A Self-Check for You

20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you. 21 But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table. 22 The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed. But woe to that man who betrays him!” 23 They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

–Luke 22.20-23 (NIV)

Here is a little self-check for you to measure your pride and self-righteousness. How did you react to today’s story? If you are familiar with it, you recognize this story as being Luke’s account of the Last Supper. Jesus is about to be betrayed by Judas and here we see Jesus telling his disciples this awful truth. Put yourself in the disciples’ place and try to forget the fact that you know how the story turns out. How would you react to Jesus’ statement that one of you will betray him?

First, we notice the disciples’ reaction and it is a healthy one. They don’t protest in self-righteous indignation. They wonder who it could be that would do something like that. Surely each man at the table looked into his own heart to ask if he had the capacity for this kind of betrayal. After all, both Matthew and Mark comment that the disciples became sorrowful when Jesus told them about his impending betrayal and asked, “Is it I, Lord?” Do you ask this question of God on a regular basis?

If you found yourself asking the same question and empathizing with the disciples’ sorrowful reaction, you are in a good place because you realize that you are profoundly broken and have the capacity to betray even your nearest and dearest. Having the capacity is not the same as actually betraying someone, but that is not the point. The point is that we must recognize the truth in Jesus’ diagnostic statement about the human condition, that out of the heart proceeds all kinds of evil. When you have the humility to admit your capacity to commit evil, you are well on your way to allowing the Lord to heal you.

And of course, that is the wondrous Good News of the Gospel. God loves us enough to do something about our human condition and if we have the good sense to accept his gracious offer of forgiveness and healing in Jesus, we can be confident that he is indeed healing us through the power and Presence of his Spirit living in us.

But if you read today’s story and said to yourself, “I could never do that to a friend,” then you should take that as a warning sign that you may be suffering from an inflated opinion of yourself and that is going to naturally spell trouble for you because you will likely not think you need any of God’s gracious help to fix what ails you. In fact, you might not even think you need fixing at all! Please let us know how that works out for you when all is said and done in your life.

For you see, that’s the curious thing about the Gospel. Given the human condition and our very stubborn pride, we will not be much interested in what God has done for us in Christ unless we think we are beyond self-help. After all, why would we go to a doctor if we were convinced we were quite healthy? Likewise with our willingness to accept the Gospel. The point is not to run people down but to help everyone understand the reality of our situation so that we can seek the necessary help to get us on the road to healing and restoration. That help, of course, comes from Jesus and his Spirit living in us and it all starts with the wondrous love and grace of God manifested in the cross.

So how did you do with this little self-check? Do you have a pride and self-righteous problem? Or do you really understand your desperate need for the Great Physician? If so, there’s glorious news for you. Jesus, your Great Physician, has just the medicine you need. All you need to do is ask him for help. Thanks be to God!