Daily Devotional For Thursday, October 29, 2026
Good morning Southside! I am following the One Year Chronological Bible reading suggestion and any Bible verses you see highlighted in bold (ex. John 3:16), means it is a link to that verse. All you have to do is click on the reference and it will take you to the verse online. Our daily devotional for today comes from the words of Jesus found in Mark 14:10-11:
“Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve disciples, went to the leading priests to arrange to betray Jesus to them. (11) They were delighted when they heard why he had come, and they promised to give him money. So he began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus” (NLT).
Mark’s Gospel is clear that the religious leaders and establishment wanted to kill Jesus for some time. How and when were their challenges. Their intensity increased when Jesus cleansed the Temple exposing their extortion during Passover all in the name of God. Jesus had to go. In our text, Judas had decided to betray Jesus. What motivated him is up for speculation, but my guess is it was his lust for money.
If you remember at the Lord’s Supper, Mary came in with an Alabaster jar and anointed Jesus’ body and Judas got angry, saying that it could have been sold and the money given to the poor. The Gospels tell us he wanted the money for himself since he had been stealing money from the joint treasury. Jesus rebuked Judas for this. Maybe it was Jesus’ rebuke or Judas’s inability to personally profit from it or both that were the motivation.
Like many in his day, he longed for a military king that would overthrow Rome and seeing and experiencing the power Jesus had, he knew Jesus could do this. Maybe like James and John, he wanted a political favor in a certain position (Mark 10:35-37). Some think he was trying to give Jesus a push later in the Garden of Gethsemane when he came with the soldiers. The religious leaders knew they could not do this in public because thousands would protect Jesus. So, this had to be done in stealth, when Jesus was alone.
When Judas went to the religious leaders, they were thrilled. They had a personal disciple, one on the inside who would know Jesus’s schedule. Matthew’s Gospel tells us the religious leaders promised Judas 30 pieces of silver, the price to buy a slave (Ex. 21:32). Judas is a name people hate. People will name their sons Matthew, John, Simon, but not Judas. We despise traitors such as Benedict Arnold. We hate it when we trust someone with something and they violate our trust and betray us by sharing it with someone else.
Betrayers are in every institution, including the church. They seek out people close to certain leaders for any “scoop” on that leader they can use later to betray them. It doesn’t matter if it is true or not. If, like the religious leaders, they have a vendetta against you, they will find a way to betray you. And like Judas they will sell their soul to the devil just to get you.
Reflection Assignment: Have you ever betrayed a confidence? If so, how did it turn out? Has someone ever betrayed your confidence? If so, how did it make you feel and how did it turn out? Have you ever been a target of someone’s vendetta? How did you feel? Have you ever made someone a target of your vendetta? Why? Why do you think people quickly and easily sell their souls out for anything even if it means betraying another?
Scripture To Meditate On: Matthew 10:16, “Jesus said, ‘Look, I am sending you out as sheep among wolves. So be as shrewd as snakes and harmless as doves’” (NLT).
Prayer To Pray: “Dear Lord, loyalty is so hard to find these days. People seem to be only loyal to themselves. Lord, I do not want to betray anyone, especially You. Lord, help me to be faithful to You and to everyone else. Keep me from selling out no matter how great the pressure is. I love You Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen!”
I love you Southside! – Pastor Kelly