Howdies or Hugs

I was thinking about Jesus’ relationship with his twelve disciples and especially Judas. Jesus knew that Judas was the “son of perdition”, that he was a thief and that he would be an accomplice in the murder of Jesus. And yet there is no evidence that Jesus treated Judas any differently than the rest of the disciples. It’s ironic that Judas was the “son of perdition” and yet Jesus called Peter, the man who would open the door to the Kingdom, “Satan”. In congregations of God’s children we certainly have our “favorite” people and our “less favorite” people and treat them accordingly. We talk and visit and go out to eat with our favorite people…our less favorite people? They may be lucky to get a handshake and a Howdy… certainly not a hug. John 17 teaches that the world would believe in Jesus through the “oneness” demonstrated by God’s people for each other in the type of love that sacrifices for the benefit of others. If we have a hard time getting along with each other then maybe God didn’t send Jesus after all. Judas wasn’t Jesus’ favorite person but he didn’t treat him any different than the rest of the disciples and we shouldn’t either.