WASTED

Jn.17:11,12 – I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. While I was with them, I was keeping them in Your name which You have given Me; and I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.

I wonder if Jesus had His mind wander to recent events when He was praying like I often do. I think He probably did, that’s just part of being human. While Jesus was praying in Gethsemane certainly He had what had just happened at the Passover meal in His head, Judas had rushed out to go see the priests to betray Jesus, how could He not be thinking about that?! Another recent event was also surely in Jesus’ head, the conflict that the disciples had over Mary washing the Lord’s feet with her tears and expensive perfume. Judas had led the charge against Mary accusing her of wasting a valuable substance that could have been used for other things. Of course Jesus saw right through Judas’s argument and recognized what the real waste was, Judas had wasted his whole life trying to use his position with Christ for personal advancement. There is an interesting word used by Jesus about Judas in His prayer that night. In John 17:12 Jesus called Judas the son of destruction using the Greek word apoleia, the same word used for waste in Matthew 26:8. Jesus was saying that Judas was the one wasting his life, choosing to live for this world rather than the one to come.

So I suppose that waste is all connected to what you value. In the Lord’s prayer that night Jesus was focused totally on eternity. What He was saying was that the only thing of true value was our relationship with the Father. Jesus had enjoyed that intimacy from eternity, He was returning to that place of glory at His death. In this prayer He was disclosing that we too were being brought into that love relationship with the Father through His death and resurrection. That was the true treasure of all treasures, to know God and walk with Him forever. What He was doing was answering the conflict between Judas and Mary that night when she washed the Lord’s feet. He was also revealing what was the true waste, Judas had chosen the things of this world over the treasures of heaven. Now that is really a waste.