Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

By Mike Caton

John 13:21, After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

We can only imagine how troubled Jesus was at this thought. He knew that the one was Judas and he knew what Judas was going to do and Jesus even knew how it would happen. But at that moment, in that room with those men, it had to break Jesus’ heart. It is always troubling when we see someone we love in a bad situation. It is bad whether they are simply caught up in something they have no control over or whether it is a bad choice they have made. It truly burdens us to our core.

And what about the others when they heard Jesus say this? We’ll look more closely at what John says in the next verses, but you can imagine it was like a punch in the gut. One of these men, their closest friends, men they had spent the last three years with, one of them was a betrayer! That had to boggle their minds and trouble their hearts as well.

But let’s learn a lesson from this; it is possible for anyone to turn on you. In all of Jesus’ predictions about his death, there would be no way these men would have thought the betrayer would come from the inside. Often times, it is the one we least suspect. So, we simply need to be careful. This is not to say we should trust no one, indeed that would be a lonely way to live our lives. We know that people often make poor choices, often get confused, or tripped up, or whatever. And we also know that we have to suffer along with those folks, that is what being friends is all about. As was pointed out in our Communion meditation this morning, Judas ate too at the Last Supper. It is up to each of us to make the best decisions we can and to stand by those we love in their situations as well.
Father, help me never give you reason to be troubled. In Jesus’ name, amen

Mike Caton is the preacher at Mount Olive Church of Christ in Belhaven. He volunteers at the Ponzer Fire Department and works part time with Hyde County EMS. If you would like to receive daily devotions in your inbox, email mikecaton@centurylink.net.

READ ABOUT COMMUNITY NEWS AND EVENTS HERE.