April 14, 2025
The Plot
How do we truly honor the significance of Holy Week? In today's episode, our special guest Lauren Alessi takes us on a reflective journey through the powerful narrative of the plot to kill Jesus, as recounted in John 13:21-30. Together, we'll explore the emotional depth of Jesus's final days with his disciples during this sacred time. As a community, we'll gain a deeper understanding of Jesus's immense sacrifice and the foundation it laid for our faith.
Join us for this heartfelt devotional as we pray to glorify God with gratitude for the sacrifice made on the cross, and seek to deepen our spiritual connection during this Holy Week.
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WEBVTT
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:15.080
You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1246. Today's Devo is called the Plot. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida.
00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:30.397
And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast.
00:00:30.574 --> 00:00:49.037
Good morning, everyone. My name is Lauren Alessi and I will be your host for the Holy Week for Easter week. And I honestly am so honored, A little nervous, to be honest with you. This is like a really. This is what we all believe in. This is the foundation of our faith.
00:00:49.134 --> 00:02:33.759
And it's laying out this week whether you believe it happened this week. Historically, theologically, I don't know where you stand. This is what we celebrate in churches all over the world. And it's just really exciting. So to be able to cover this week the Word, what happened centuries ago, but what we still believe in to be true is just so honoring and just very humbling. So I hope you follow along. I hope you enjoy it. Today's episode is called the Plot because we are going to be talking about the plot to kill Jesus, and we're going to kind of be taking it one step at a time, kind of like a long story. And we will be, you know, reading more of the Word, reading more of the Bible this week, because it is Holy Week, it is Easter week, so it's not going to be so much my reflection as it is just the word of God. Okay, so a few things to get out of the way before we start reading is that we have a My Morning Devotional pop up coming up to the South Florida community. May 1, 7pm That's a Thursday, and it's going to be at Chug's Diner in Coconut Grove. So if you live in South Miami, if you live in South Florida even, and you want to make the drive, please join us. That would be super cool. If you're like me and you are wondering what a pop up even is, and it has to be explained to you, you literally just pop up. And we talk and we meet and we're like, hey, nice to meet you. Because I did not understand what a pop up was. But it's really chill and honestly, it'd be really sad if we held it and nobody came. So please come. We are having that May 1st at 7pm Chug's Diner. So please be there. We'd love to see you, love to meet you.
00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:41.177
But let's jump into Holy Week. Let's jump into what happened and the plot to kill Jesus.
00:02:41.354 --> 00:03:50.539
Definite turn there. Okay, today we'll be reading out of John, chapter 13, verses 21 through 30. I always like to read out of the ESV version and oh, you know, let's go into some backstory here actually, because this just sort of jumps right in. But it's important to realize that now Jesus and the disciples, you know, they've entered Jerusalem. They're going in to celebrate Passover, which is like a great big feast, a great big dinner. And Jesus has just washed the disciples feet. Like it's a beautiful, beautiful moment. It's a beautiful dinner. They're kind of emotional and then boom, Jesus jumps into like, hey, one of you will betray me. So it's kind of like this awkward conversation in the midst of this beautiful moment of dinner. And this is literally what this area of the Bible is called. One of you will Betray me, verse 21. And it says this after saying these things, Jesus. Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples whom Jesus loved, was reclining at a table at Jesus side.
00:03:50.659 --> 00:04:41.899
So Simon Peter had motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple leaning back against Jesus, said to him, lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. Let's take a pause. We're reading out of John. And what you see a lot in John is that we know John is the disciple whom Jesus loved. And he likes to refer to himself a lot as the disciple whom Jesus loved. So we see John sort of giving us a play by play of what's happening. Jesus is saying, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And John is like kind of relaxed, leaning back, and Peter's motioning to John and he's like, what's happening here? This just got awkward. John asks Jesus, who are you talking about? And Jesus says, it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. Let's continue.
