For the Stabbed-in-the-Heart

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him... When he [was finished] he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you?" 
John 13:5, 12

This familiar story has recently spoken to me in a new way. It has reached deep down into my heart and touched a tender pain. 

Have you felt the piercing sting of betrayal? The horrific agony of an intimate friend selling out their loyalty to you for someone or something more enticing? The heartache of a confidante talking to others behind your back? The incomprehensible choice of a close companion to walk away from a relationship when things got difficult? 

Jesus knows such betrayal.

Judas: For a mere 30 pieces of silver (about 5 weeks pay), Judas severed loyalties with his Lord. Judas led a band of accusing religious leaders and armed soldiers to his Master's prayer closet and there, did the unthinkable--betrayed his Lord with a kiss!
Peter: During the evening meal, Peter had said, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death." And then, in the span of a few hours, he vehemently denied his Lord, not once, but three times.

John 13:11 states, "[Jesus] knew who was to betray him" (Judas) and in verse 38 Jesus foretells Peter's thrice denial. Our Lord was "acquainted with grief." Jesus knew Judas and Peter would betray/deny him, even before He washed their grimy toes. And yet, He did just that--washed their nasty feet.

I have to admit, my heart attitude to those who've betrayed me often looks less like Christ's and more like Carrie Underwood's in Before He Cheats--I hold onto unforgiveness and want retaliation. Pondering this lesson on betrayal, my heart has been convicted. Jesus did not hold a grudge against those who betrayed Him. Nor did he seek to make them 'pay for it'. Rather, He reached out with love and served. 

What can we learn from Jesus example? 
1) Forgive--"As the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive." Col 3:13b
2) Serve in Love--"if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Romans 12:20. And, really there is no better way to sum it up than I Cor 13! If you, like me, are struggling with betrayal, I challenge you to read this chapter every day for the next 30 days.

Join me in asking the Lord to show us how to love one another, as He has loved us.

"If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, 

you also ought to wash one another's feet. 

For I have given you an example, 

that you also should do just as I have done to you." 

John 3:5,14,15