“But here at this table, sitting among us as a friend, is the man who will betray me. For I, the Son of Man, must die since it is part of God’s plan. But how terrible it will be for my betrayer!” Then the disciples began to ask each other which of them would ever do such a thing.”

Luke 22:21-23

What If you deeply trusted someone and you could bet your life that the person would never hurt you, then you found out that the person did? What if it was more than one person? What if it was by your former partners, family members, or closest friends? This leads to a moment of shock and betrayal. There is also the internal conflict that comes from disliking someone whom you are supposed to love and trust. 

The Experience of Betrayal

One of the worst feelings that you can possibly have is the feeling of betrayal. It could completely change you for the rest of your life. It could be life-threatening because of the shock and negative impact it has on you both physically and mentally. It could even lead to irrational behavior that comes with feelings of regret and stress from the trust that is lost.

Betrayal in The Bible

“Judas, how can you betray me, the Son of Man, with a kiss?”

Matthew 26:48

But Jesus dealt with that same situation when he was betrayed by Judas. Jesus already prophesied his own betrayal. He told his disciples that one of them will do it and they all denied that they would betray him. Judas knew what he was capable of doing but he wasn’t being honest to himself. Most people will deny that they could betray someone so severely. Perhaps you never betrayed anyone before. We are all able to speak the truth based on what we did in the past but we aren’t able to predict what we could do in the future, especially when we are in certain situations when we have to make difficult decisions. You will have no idea how you will react or respond unless you are put in that situation. That is usually how betrayal works. 

Love & Betrayal

From my experience, betrayal and love is almost the same. The more you love someone, the more pain you will experience from that person’s betrayal. Also, Just saying you loved someone does not always mean that you really love that person. Love is not always about what you “say”, it is also about what you “do”. So personally, I don’t really put much credence into what people “say”, I have more regard for what they “do.” The pain that I experienced from betrayal was so severe that I would not even wish it on my worst enemy.

After being betrayed by my ex-wife and mother-in-law, I could have ended up in prison. Only less than half a percentage of Black males get custody of their children after being falsely accused of child sexual abuse. It doesn’t matter if it is a truth or a lie. Everyone told me to lose hope because I would never get custody of my 2 daughters. They said it would be impossible. They said I was wasting my time. Most people in my situation would have lost hope and say it wasn’t worth trying to get custody. But I am not like most people. With faith and passion, I still kept going. From my experience with betrayal, It was beyond anything I had ever imagined. It was like a nightmare that became a reality. But how would you feel if someone did it to you?

“Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. They were delighted and agreed to give him money. He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.“

Luke 22:3-6