Based on Matthew 26:17-30
It is heart-breaking to hear Jesus say point-blank — “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The Twelve are cut to the heart, as they are sorrowful and ask Him, “Is it I, Lord?” On the one hand, we know that it is Judas who would betray the Lord. On the other, doesn’t Peter betray Jesus as well? Not once, but three times? And before we are too quick to criticize Judas and Peter, don’t we betray our Lord, as well?
In John’s account of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus gives a new commandment. The old commandment was, “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus turns it upside down when he commands, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” That is a whole different commandment, isn’t it? How does the Lord Jesus love you and me? Completely, sacrificially, in such a way that he empties Himself of Himself, as He takes our sin upon Himself, dying on the cross, that we might have new life. And, do we keep this commandment faithfully? Or do we betray Jesus, daily, unable to love one another as He loves us? We are, in a way, betrayers of Jesus, as were Judas and Peter. To acknowledge this is to remind us of our need for a Savior, our need for the New Covenant Jesus came to inaugurate, and our need for the forgiveness of our sins, which we receive through His blood poured out for us! We ought never to hear the accounts of Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, thinking, “how shameful of those twelve disciples, and Judas and Peter especially, who betrayed the Lord.” We are always to understand that we are with them, sitting at table with Jesus, His betrayers one and all, yet eating and drinking His body and blood of the New Covenant, forgiven, transformed, made new, through His crucifixion, death and resurrection.
Prayer: O Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us. Grant us peace. Amen.
