Lent 2025 Day 2: Thu 6 Mar
Mark 14:43-46
43 Just as he was speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, appeared. With him was a crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests, the teachers of the law, and the elders.
44 Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: ‘The one I kiss is the man; arrest him and lead him away under guard.’ 45 Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, ‘Rabbi!’ and kissed him. 46 The men seized Jesus and arrested him.
What is betrayal?
The Traitors has proved to be very popular. Here’s a little more detail if you’re not familiar with it. Participants are brought together over a period of weeks. A small subgroup is secretly picked to act as traitors – they work together and may lie at will. The remainder are faithfuls, who must speak the truth. Contestants seek to be the last one standing after a series of murders and vote-offs.
Someone who betrays another is a traitor. The traitor in the excerpt from Mark above is well-known, and his name, Judas, is synonymous with betrayal.
What causes people to betray others can be discussed forever, but betrayal has consequences in broken relationships and deep mistrust that may reverberate through generations. Think about someone who has let you down – they may have been thoughtless or had malicious intent. From telling on you in the primary school to stealing a boy/girlfriend, from betraying a confidence or spreading untruths (those of us who enjoy gossipy titbits are also in on the betrayal) to planning hurt – we may have been the object of another's betrayal or perhaps even the instigator.
Our Christian faith reminds us that God is loving and forgiving. He reaches out to find the lost and bring them home. In Father God we may receive both healing from the hurt we suffer and forgiveness for that which we impose on others.
Who has betrayed your trust? Have you forgiven them?
Who have you betrayed? Have you sought their forgiveness?
Father God, in sending us Jesus you had already planned the greatest betrayal ever, so that you could reveal your everlasting love grace and kindness. In Jesus I have healing and forgiveness, demonstrated in his life, death, resurrection and glory. Amen.
8:46 Herzliebster Jesu (Choral)
3. Chorale
Heart's beloved Jesus, how have you transgressed,
that such a harsh sentence has been pronounced?
What is the crime, of what kind of misdeed
are you accused?
4a. Evangelist Then the high priests and the scribes and the elders of the people gathered in the palace of the high priest, who was named Caiaphas, and took council how with deception they could seize Jesus and kill him. They said, however:
4b. Chorus I & II Not, indeed, during the festival, so that there will not be an uproar among the people.
4c. Evangelist Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to him with a cup filled with valuable water; and she poured it upon his head as he sat at the table. When his disciples saw this, they were against it and said:
4d. Chorus I What purpose does this foolishness serve? This water could have been sold for a high price and given to the poor.
4e. Evangelist When Jesus heard this, he said to them:
4f. Jesus Why do you trouble the woman? She has done a good deed for me. You will have the poor with you always, but you will not always have me. She has poured this water on my body because I will be buried. Truly Isay to you: wherever this Gospel will be preached in the whole world they will tell, in her memory, what she has done.
Ends at 12:50
Paul