him.

In Italy, there is a story told of Leonardo Da Vinci as he was painting The Last Supper. He could find no model suitable to portray Jesus Christ. He searched and searched and at last he found a young man of ninteen who looked as if he might actually be Jesus. He was very beautiful, with smooth features and a look of peace about him. For the next few months, the young man was brought in every day to stand before Da Vinci so he could study him. At last, the figure of Christ was completed and Da Vinci continued painting the other disciples.

Soon, all the other disciples were completed and the only one left to paint was Judas, the Betrayer. Again, Da Vinci searched and searched for a model, but found no one. At last, despairing, he was told there was a prisoner in the local jail, condemned to die, that might suit him. Da Vinci was delighted to find he had the hard jaw, dark eyes, rough look he had desired. After obtaining permission from the king, the guards brought the man in to Da Vinci's studio every day for months so he could be studied and painted. Finally, Da Vinci layed the final stroke and the guards started to lead the prisoner away. The prisoner broke free and threw himself at Da Vinci's feet. "Do you not know who I am?" the man cried. "No," said Da Vinci, "I have never seen you before." "Look again, closer." said the man. "Do you not recognize me?" Da Vinci answered again, "No, I have never seen you before." The man cried out and said "Have I sunked so low? Da Vinci, I am the man you painted as Christ."

The man Da Vinci pictured as Christ himself had fallen away. He had changed from a beautiful, aspiring young man to a criminal condemned to die, much like the real Judas. What went wrong? That young man had started to make bad decisions. He started off taking small things, thread, hair combs. He then began to steal larger items, tools, money. Then he killed a man who tried to stop him and his life was ruined.

Judas, too, strayed from the path. Matthew 26: 6-11 "While Jesus was at Bethany, in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with a jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When Judas, keeper of the Treasury, saw this, he was indignant. "Why this waste?" he asked. "This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor." Aware of this, Jesus said to him "Why are you bothering this woman? She has done a beautiful thing to me. The poor you will always have with you, but you will not always have me."

John 12:6 "He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himselp to what was put into it."

A few wrong choices took a beloved one of Christ to a condemned sinner who betrayed the Son of God.