00:04:42.019 --> 00:05:44.283
So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you are going to do, do quickly. Now, no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Jesus had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out and it was night. And that is the end of our reading for today. So I kind of want to challenge us as we read this week not to look at the story as a reflection of ourselves, not look at the story of, oh, look at what Jesus went through. I kind of see myself in this, in the disciples and in Jesus. This is a total testimony of our faith and what we believe as Christians. This is bigger than all of us. And if anything, you know, if we are going to self reflect in the story at all. We are the disciples.
00:05:44.331 --> 00:07:36.920
We are people who are, you know, know, have a tendency to fall back on what we say, to fall back on what we believe. At least I am, I can speak for myself, because we're born human, we're born sinners. But when looking at this story, let's not try to apply ourselves, let's just truly look at it through glorifying God. Look at it through. How was Jesus feeling in this moment? Jesus was having dinner with his friends, knowing, I'm going to die like tomorrow. Like, I, I can't imagine being in Jesus's position. I'm, I'm about to go to church tomorrow and I have to sing and I'm prepping for that mentally, you know. Prepping for that. What, what? Serving at church tomorrow, whatever that looks like. Can you imagine being Jesus, having dinner with your friends, having dinner with people you love, and you know, I'm going to suffer serious pain tomorrow. And we always focus on the resurrection part. But let's focus on Jesus today, in this moment, in this story. Jesus. Jesus knew he was troubled in his spirit, the Bible says, and he knew friends would betray him. He knew he would face serious pain on the cross. He knew in a way God would turn his back on him. It's really, really interesting. And again, I hope we view the story as we talk through it, not through our lens, but just a way that we can glorify God and really just see Jesus as like, whoa, you really did do this for us, God. So let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for the sacrifice you made on the cross 2,000 plus years ago, God. And may we not look at that sacrifice, Lord, as something that we would be capable of doing, something that we can apply to our lives, Lord, but simply as a sacrifice, Lord. That is the foundation of our faith God. And it's bigger than we'll ever be. God. And we give that to you and we glorify you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:58.819
So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.
00:00:00.400 --> 00:00:15.080
You're listening to the My Morning Devotional podcast, episode 1246. Today's Devo is called the Plot. Hey there. We're the Alessies, a ministry family working together in our church in Miami, Florida.
00:00:15.160 --> 00:00:30.397
And if you're like us, when days get busy and to do lists get longer, it can be hard to find devotional time. That's why we've partnered with our friend Allison to produce a five minute daily dose of heaven. This is the My Morning Devotional Podcast.
00:00:30.574 --> 00:00:49.037
Good morning, everyone. My name is Lauren Alessi and I will be your host for the Holy Week for Easter week. And I honestly am so honored, A little nervous, to be honest with you. This is like a really. This is what we all believe in. This is the foundation of our faith.
00:00:49.134 --> 00:02:33.759
And it's laying out this week whether you believe it happened this week. Historically, theologically, I don't know where you stand. This is what we celebrate in churches all over the world. And it's just really exciting. So to be able to cover this week the Word, what happened centuries ago, but what we still believe in to be true is just so honoring and just very humbling. So I hope you follow along. I hope you enjoy it. Today's episode is called the Plot because we are going to be talking about the plot to kill Jesus, and we're going to kind of be taking it one step at a time, kind of like a long story. And we will be, you know, reading more of the Word, reading more of the Bible this week, because it is Holy Week, it is Easter week, so it's not going to be so much my reflection as it is just the word of God. Okay, so a few things to get out of the way before we start reading is that we have a My Morning Devotional pop up coming up to the South Florida community. May 1, 7pm That's a Thursday, and it's going to be at Chug's Diner in Coconut Grove. So if you live in South Miami, if you live in South Florida even, and you want to make the drive, please join us. That would be super cool. If you're like me and you are wondering what a pop up even is, and it has to be explained to you, you literally just pop up. And we talk and we meet and we're like, hey, nice to meet you. Because I did not understand what a pop up was. But it's really chill and honestly, it'd be really sad if we held it and nobody came. So please come. We are having that May 1st at 7pm Chug's Diner. So please be there. We'd love to see you, love to meet you.
00:02:33.879 --> 00:02:41.177
But let's jump into Holy Week. Let's jump into what happened and the plot to kill Jesus.
