Why was Judas in charge of the money?

Judas, according to John 12:6, was a thief, and Jesus knew everything he was up to (John 6:70).  So why did Jesus put him in charge of the money?  Jon Bloom offers an interesting meditation on this topic.

From Jon Bloom, Why Was Judas Carrying the Moneybag? | Desiring God:

Jesus put a thief in charge of his moneybag. Has that ever struck you as odd?

Last week we focused on Mary, who poured a year’s wages on Jesus’s feet, and Judas, who saw Mary’s worshipful act as huge waste, because “he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it” (John 12:6).

But this fact raises the question: Why was Judas carrying the moneybag in the first place?

Jesus could have given the moneybag to Nathaniel, “an Israelite indeed, in whom there [was] no deceit” (John 1:47), or to John, “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (John 21:20), or to Levi, who had extensive financial experience (Luke 5:27). But he didn’t. Jesus chose Judas to be the treasurer of his itinerant nonprofit.

One is tempted to offer the Lord some consulting on good stewardship. Donors were supporting this ministry financially (Luke 8:3), and Jesus appointed the one guy he knew was a “devil” (John 6:70) to manage the money. But this was not poor judgment on Jesus’s part. It was deliberate; Jesus knew Judas was pilfering. Why did Jesus allow it?

What do you think?  Put your thoughts in the comments.  Then read the rest of the post.  Do you agree?  Is there anything else we can learn from these Scriptural facts?

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