June 10, 2012 Betrayed

Betrayal Mark 14:10-11 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. 11 They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over. “BETRAYAL” is a terrible sin, isn’t it? If you want to hurt someone, betray their trust in you. They’ll harbor hard feelings against you for a very long time, perhaps for the rest of their lives. Betrayal is so hard to forgive. Why do people betray those who love them? Why would Judas betray Jesus? Perhaps the simplest answer was Judas’ greed. He bartered his rabbi’s life for 33 pieces of silver. Or maybe he thought Jesus was blaspheming—betraying—God and deserved death. Maybe he was disappointed that Jesus had failed to take military action to overthrow Rome. Regardless of his reasons, he betrayed Jesus for his own reason. He had no regard for anyone else. That’s the way betrayal works. Someone becomes motivated more about “me” than “we”. Betrayers put their own priorities above the relationship. We may feel superior or inadequate to the other, making a one-sided decision about the relationship or some aspect of the relationship. For example, a teen-aged driver betrays his parents’ trust to drive the car when he hides the truth of a speeding ticket. His main concern is “me” – that they continue to let him drive. Truth hides in the “back seat”. Honesty is relegated to “the trunk”. When dad opens “the trunk” to discover the truth, he feels betrayed. The father-son relationship suffers until forgiveness restores the relationship. Do you betray Jesus? Do you call him Lord, and then put his truths “in the trunk”? Pause and consider Jesus checks the trunk all the time. Seek his forgiveness.