00:02:41.354 --> 00:03:50.539
Definite turn there. Okay, today we'll be reading out of John, chapter 13, verses 21 through 30. I always like to read out of the ESV version and oh, you know, let's go into some backstory here actually, because this just sort of jumps right in. But it's important to realize that now Jesus and the disciples, you know, they've entered Jerusalem. They're going in to celebrate Passover, which is like a great big feast, a great big dinner. And Jesus has just washed the disciples feet. Like it's a beautiful, beautiful moment. It's a beautiful dinner. They're kind of emotional and then boom, Jesus jumps into like, hey, one of you will betray me. So it's kind of like this awkward conversation in the midst of this beautiful moment of dinner. And this is literally what this area of the Bible is called. One of you will Betray me, verse 21. And it says this after saying these things, Jesus. Jesus was troubled in his spirit and testified, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. One of his disciples whom Jesus loved, was reclining at a table at Jesus side.
00:03:50.659 --> 00:04:41.899
So Simon Peter had motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple leaning back against Jesus, said to him, lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. Let's take a pause. We're reading out of John. And what you see a lot in John is that we know John is the disciple whom Jesus loved. And he likes to refer to himself a lot as the disciple whom Jesus loved. So we see John sort of giving us a play by play of what's happening. Jesus is saying, truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me. And John is like kind of relaxed, leaning back, and Peter's motioning to John and he's like, what's happening here? This just got awkward. John asks Jesus, who are you talking about? And Jesus says, it is he whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it. Let's continue.
00:04:42.019 --> 00:05:44.283
So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, what you are going to do, do quickly. Now, no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that because Jesus had the money bag, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the feast, or that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out and it was night. And that is the end of our reading for today. So I kind of want to challenge us as we read this week not to look at the story as a reflection of ourselves, not look at the story of, oh, look at what Jesus went through. I kind of see myself in this, in the disciples and in Jesus. This is a total testimony of our faith and what we believe as Christians. This is bigger than all of us. And if anything, you know, if we are going to self reflect in the story at all. We are the disciples.
00:05:44.331 --> 00:07:36.920
We are people who are, you know, know, have a tendency to fall back on what we say, to fall back on what we believe. At least I am, I can speak for myself, because we're born human, we're born sinners. But when looking at this story, let's not try to apply ourselves, let's just truly look at it through glorifying God. Look at it through. How was Jesus feeling in this moment? Jesus was having dinner with his friends, knowing, I'm going to die like tomorrow. Like, I, I can't imagine being in Jesus's position. I'm, I'm about to go to church tomorrow and I have to sing and I'm prepping for that mentally, you know. Prepping for that. What, what? Serving at church tomorrow, whatever that looks like. Can you imagine being Jesus, having dinner with your friends, having dinner with people you love, and you know, I'm going to suffer serious pain tomorrow. And we always focus on the resurrection part. But let's focus on Jesus today, in this moment, in this story. Jesus. Jesus knew he was troubled in his spirit, the Bible says, and he knew friends would betray him. He knew he would face serious pain on the cross. He knew in a way God would turn his back on him. It's really, really interesting. And again, I hope we view the story as we talk through it, not through our lens, but just a way that we can glorify God and really just see Jesus as like, whoa, you really did do this for us, God. So let's pray. Dear Lord, we thank you for the sacrifice you made on the cross 2,000 plus years ago, God. And may we not look at that sacrifice, Lord, as something that we would be capable of doing, something that we can apply to our lives, Lord, but simply as a sacrifice, Lord. That is the foundation of our faith God. And it's bigger than we'll ever be. God. And we give that to you and we glorify you. In Jesus name we pray. Amen.
00:07:38.060 --> 00:07:58.819
So there you have it. Your 5 minute daily dose of heaven. Thank you so much for tuning in today. We pray these devotionals empower you to take on your day. If you found value in this devotional, share it with a friend, leave a comment or review for us on the app you're using right now. Until tomorrow, we pray that your latte is strong, but your love for Jesus is stronger.