Be Still - January 5, 2023

Matthew 26: 21, 22 And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.” They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?” (NIV)

Some people pledge their allegiance to Christ but dethrone him by their actions.*

Jesus, sitting at the table with the Twelve, predicts that one of them will betray him. It is very sad that among Jesus’ most trusted associates is one who is going to sell him out. You know what’s even sadder? That none of the remaining eleven could say with confidence, “It isn’t me.”

None of us would stoop to Judas’ level, would we? Would we? What did Judas do, after all? He took money and led a well-armed mob to arrest Jesus. Did they really need Judas’ help in locating him? Jesus was a crowd magnet; he couldn’t have been hard to find. Judas was just shrewd enough to profit from going along with what the chief priests and the elders were going to do anyway.

I could list examples of ways that you and I might have betrayed Jesus, but this is not the place for my personal confession . . . and you know what you’ve done. Betraying our Lord is easier than we might think. It doesn’t always involve drama and mayhem or blood money. Sometimes it is done with actions as harmless as a kiss of greeting in a garden at night.

“One of you will betray me,” he said.

Yep. It’s me.

Lord, may I never wonder: Is it I?*