Maundy Thursday has passed. The greatest intimate teaching of Jesus in that Upper Room is one desired Passover that He desired them to remember. It starts by expelling the betrayer, who he reveals through the bread dipped in the wine. It seems Satan takes over Judas right there as he goes to plan the handing over.

As we transition to our Passover not everyone will come with us, just as surely Jesus had one who walked so closely with Him these 3 years so the pain of it must have troubled Jesus all the way through. The pain seems to simmer below the surface and then emerge for proceedings to be cut short and discourses change direction.

Betrayal is a part of the process of Jesus getting through it, completing the task of securing redemption to those who would believe in Him. Betrayal is not designed to stop us walking to the full transition and us moving into fullness . It is a test for us to overcome.

Betrayal is felt most amongst friends and family. It is the ones who have access to our intimate feelings and desires who seem to turn them on us. The test is to let them complete what their flesh and ambition sought for. Very often shortly after their plot is consummated then regret and conviction come. Judas’ regret did not become repentance. He was too deep in covenant to him who he sold his soul to. And when pay day comes it surely comes!

The Bible talks about betrayal in the house of God especially in the last days . I feel we are in the days when this is becoming commonplace as people become more and more narcissistic. We hear of men of God fall, and where churches betray their national denominations. We must not be dismayed, we must prepare that in the midst of the greatest suffering we see the greatest victory.

David recalls in the Psalm that it was not an enemy who betrayed him, but a friend with whom he went to the Tabernacle to worship.

Betrayal must cause us not to recoil in pain but approach more and more to God. For in rejected company we join Jesus.

Let this pain let us contemplate the power to lift us beyond our suffering.

Maranatha!