Judas

Sometimes there's so many little chunks you could take out of the Bible and expand on them SO MUCH. Have you ever seen how huge commentaries are?? Big. Colossal (for a fun word).
Ok so I definitely feel like I could go on and on about little things in the Bible. "Little" used loosely... But anyway, this is about Matthew 26:47-56 or more specifically, verses 49 and 50, "Going at once to Jesus , Judas said, 'Greetings Rabbi!' and kissed him. Jesus replied, 'Friend, do what you came for.'"
Now Judas has a mob of people looking to kill Jesus behind him. And he has the audacity to come up to him, kiss him, and act like he loves him? Then Jesus calls him "friend."
Have you ever had a really close friend totally stab you in the back? Yea. Jesus had ONLY loved Judas. But enough people were jealous of him and hated him that they wanted to kill him. And Judas really liked money. So they bribed him. "Sure, I'll take 30 silver coins to show you where Jesus is. Nevermind the fact that you're going to kill the only person who has ever loved me unconditionally. Oh, and did I mention that He's GOD?" ...no.
And Jesus called him FRIEND? If someone did that to us we'd either punch them or leave. If someone hurts us, we hurt them back or leave them. Right? (But Jesus didn't!) it's just something to think about.
Ok, so another perspective: you are Judas. YOUR sins are why He came here in the first place. Risked His life. Because you lied, because you did whatever you did, you can no longer be with God. And He HATES that! He wants to be with you as much as someone who's in love wants to be with the beloved (actually, more)! So...He came here. He totally cleaned all sins you've ever done. EVERYTHING. Because He's just that powerful.
But again, think about the fact that it's our faults that He had to die. Had to be betrayed. Can you IMAGINE walking up to our LORD and GOD and BETRAYING Him? Well...we've probably done it. At least at some point in our lives. But He's willing to take the blame with His own blood so we can be with Him.
He loves us so much! Sometimes it's hard to believe. But if you just THINK about what He DID. He wouldn't have done that for anyone else but someone who He passionately loved!
He loves you.
You are loved.
Always.
:)