04/09/2025
*THE TRAITOR*
Good morning, turn with me to Luke chapter 22. Most of us have an understanding of how valuable and important good friendships are in our lives. For some of you, you can look back at a difficult time or perhaps a crisis in your life and remember how a good friend was there for you or helped you get through that difficulty.
You may also know what it is like to have a friend betray you. Some of you know what it is like to experience an unfaithful friend who you thought cared about you only to wound you or even betray you.
Throughout Scripture we see repeated offenses of people who hurt their friends, spouses, family members like Joseph’s brothers who sold him into slavery and other examples as well. But in the history of the world, there has never been such a worse betrayal that ever took place like when Jesus our Savior was betrayed by Judas.
Think about this betrayal for just a moment. As we saw last week Jesus had sat down with His disciples and told them that He earnestly desired to eat this Passover meal with them. (Luke 22 and verse 15) In other words, Jesus knew that His time had come to die for our sin. The Passover had been celebrated for many years and once again Jesus and His disciples met to remember how the angel of death had passed over the children of Israel and yet had brought judgement to Egypt. So, this was a very special time for the Lord, and yet the Lord told His disciples some very discouraging news. “One of you is about to betray me.”