Betrayed and Abandoned
“There are people who know the facts about Jesus but do not truly love and follow Jesus. Judas had all the disciples fooled. But when a person does not persevere to the end and they abandon Christ, it is proof that they were not truly Christ’s.” – Tony Walliser
Read John 13:18-30,36-38
Betrayed and Abandoned
Have you ever been betrayed? Maybe by a someone you were dating, a spouse, parent, close friend, or coworker? It hurt, didn’t it? Perhaps the pain remains to this day. It’s hard to get past the agony of betrayal.
Some of us are children of divorce and have felt not only betrayal but also abandonment. The solid, stable home environment we thought we had was ripped apart with the departure of a parent. Regardless of the reasons, it still hurt – deeply.
We live in a world where it seems people are all too happy to do us wrong. But betrayal is something different. It’s by someone close to us, someone we’ve trusted and loved, stabbing us in the back. Kind of like the Roman dictator Julius Caesar, who was betrayed – and literally stabbed in the back – by his good friend Brutus.
That’s one reason this passage from the gospel of John is so powerful. It’s an account of Jesus Christ and His closest followers, and how they each betrayed Him at the moment of His greatest need. Especially two of them, Judas and Peter.
We know about Judas. Despite being among the 12 disciples and given great responsibility as treasurer for the group, he betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. In addition, Judas sealed the betrayal with a “kiss of death.” He led Jewish religious leaders and some Roman soldiers to the garden of Gethsemane where he knew Jesus and the other disciples would be, then kissed Jesus on the cheek to confirm He was the one they were seeking.
It’s hard to imagine how someone who had been with Jesus day and night for nearly three years could do such a thing. But Judas wasn’t the only one. Brash and bold Peter had declared his complete loyalty to Jesus, even stating, “I will lay down my life for you.” And yet, mere hours later, Peter would betray Jesus, three times denying that he knew Him.
Why isn’t Peter held in the same contempt as Judas? It’s because of how they responded.
Judas later felt remorseful over his betrayal, giving back the silver coins to the Jewish chief priests and elders, then taking his own life by hanging himself. Peter, however, moved past regret and remorse to genuine repentance. He returned to the disciples, acknowledging his terrible sin of verbally disowning the One who had loved him unconditionally.
Later, in John 21, we see Jesus forgiving and restoring Peter. The Lord graciously asks for and receives three affirmations from Peter of his love and commitment to Him. Yes, he had betrayed Jesus, but he would never deny Him again. Ultimately, he would indeed lay down his life for Christ, being crucified head-down on a cross.
What does this mean for us today? We all, in one way or another – perhaps a number of times – have betrayed Jesus with our words and actions, or maybe by what we chose not to say or didn’t do. But what matters is how we respond. The test of being a true follower of Christ is returning. And persevering.
God knows we’re weak and that sometimes our faith wavers. But as we remember His promise to us, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5), we can be assured that when we stumble, He will always be there to pick us up and restore us into life-changing, eternal fellowship with Him. Jesus will never betray us – and He will never abandon us.