The pain of betrayal

‘… the Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed’ 1 Corinthians 11.23

A further type of suffering experienced by Jesus was betrayal.  It is terrible when people close to you let you down and even worse when they deliberately betray you; Jesus experienced both.  Peter, who publicly stated that he would never disown Jesus, did that very thing within a few hours of making his rash statement.  Also Judas, one of Jesus’ ‘inner circle’, betrayed Jesus to the authorities, despite being a man who had heard some of Jesus’ most precious thoughts and had seen and been part of some of the most astounding miracles of healing.

When the trust of friends is broken it can cause us to feel let down, hurt, distrustful of future friendships and very lonely.  We are not told what Jesus felt as the betrayal became evident, but we are told that betrayal was something he suffered.  The comfort and healing that he can bring to those of us suffering in a similar way is not based on him gazing at us sympathetically from heaven, but as one who has been where we are and who is able to look us in the eye and say: “Come to me”.

If you are aware of the pain of betrayal, find his presence in whatever way you can.  Jesus is with you as one who has been through it all.  Share your feelings with him.

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