“Salt and Light”: Matthew 26 | Betrayal

‘”But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.’

Matthew 26:56

Betrayal means at least two things.

1. The act of betraying someone or something or the fact of being betrayed: violation of a person’s trust or confidence; of a moral standard: “She betrayed him when she broke the covenant of marriage, with another man.”

• Revelation of something hidden or secret: “He seemed to be honorable, but he betrayed his true feelings, when he began to gossip about her behind her back.”

“Betrayal” can also mean both things at once: An act and a revelation. And we see it meaning both things, at the same time, in the betrayal and desertion of Christ: The disciples betray Jesus and it is a revelation of God’s purpose in the Cross of Christ. We see the betrayal as both things, at once when we hear Christ’s words, describing the meaning of all this to us: “…how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen in this way?” (Matt. 25:54)

Betrayal. Isn’t it bizarre that betrayal – the most profound betrayal – is at the heart of the story of our Lord? And, more than that, that He says: “This is the way it must be. God wills it.”

That might be fine for Jesus. But it’s much harder for us, isn’t it? To believe that in my betrayal of another, or, in the betrayal of a friend or family member, that God is doing something in that to me, in me, even for my good.

This is the classic Christian confession of that belief, in Romans 8: “… we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…” (Romans 8:28-29)

If you belong to God, the Father will make you – even and especially through your sins and the ways that you’ve been sinned against – more and more like Jesus. Your destiny has always been to be conformed to Christ. This is the way that all things will work for your good, even, and including, the sin of betrayal. Those are the deep, living waters of God’s ways with us. The old hymn puts it this way: “God moves in a mysterious way / His wonders to perform…” These tell us about God’s providence – the way that he rules the world and provides for us.

The Lord’s Supper, also called Holy Communion, is our Passover meal: Christ, the Lamb of God, dies for us, so that God’s judgment passes us over, and we are delivered into his Kingdom of grace. But at that, final meal before his execution, Judas was also there – the one who betrayed Jesus.

That is true of us when we come to the Lord’s Table:

We bring ourselves – the ways in which we betrayed God, by trying to be our own Lord and Savior.

We bring the ways we have betrayed friends and family, before we knew Christ.

We bring the hurts that need healing when we were betrayed.

If we are still betraying someone – if we have not repented – we do not take the Lord’s Supper but go and ask for forgiveness and make the change.

Scripture tells us this after Jesus was arrested: “Then all the disciples deserted him and fled.” But that is not what you did, today. You are here. You are reading, listening, thinking, praying. God in his grace, brought you to this place to hear from him – that beneath the betrayal, the darkness, the pain, there is hope. His name is Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.