Judas Iscariot sold Jesus for thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. Judas had no right at all to sell Jesus who was his teacher and was admired by the crowd as a messiah. It is illegal for the priests to buy Jesus at the price of 30 silver coins and to kill Him from the beginning. By thirty silver coins, a slave could be purchased at that time. Judas sold Jesus to satisfy his greediness. The power of money could make him sell his teacher, the Son of God.
Jesus accepted what they did to Himself without speaking against them, even though he knew that it was illegal for them to buy and sell Him who was innocent. And He died on the Cross. He did it to fulfill the will of God that He set for redeeming us from our sins. Likewise, Jesus’ death on the Cross is related to money. Today, some people still abandon Jesus because of money. While living a Christian life, we ought to give offerings to God such as a tithe and the weekly Lord’s day offering. So some people give up Christian life because it costs a lot of money. Especially, selfish and calculating people give up the Christian life.
What is the reason you fail to keep your faith for a long time even after getting deeply impressed by God’s message? It’s because your greediness blinded your eyes and caused you to abandon Jesus thinking, “I can’t buy my house or be rich if I believe in Jesus like this.” How foolish to abandon Jesus and heaven for money!
Some people don’t offer tithe even though they go to Church diligently. God warned those who don’t give tithes and offerings saying that they are thieves, and their end will be miserable. It’s not possible for the thieves who cheat what belonged to God to give their things to God. Can God answer them when the thieves pray him to bless them? I want you to give God what belongs to God to make your prayer be answered and be blessed.
Pastor Seok-Jeon Yoon
Extracted from Yonsei Newspaper #703
