Meditate on This
Matthew 26: 47 – 50
And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came up, accompanied by a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now he who was betraying Him gave them a sign, saying, “Whomever I shall kiss, He is the one; seize Him.” And immediately he went to Jesus and said, “Hail, Rabbi!” and kissed him. And Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you have come for.”
Often when I am in difficult situations, I take myself out of the picture and substitute Jesus in my place. I try to see how he would behave, what he would do. I would never have foreseen or imagined him being so gracious as he was in this chapter from his life. The best I can imagine is being silent. That is the best I can do many times, and often that is a huge success because sometimes, no matter what you say, it is going to be wrong. Sometimes, if you can just manage not to say anything that is huge victory in itself. I do not mean this as sarcasm. I know that not to say what is in your mind to can be a challenge.
As we celebrate our new found growth because we have responded with stillness, Jesus gives us an even greater example. Can you even imagine calling the one who is actively in the process of betraying you “friend?” No? Well, until we can imagine ourselves behaving like Jesus did here, we won’t be able to do it. And that is why it is important to meditate on the scriptures.
We must get Jesus’ nature down in our hearts and also an image of his nature. We can see what Jesus’ nature is by his actions and reactions. So, when we encounter a recitation like this one in the 50th verse of Matthew 26, we need to stop and mull it over. Now that is really all meditation is. You stop on that word or on that thought and you mull it over, turn it over in your mind. You just stop and think about it. Take the words and create a picture in your mind. What did Jesus do with his hands when Judas kissed him? Did Jesus return the kiss? I imagine that his body posture remained relaxed and composed. Now put yourself visually in that scene. See what you would do to imitate the nature of Jesus. Do you look into Judas’ eyes? Maybe you look around the scene at the other people present.
When you meditate on the Bible, you do it a verse at a time and all of a sudden a verse that maybe you have read fifty times takes on new life for you. You see much more deeply into it. You see a word in it that you have never noticed before. Then you just start thinking about the choice of that word or the construction of the sentence or paragraph. Or maybe you ask yourself, “Why is this story in the Bible? What did God intend to convey to me by including this story?” You are now meditating. It really isn’t some strange, new age voodoo. The ungodly don’t get to own meditation as their own. It is something the people of God have done for countless centuries. God has been instructing His people to meditate on his word ever since Moses gave them the law. We all are supposed to meditate on His Word, but some of us have needlessly feared stepping over a line and entering into occult kind of activity. Others have reconciled themselves to meditation but have not known how to do it. I hope this message has helped in that regard because it is only by deeply integrating the example of Jesus that we will ever be able to look our foe in the eyes and call him friend.
