Betrayal

Betrayal arises from disjunction, a disjunction between wilful thought and a deeper truth. When that disjunction becomes apparent to the individual concerned, there is remorse and personal turmoil. Life becomes hell.

As we know, Judas in his realisation and remorse for what he had done threw the money back into the temple and then hung himself. The money that Judas threw back could not be put into the temple coffers because it was blood money and so the chief priests used the money to buy a potter's field as a burial ground for foreigners. And even today, in Jerusalem, the field still exists and is known as The Field of Blood.

Unable to bear the burden of his guilt, Judas took his own life. But surely Judas was forgiven. When Peter asked how many times he should forgive someone who had wronged him, Jesus replied, not merely seven times but 'seventy seven times'. On another occasion, as we all know, Jesus said, "He that is without sin among you - let him cast the first stone."

The French enlightenment philosopher and historian, Voltaire wrote, "People continue to commit atrocities as long they believe in absurdities." And so this sin, in the end becomes a betrayal of our own humanity, a denial of our own true nature, of who we truly are. When that disjunction becomes apparent we may find also that redemption is not very far away.