Betrayal is painful. Breaking a marriage covenant through infidelity does tremendous, often irreparable, damage. Even if it’s your best friend from first grade, being betrayed by a close friend stings the heart and derails us for a while.
Left unchecked, betrayal can cause the heart to become bitter and hardened. If our heart does not remain soft and pliable in the hands of the Potter, our ability to serve the Body of Christ diminishes. Nothing makes the devil happier than a hardened old lump of useless clay, resulting in a functionless Christian.
Christ understood betrayal. One of the twelve disciples who followed Jesus most closely, Judas Iscariot, betrayed Him sinisterly. After being with the Lord and the other disciples, Judas left the meal they were having and began a downward spiral of betrayal and deceit as he openly took steps to lead Roman authorities directly to Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. When Judas kissed Jesus on the cheek to signal the Lord’s identity to the murderous assembly of soldiers and officials, it was indeed a kiss of betrayal.
David, too, understood betrayal. His close friend Ahithophel—referred to as his bosom friend, intimate acquaintance, and advisor—treacherously conspired against him with Absalom. Hear the sting in David’s words, “It is not an enemy who taunts me—I could bear that. It is not my foes who so arrogantly insult me—I could have hidden from them. Instead, it is you—my equal, my companion, and close friend. What good fellowship we once enjoyed as we walked together to the house of God” Psalm 55:12-14 NLT.
Judas chose, in his betrayal, to end a unique relationship with the Lord that few people enjoyed. He had been in charge of the money that came to the disciples and Jesus, so no doubt he had frequent meetings with the Lord to discuss expenses, offerings, gifts, etc. Jesus spent more time talking and teaching His disciples than any other group, and the brotherhood they cultivated must have been extraordinary. That night, the Lord’s Supper was an intimate time of dining and fellowship between Jesus and the twelve. By one wrong decision to betray, Judas broke fellowship with the Lord. He ultimately took his own life as remorse for his sin of betrayal overtook him.
But how did Jesus respond to betrayal? The scripture says that on the night when He was betrayed, the Lord Jesus took a loaf of bread, and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way, He took the cup of wine after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant between God and you, sealed by the shedding of My blood. Do this in remembrance of Me as often as you drink it," 1 Corinthians 11:23-25 (NLT).
The Greek word for “betrayed,” paradidomi, means to hand over from or abandon, with a sense of close personal involvement. Judas blatantly abandoned his covenant of brotherhood, loyalty, and friendship with Jesus. The Lord did not respond in a vengeful way. He did not write Judas off. He knew Judas would betray Him and even told him to do it quickly. He also knew that Judas was not capable of loyalty, and even though he could not trust him, the Lord loved him and continued to be kind to him.
Whether Judas partook of the bread and wine is controversial, but regardless, Jesus moved right past the pain of betrayal and served the disciples the first Communion meal. The reality of His death was undeniable, as Jesus no doubt watched his betrayer slip out of the room and downstairs to initiate the plan of torture that would unfold in a few short hours. Putting His own wounded heart and pain aside, the most important thing to Jesus was to demonstrate to His closest companions that the horrible death He was about to suffer—His broken body and shed blood—would make a covenant between God and them forever.
He set the bar pretty high for us: stay focused on serving God and do what is best for those lives you are entrusted with, even when the enemy of our soul throws a fiery dart of betrayal at us. It takes the strength of the Lord to do that!
Jesus did not carry the weight of a friend's betrayal around, even though it ultimately led to His death, nor do we have to remain crushed under its weight either. If you are wounded by betrayal, proclaim this as you endeavor to rise above your circumstances: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me! (Philippians 4:13).
© 2024, Chris Custer Werre