“Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?”
Growing up, I’m sure that many of us were either surprised or disappointed when we heard about how Judas betrayed Jesus. How could someone who was so close to Jesus and witnessed so many of His wondrous deeds do such a thing? It is easy to recognize the grave sin that Judas committed and to think that we would never do such a thing. Just as the other apostles said, we too often think that it surely isn’t us who would betray Jesus. But, when we reflect back on our lives, there are plenty of times when we can acknowledge that we have betrayed Jesus in our own ways.
When we sin, we in a way betray Jesus. In the words of Fr. Mike Schmitz, when we sin, we tell God that we know what He wants but we’re going to do what we want. For me, there are definitely a lot of times that I can recall where I betrayed Jesus and sinned even when I knew that what I was doing was wrong and not what God wanted.
Even though I have betrayed God by sinning, in His great mercy, He sent His only Son to die on the cross to save me and the whole world. Through the sacrament of confession, I am forgiven and pardoned of my sins. I am so thankful that God is merciful and loving.
I encourage you today and during this Holy Week to think about the times you have betrayed God by sinning and to thank Him for all that He suffered so that we could have new life. May God grant us the grace to avoid sin and to choose Him always.
— Anonymous