John, chapter 18

Betrayal

It is hard for us to live with it in our lives. I have experienced it before, and it is one of the worst feelings I have ever had. There is confusion, anger, sorrow, and a ton of other emotions wrapped into that moment. You don’t know what to do next and you even question if God really know what he is doing. To me, it is one of the worst things we can do to another human being.

No take all that and multiply it infinitely. That is what we have today in John 18 with Jesus betrayal by Judas. Jesus knew that it was going to happen. He knew the exact result of it, and how God would use it this ultimate evil to perform the act of ultimate good. Still, it is no less heartbreaking. It is an attempt by mankind’s evil nature to tarnish the good, perfect image of Christ.

28Then the Jews led Jesus from Caiaphas to the palace of the Roman governor. By now it was early morning, and to avoid ceremonial uncleanness the Jews did not enter the palace; they wanted to be able to eat the Passover. – John 18:28

I wanted to focus on this verse because I find it sad, but incredibly funny. The Pharisees were all in favor of killing an innocent man simply because they didn’t agree with Him. Jesus was a threat tot heir power because He had different ideas, so in their eyes he must be killed. They had no problem ignoring that little commandment of “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. Ask these guys to enter the Roman palace, however, and suddenly they grow a conscience.

Through all this, however, we continue to see Jesus’ calm demeanor. He had had His moment of fear while praying in the garden, but God strengthened Him to face this ordeal. If God can do something like that in the face of the world’s greatest injustice, imagine what He can do when we seek Him.