Holy Week Reflection

Matthew 26 

Passion week, Holy week, Easter week, whatever name you’d like to give to this week, is definitely not one we’d ever call dedicated, loyal, or dependable friends week! I think I might even call this week, Betrayal Week.

I can’t point fingers at Peter, the Zebedee boys, Judas or the rest of the disciples who fled during Jesus’ greatest time of need. Imagine how Jesus must have felt knowing that all of his closest friends, the men he hand selected to carry on his work were no longer by his side? I don’t know how Jesus felt, but I sure know how his disciples felt.

The story of the betrayal of Jesus is important. These men are symbolic representations of how we continue to betray Christ, not just on one significant occasion, but in our regular everyday lives. The betrayal stories are important for us because despite being literally abandoned by his best friends, Jesus still went to the cross for them. Jesus still entrusted the disciples to care for his grieving mother.

We, all of us, are Peter, Judas, the Zebedee Boys and the other disciples. We betray Christ, yet, he still loves us. He still went to the cross knowing that future generations would still betray him. Christ’s love for the Father and for humankind allowed him to not betray us!

During this sacred week, let us not look down at the disciples, instead let us see our reflection in their actions and remember the magnitude of Christ’s love for us; that he would still go to the cross to be tortured, ridiculed and abandoned all for us, so that we may know and experience the greatness of God’s love. What an amazing ending to the worst week of his life! Resurrection!

Jesus’ love for us was more powerful than, lies, sleeping instead of praying, violence, running away, and publicly denying being a follower of Christ. Pray that we can be like Peter who could only weep when he realised what he had done. The opposite of Peter would be to follow Judas’ actions of betraying Jesus and then in the midst of shame taking his own life. Did Judas know or accept the fact that all he had to do was ask Jesus to forgive him? Did Judas not learn anything during the time he spent with his best friend Jesus?

Jesus forgives us all, the process of forgiveness requires that we approach the cross and say, “Jesus forgive me.” We won’t do this once or twice, this will have to be an everyday act of forgiveness because we are human and we can never stop betraying Christ. This spiritual act of forgiveness is eternal it never ceases, because it can’t; or else we would all be doomed.

QUESTION:

Are you willing to go to the cross every day to ask Christ to forgive you for your continual betrayal or are you like Judas, refusing to face Jesus and ask for forgiveness?

ACTION:

Find verses that bring comfort to you in knowing that Christ forgives us for our continual betrayal towards him. Refer to these verses or pray these verses anytime the enemy has you feeling unforgiven or unloved by our saviour. Please know that you are forgiven, not because I said so, but because God has said so. God’s love is bigger, stronger, and greater than our sins. Praise be to God!