6 - Replacing Judas

Have you ever wondered why Jesus chose Judas? It was a choice He made after intense prayer. Luke tells us, “He went off to the mountain to pray, and He spent the whole night in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples to Him and chose twelve of them, whom He also named apostles (Lk 6:12-16). Eleven of these worked out very well, but one ended badly. Does that mean a mistake was made? Did Jesus miss hearing God correctly on one name? Or, did God guide Him to select Judas so there would be someone among the disciples evil enough to betray Him?

This is much more than an academic question, because who among us has not earnestly prayed for guidance and chosen someone, believing we were following God’s will, only to have that person betray us, or fail miserably in some other way? And when that happens it raises deep questions about God. If He knows the future, and He does, then why would He lead us to choose people who turn out badly? Why didn’t Jesus choose someone else? Why do we at times make such terrible mistakes? Obviously, there’s no simple answer that applies to every situation, but the example of Judas does teach us a lot about God’s guidance if we’re willing to hear it. One of the men Jesus chose appears to have been an awful choice and this gathering of believers we’re reading about here is having to go through the process of replacing him.