August 11, 2026 · David Farmer
Accommodating Partners
“Then Satan entered into Judas called Iscariot, who was of the number of the twelve. He went away and conferred with the chief priests and officers how he might betray him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. So he consented and sought an opportunity to betray him to them in the absence of a crowd.”
Luke 22:3-6 →
## How Are Your Accommodations?
In the beginning of Luke’s Gospel after Jesus’ wilderness temptation, the Devil “departed from Him until an opportune time” (4:13), but he never came at Jesus directly again. It was through others like this Scripture shows. Matthew and Mark make no comment towards his involvement in this scene, but John agrees with Luke in this crucial detail. Luke 22:2 says the chief priests were seeking how to put Jesus to death. 22:3 starts with “Then...”, and we find that Satan sought to accommodate them. When traveling and searching for a hotel, one might ask, “How are your accommodations?” “To accommodate” means “to provide lodging or sufficient space for someone” or “to fit in with the wishes of”. As Satan sought to execute his plan in Jesus’ life, he only had to look as far as Jesus’ inner circle to find someone who had made sufficient space for him in their life; someone whose wishes would fit with his own. Earlier at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus addresses Satan by name through Peter (Matthew 16:23). It doesn’t say he “entered” Peter, but he is still influencing his thinking and his words. Jesus said, “For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.” Trying to talk Jesus out of the cross didn’t work, so now he takes a different route by trying to force Him into it. Judas’ agenda is a subject of much debate in the Church. Some base his actions purely on greed for coins in his pocket, but that was less important to him than we think (Matthew 27:3). Some suggest he
was trying to force Jesus to raise the rebellion that he thought He had come to start; either against Roman occupation or the corrupt religious system of Israel. This idea actually accents his faith in Jesus, if you think about it. Either way, these are both the “things of man” influenced by Satan.
## Self-Check
If the Devil can even influence two close disciples, Peter and Judas, then how could he work through your actions and thinking? “How are your accommodations?” The Devil found accommodations among Jesus’ enemies and His disciples. So how can we counter these things going on around us (and within us)? Though we have resources to combat the Devil's work and his schemes, like forgiveness (2 Corinthians 2:9-11) and putting on the Armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-20), it could’ve just as well been us. For it was not Peter or Judas who identified what was going on. It was Jesus; for He came to destroy the works of the Devil (Hebrews 2:14; 1 John 3:8).
## Prep the Kitchen