“From that time on, Judas began looking for an opportunity to betray Jesus.”

Twelve Jurors, to do justice in a criminal trial, must all agree.  But to get to this agreement, they all need to work together and find a place of common understanding and appreciation of each other.  From all walks of life they come, they listen to the same evidence and testimony and then they pull all of that through their own experience lens and interpret what they have learned, against the law they are given, to come to a unanimous decision.  I have come through this experience and what I have learned is that twelve is a large group.  I learned that even getting twelve to be on time and to all participate equally is hard.  I learned that when twelve come to a place of trust in each other that one of the most important decisions that will be made can be made in unanimity .  I learned that if we can bring the principles of a jury to a business team hat with more time listening and talking to each other, better decisions will be made.

Jesus had twelve Disciples and as we all know, they were not all aligned.  One was not even close.  Instead, he was diametrically opposed to who Jesus was.  As I sat in jury service this week, it made me think that keeping twelve in line was no easy task for Jesus.  I sometimes forget that these were common men and that likely one or more were prone to being tardy.  Or, one or more, didn’t pay full attention at all times and needed to be reminded or go over the directions more than once.  Or, that because of their individual backgrounds and experiences they looked at things differently.  This also reminds me that I remain flawed and as much as when I am in a group (like among twelve) that others see the same flaws in me that I also might see in them.  So, we need to remember today that yes, others are watching for our flaws and trying to figure out if we are aligned with Him, or not.

Reference: Matthew 26:16 (New Living Translation)