The gross betrayal of the Tutsi’s in the 1994 Genocide was incomprehensible. The Hutu’s killed the President of Rwanda and ordered all Tutsi’s to be executed. Hundreds of thousands died. Marriages that crossed tribal boundaries required the husband who was a Hutu to kill his Tutsi wife. Hutu mothers killed their Tutsi children.
The heinous crime echoed through the world.
Horror
Murder
Devastation.
A country was changed forever.
Judas betrayal of Jesus was a act that echoed through the centuries.
Horror
Murder
Salvation
Our world was changed forever.
Did he lick his lips as the thirty pieces weighed down his palm?
Did his mind spiral toward pleasured spending
Or did his hands shake just a little?
A deal struck
With callous men
Blinded by contempt
Darkened by distrust
Jealous fingers choking their icy hearts.
Did he relish the task
A smirking mask covering his countenance
As he lay in traitorous wait?
A jackal crouching
Watching
Waiting
Ready to spring—
On the Lamb, beautiful Savior of our souls.
The words of our Lord
Chilling in their finality
Deadly in their prediction
“Woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.” Mt 26:24
He looked at Jesus square and lied.
Did he blink or glance away in shame
Or was it the look of a cold calculated deceiver?
Yet in different ways I abandon and betray him daily.
I forget the pierced hands
And his blood punctured side.
A sacrifice made for me
Lowly and weak.
So that I—his beloved
Can be white as the lamb he is.
Am I so different from Judas and any other traitor?
Weak, betrayer, lured by fortune or power.
The real difference?
I know he died for me
For you
For them.
And his blood continually washes me white.
The soap of his grace scrubs the black away.
And the peace I find is in knowing that in his eyes I am clean and beautiful and loved.
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Isaiah 53:5 But He was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities, the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.
-Thank him now for his sacrifice, love and patience with you.