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| image found at: http://mikefriesen05.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/dealing-with-lifes-great-wounds-betrayal/ |
Scripture: John 13:21-32
In the scripture today Jesus is said to know that one of his disciples will betray him. I want you to take a moment to consider this. How many of us would ever knowingly keep someone who will betray us in our group? I mean, if I know someone is talking behind my back or acting jealously (etc.) you had better believe that I will stop confiding in them. If I know that a friend does not have my best interest at heart, you’d better believe that I no longer consider them friend. My interests have to be important to my friends, right? My needs have to be a concern for a true friend.
Christ does not define life or friendship as you or I do. As Jesus approached the cross, he began to make it very clear that Life is far more than what we can see or experience. In those last days of life, Christ showed us that there is more to experience than this lone world. When Judas is invited to continue at the meal, in fact, invited to ‘do what he must do’ but quickly…Judas is shown that he is still cared for. Jesus remained committed to Judas even when Judas was clearly not committed to Jesus.
There will be many times when we will betray our God. It is part of being human, by the way. Our God will be hurt and saddened by the decisions that we make and the things that we choose to do, yet God does not send us away from the table. Jesus not only continues to eat with Judas, he actually dips bread and feeds Judas. Jesus feeds the one who will betray him!? I want to suggest that this is what happens for us at communion. Communion is the act when we come forward in church and feed upon bread and juice as a sign of being fed by Christ….when it comes to that act, we are much like Judas. We are imperfect human beings, yet God sees beyond us and our limitations. We will mess up and betray God, yet God will still love us, feed us, commune with us.
During Holy Week consider what it means for us to still be at God’s table after all of these millennia. What does it mean that Christ still communes with us? What does it mean that Christ offers body and blood for us to partake in? What does it mean that God does this knowing that we will commit betrayals?
Christ invites all of us, even though we will mess up, to walk with Him to the cross. Christ invites all of us to journey the Easter experience and to know his love. Will you journey with Christ this Easter? Are you prepared to be loved in a new way this Easter?
