Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, March 16, 2022
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
I betrayed my best friend once. It is probably the one moment of my life that I am least proud of. I was fourteen and cowardly and when her arch-nemesis confronted me about something she and I had perpetrated together, I lied and said my friend had done the whole thing herself.
The miracle? My best friend forgave me. I mean, not right away. But this was an egregious betrayal. By all rights that should have been the end of our friendship. Game over. And within a short time, we were as good as ever. Years later, when I got into recovery and made a formal amends to her, she said she didn’t even remember what had happened. She is still, at 50, my best friend, by the way, a testament to her faithfulness, if not mine.
Judas dipped his bread in the bowl with Jesus. Jesus knew what was coming, what Judas would do—in advance, mind you. And I’m pretty sure Jesus forgave him. I’m certain that Jesus died out of just as much love for Judas as for anyone else—possibly more; after all, didn’t Jesus say he came not for the healthy, but for the sick sinners? We all betray Jesus. We all sin and fall short. And Jesus knows its coming and loves us anyway. What a gift.
Have I ever betrayed anyone close to me? Have I made amends?
