John 13:21-30

When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night. Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.”^[1]

The kiss of Judas became the betrayal of a friend as prophesied by David in the Old Testament. Betrayal was not a foreign experience to David. He was well acquainted with it, having walked through it most of his life. And yet the loss of his close friend still affected him (Ps. 41:9). Likewise, Jesus Christ was also familiar with betrayal. Having experienced rejection and ridicule in ministry, He was no stranger to it. In a similar manner, Judas had advised the capture of Jesus, perhaps believing that something more was in it for him. Judas offered to be the one to hand Jesus over, agreeing with the religious leaders to do the job for only 30 pieces of silver, the lowest price paid for a slave. But once Jesus was handed over to be crucified, Judas realized that he had sent an innocent man to His death. Betrayal is a part of the human experience. At some point in our lives we will experience betrayal from a friend. Perhaps we need to reassess our definition of friendship. Perhaps we need to reassess when and how much to share with another person. Perhaps we share more than we should before we should. Perhaps we should be much more selective of whom we allow within our circle of friends.

Jesus knew Judas was the one who would betray Him, and yet He still chose Judas to be one of the 12. He still loved Judas, still taught him the ways of the Kingdom, and still broke bread with him. If he had lived, Judas may have been reconciled with Jesus like Peter had been after his denial. But despite the unanswered questions, the truth still stands: Judas’ betrayal of Jesus fulfilled the prophetic message that David had written more than 1,000 years before. Jesus had a mission to fulfill. He came to die and rise again. Without Judas Jesus could not have fulfilled His mission and without our betrayers we cannot fulfill our destiny and walk in it.

Heavenly Father, so many of our hearts are broken because of the betrayal we have experienced. Sometimes it is so difficult to move past feelings of anger and bitterness. We forget that Your Son was betrayed as well and fulfilled His mission. Help us to learn how to overcome the rejection and pain we feel and to be thankful for our betrayers who enable us to more fully experience Your presence, and fulfill and walk in our destiny. Amen.

^[1] New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (LaHabra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995), Jn 13:21–31.