Listen to today’s devo!

Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” (John 14:22–23)

Expanded Passage: John 14:22-24

Tomorrow is July 4. In the United States, that is the ultimate day of loyalty, a day of declaration of independence from all allegiances but one. It is not a day that tolerates betrayal.

On the night he was betrayed, in the conversation Jesus had with his disciples, he assured them they would not be abandoned, and Judas (not Iscariot) asks a question about the timing of it all.

Who is this Judas, not Judas Iscariot? The ancients said he was Jude, the brother of Jesus, author of the New Testament book bearing his name. Most today prefer to identify him with the disciple called Thaddeus, in Matthew’s account.

Is he the Judas who did not betray Jesus? No. There is not one of those. Every Judas has betrayed Jesus, along with the rest of us.

On Good Friday, one of our pastors referred to “the man at the table who betrayed Jesus.” I later put my arm around his shoulder and said in tears, “Pastor Graham, I am that man at the table.” In that moment, with the songwriter Stuart Townend, I was ashamed to hear my mocking voice call out among the scoffers. Then the Holy Spirit, my Comforter, put his arm around my shoulder and whispered gently to me, “Judas Dan, it was your sin that held him there, but take heart. I give you blessed assurance, by the blood of the Lamb, you have been forgiven.”

Take heed, your sin is horrendous. Take heart, your sins are forgiven.

Dan LeRoy is a retired Wesleyan pastor, church planter and district superintendent. He and his wife Cynthia live in Kernersville, North Carolina.

© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.