Not me, Lord

How many of you like to watch cop shows like Law and Order? How many have seen Hill Street Blues? How about Dragnet? (I’m not going back any farther; I’ll give away my age!) On these shows, did anybody get arrested? I’ve seen shows where someone would rat out their friend or their husband or wife to keep from going to jail, haven’t you?

Judas, Peter, and the other disciples did something like that to Jesus. You see, the Sanhedrin, and others, wanted to kill Jesus and arrest his disciples, too. Now, we all know Jesus wasn’t a bad guy; he never did anything wrong, but they all betrayed him.

Judas sold information to the Sanhedrin for 30 pieces of silver. Because of Judas’s betrayal, Jesus was found and arrested. This eventually led to His death on the Cross.

The other disciples betrayed Jesus when they didn’t keep watch while Jesus prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane that night.

Peter even betrayed him 3 times when he denied knowing him after Jesus was arrested so he wouldn’t get arrested too.

What did Judas, Peter, and the other disciples have in common (besides betraying Jesus)? They all said, “Not me, Lord.”

In Matthew 26:21 (during the Passover meal) Jesus said to the twelve, ‘I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.’ In v:22 ‘They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?” (also Mark 14:18-19)

Judas said in Matthew 26:25, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” (also Mark 14:19)

The Bible tells us in v35: ‘Peter declared, “Even if I have to die with you, I will never disown you.” And all the other disciples said the same.’ (also Mark 14:31)

With the exception of Judas, Peter and the other disciples didn’t betray Jesus on purpose. They had no deliberate intention to, but they were afraid there was the possibility.

Some of you are probably thinking, “Not me. I would never do that.” The truth is we betray Jesus all of the time. I’m sure we don’t set out to. It’s not intentional. Yet we betray Jesus when we say we are devoted to Him but don’t live like it; when we ‘talk the talk’ but don’t ‘walk the walk’; when we gossip, tell ‘little white lies’………… whenever we don’t stand up for Jesus.

Prayer: Dear Jesus, we all know we betray you in some way every day and we are ashamed of our weakness. Help us to be strong and to live our lives each day so that we can say, “Not me, Lord. Not today.” Amen.