Handling Betrayal
How do you handle problems? Matthew 26:47-56 records that Jesus was betrayed by Judas, and then deserted by all the other disciples. Consider these lessons from that event. First, Jesus demonstrated humility regardless
of circumstances—“Jesus said to him, ‘Friend, why have you come?’ Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him.” (v. 50) Judas embraced and kissed Jesus on the cheek—a gesture normally reserved for a close, intimate relationship. No enemies are worse than those who profess to be faithful friends, then use that relationship to further their own ends. Jesus’ response to Judas was absolutely amazing. He called him friend—not the usual Greek word for “friend,” but another word that literally means “comrade.” G. K. Chesterton wrote, “It is always the secure who are most humble.” Second, Jesus trusted divine plans rather than carnal weapons—“Do you think that I cannot now pray to My Father, and He will provide Me with more than twelve legions of angels?” (v. 53) This is the only place in Scripture where Jesus healed a person from a fresh wound. He healed an enemy, unasked, and without any evidence of faith in the one healed. Peter was acting like a vigilante. But no matter how unjust the arrest of Jesus was, Peter had no right to take the law into his own hands in order to stop it. God does not need our help, much less our sins, to fulfill His purposes. If He had not been willing to suffer, they couldn’t have taken Him. Third, Jesus’ disciples revealed how little they knew their own hearts—“Then all the disciples forsook Him and fled.” (v. 56) The ones who had left everything to follow Jesus, now left him to protect their own lives. True faithfulness to Jesus Christ is discovered not in the good times of life but in those moments when things get really rough! Resist the temptation to trust your own resources rather than God’s.
Sin cera, Erik
Erik O. Garthe is Associate Pastor at Canton Baptist Church in Baltimore, Maryland.