Moment of Meditation: Betrayed (Matthew 20:17-19)

''And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, "See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day."''

Jesus wanted His disciples to know what was going to happen in the near future. He didn't reveal all of the events that would start with His death. They wouldn't have been able to fathom them. We still, almost two thousand years later, cannot fathom them either. And we're living in them!

Jesus was going to Jerusalem for the last time. He wanted His disciples to know what was going to happen so they wouldn't be taken by surprise. He wanted to make them ready. But He must later say, "The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak" (Matthew 26:41).

When we hear Jesus telling the disciples about His betrayal, we often think of His institution of the Lord's Supper. But that was the fourth time He had told the disciples what was going to happen. Jesus was to be betrayed because His opponents would not take steps against Him (Matthew 26:55). One of His own would betray Him. Just as each one of His own betrays Him daily in our sins. But the betrayal was not the end. He was to suffer and die for the sin of the world. But His death wouldn't be the end. He rose from the dead on the third day.

Jesus' betrayal was necessary for our salvation. He had to die as the eternal Passover lamb so that He could take away the sin of the world. Without His sacrifice, you would not have the forgiveness of sins. Without His death, we would be dead. But Jesus died and rose again! He has opened the gates of Heaven to us. We may stand before our heavenly Father for all eternity. Praise the Lord for what He has done for you. Amen.