The Suffering Servantنموونە

It’s much easier to deal with hatred from an enemy than it is to face hatred in a friend. You don’t usually have random enemies, after all. You go back at least long enough to build up bad blood, whether your feud started as kids or just last month. If they hate you, chances are you already know it and aren’t going to be too bothered if they show you more proof. But with a friend, it’s much different. With true friends, all your defenses come down. You have shared fond times and many meals. You’ve talked about all the things that are well below the surface of ordinary conversation. Taking an unexpected knife from a friend is a unique betrayal.

On the night that he was arrested, it was Judas Iscariot who delivered Jesus into the hands of his captors. It was one thing for the Pharisees and priests to hate Jesus. Jesus reserved his harshest scorn for them. This was different. The psalmist says: “[I]t is not an enemy who taunts me—then I could bear it; it is not an adversary who deals insolently with me—then I could hide from him” (Psa. 55:12).

Judas wasn’t just one among the crowds who listened to Jesus, but one of the twelve. As Judas approached him, Jesus would have known him well: “[I]t is you, a man, my equal, my companion, my familiar friend. We used to take sweet counsel together; within God’s house we walked…” (Psa. 55:13-14). When Judas embraced Jesus, as if to greet him “with a holy kiss” (Rom. 16:16), it was like countless other moments over the past three years. It’s easy to imagine another possibility—a different history where you could find letters from Judas tucked between Hebrews and James. Instead, Judas became known as “the son of destruction” and the greatest betrayer in history (John 17:12).

It’s easy to scoff at Judas and to say that we could never imagine betraying Jesus. In truth, we sound a lot like Peter and his words didn’t mean much either (Matt. 26:75). Perhaps we wouldn’t have sold Jesus for pocket change, but every time we sin, we exchange the glory of God for something worth far less than silver. We may not be Judas, but Jesus was betrayed and condemned so that our betrayals would be forgiven.

Jesus was God’s suffering servant, and he experienced these betrayals so we would become the faithful. His trial was a sham. His condemnation was unjust. His friends handed him over to death or fled for their lives. But Jesus was willing to undergo it all because he loved you—even if you are prone to flee or cower.

Jesus came to restore our relationship with God, despite our many betrayals. Even more, he promises to make us “faithful unto death” (Rev. 2:10).