Betrayal: The action of betraying one’s country, a group, or a person; treachery. (Trahison, divulgation, disloyalty, treachery, faithlessness)
Scripture :
Matthew 26:48-50 The traitor, Judas, had given them a prearranged signal: “You will know which one to arrest when I greet him with a kiss.” So Judas came straight to Jesus. “Greetings, Rabbi!” he exclaimed and gave him the kiss. Jesus said, “My friend, go ahead and do what you have come for.” Then the others grabbed Jesus and arrested him.
Luke 22:56-61: But Peter said, “Mister, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just then, while he was still speaking, a rooster crowed. Then the Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. And Peter remembered the word from the Lord, and how he had told him, “Before a rooster crows today, you will deny me three times.”
Psalm 41:9: Even my closest friend whom I trusted, the one who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
Proverbs 25:9-10 Instead, take up the matter with your neighbour, and don’t betray another person’s confidence. Otherwise, anyone who hears will make you ashamed, and your bad reputation will never leave you.
The word of God is full of examples of betrayals. The two most important examples of the bible are the Judas’ & Peter’s betrayal.
However, we do have a series of other direct and indirect betrayals: David betrayed, Uriah and his army, Samson betrayed God , Delilah betrayed Samson, Saul betrayed Samuel & God and the list goes on.
Betrayal is a break of trust, of integrity, loyalty and a breach of vows, of commitment, breaking engagement and also acts of turning against our own. Judas’ case is very interesting, for he did not betray only Jesus, he betrayed his brothers also. He was also called by Jesus, He believed and he was given the gifts and sent out by Jesus where he also healed and casted out evil spirits. However, Judas’ idea of the Messiah was very contrary to that of Jesus and the close disciples.
He subsequently broke away from his group and formed another “group” with the Pharisees with whom he finally betrayed everyone. He grew disillusioned by this Messiah, and with the bait of money, he chose to get rid of Christ because they no longer were on the same page, no longer sharing the same vision. The rest is history. Rabbis say that Judas, thought he was doing the right thing, for he started to believe Jesus was wrong in some ways. So he acted with people who thought like him… Sound so familiar to many of Us !! Many times we say “we are no longer on the same pages, we don’t share the same ideas, we see business, life, ministry differently etc etc”
Unfortunately we betray our owns many times. We betray our engagements, our vows, we betray our churches, our employment, our colleagues, our husbands, our wives, our fathers, our children, our Pastors, our friends. HOW would you say ?
Betrayal is no only selling someone like Judas did. Betrayal is breaking away from what we started originally and doing it with deception and hypocrisy. We break away from our former plans, we breakaway from our ideas, from our relationships, from our unity, from our intimacy , from our complicity. We do it without telling, and we go join other people who share the same ideas as us. We do it without anyone knowing.
How many times have we betrayed our work engagements, our wedding engagements, how many times have we betrayed our employers, our husbands and wives , in the way we talk, criticise, point fingers, break communication and start it with someone else ?
How many times we choose to go silent here, but talkative the other way ? How many times we chose to break away from the plan of God. How many times we reject or renounce in our hearts (not verbally like Peter) ?
Many time in our actions and reactions, we betray the very people we are supposed to be faithful, loyal, dedicated and committed. We have lost the sense of integrity, loyalty, unity, faithfulness, trustworthiness, commitment, dedication, unwavering support, love.
Betrayal causes so much damages to relationships.
Peter was restored, but Judas, Saul and other ended up badly. Jesus can restore us, but the human heart is difficult and many times we end relationships or we worsen them with our wrong betraying attitudes. May times the effects are irreversible , christian or not.
Let us pray this morning that any “spirit of betrayal” be removed from us. Let us ask God to fill us with his spirit. Let us pray that we become like Abraham, Elijah, Moses, Paul and all these great witnesses who were faithful in all their doings!
