Criticized for a blessing?

Matthew 26:1 – 27

This passage is pretty intense. Think about the dynamics for a moment, Jesus knows He is only a few days away from His crucifixion and he openly talks with those He trusts the most and they don’t get it. He then had invested His life into these same guys and when someone decides to bless Him or more importantly when the Father decides to bless Him all he hears is complaints from those close to Him. Has this ever happened to you? If you are doing the Lord’s will, sooner or later you will see an amazing blessing in your life the devil doesn’t like it when God blesses you so he will find a way to irritate you, (hint: he often uses family and/or friends to do this)

However the Lord may have used this incident to help reveal their hearts. As they were gathered around the table for the Passover meal, Jesus stated that one of them would betray Him. The results of that statement were amazing and perhaps reflective of the early events at Simon’s home, “Is it I?”, each of them ask. They had, had their hearts revealed the day before and knew that they were each capable of failing the Lord. In 1 Corinthians 10:12 and Hebrews 3:12 we are warned that we all need to be on the alert because if we get overly confident in our own strength, we can fall. The disciples knew this by now, one very important final lesson before Jesus crucifixion.

It is interesting to note, while not recorded in Matthew’s account, Jesus washed Judas’ feet and despite the fact that He knew Judas was His betrayer. We must have patience with people when they treat us badly or simply wrong. Jesus is all about people having the hearts right before the Lord, allowing Himself to be ridiculed by the disciples over the anointing so that they would evaluate their hearts in preparation for what we call communion. What about your heart today? Are their people you are judging that you really shouldn’t be judging? Are their situations that you should be praying for people rather than ridiculing them? Check you heart today to see if you are being more like Jesus or the disciples? I have been both and I prefer to be like Jesus.