Thought for the Day - Love and Betrayal

The Wounded Deer, 1946 by Frida Kahlo

Thought for the Day given at a lunchtime service of Holy Communion on Wednesday 16th April 2025 at St Giles-in-the-Fields based on the text of Hebrews 12.1-3 and John 13.21-32.

Today is known as Spy Wednesday. The day we remember the betrayal of Jesus by Judas Iscariot.

Each of the gospels recounts this pivotal moment in a slightly different way. In the gospel of John - which we hear this lunchtime - the betrayal takes place after Jesus has washed the feet of his disciples.

Appearing visibly “troubled in Spirit” Jesus declares that one of them is about to betray him.

They cannot believe what they are hearing. Simon Peter turns to John and asks who Jesus is talking about. Jesus says that it is the one to whom he is about to give a piece of bread.

Offering bread dipped in oil is, as it was then, a sign of hospitality, of friendship. Through which Jesus shows that his love for Judas is offered right until the end. Even though he knows exactly the events that are about to unfold.

Some of the gospel accounts imply Judas was motivated by personal gain. Others, including John’s gospel, focus on greater - cosmic - powers at work. Satan enters into Jesus once he takes the bread - and he immediately goes out into the darkness of the night, turning his back on the light of the world.

The reality is we do not know why Judas betrayed Jesus. But we do know that there can be no betrayal without love. As we see in the greatest works of drama, the deepest tragedies are often betrayals by a closest friend. Judas - like Brutus or Macbeth - loved his friend, Jesus. Just as we do.

The scriptures this Spy Wednesday encourage us to reflect on the uncomfortable inter-relationship between love and betrayal in our own lives. To recognise the “sin which doth so easily beset us” - our failure to be faithful to others - and the times we have been wounded when others have betrayed us.

And to look to Jesus – “the author and finisher” of our faith – for assurance that through His death on the cross, it is not betrayal - but love - that has the last word.

Image : The Wounded Deer, 1946 by Frida Kahlo