Take just a minute, and go back in your mind to when someone hurt you. Think of that person and the hurt and the pain they inflicted on you. Maybe it was their insecurity, or lack of time they gave you, they criticized you, or betrayed your trust, or even abuse.
NOW, imagine back to the first time you met that person. What if you had prior knowledge to how they were going to hurt you?! What if you could foresee the pain and hurt they would inflict on you. Would you allow them in your life? Would you let them come into your home? Would you let them be a part of your story?
While all pain and hurt is hard to go through, it can be good for us at times, because it causes us to grow and change, hopefully for the better. However, when the pain of their betrayal cuts so deep that it leaves scars, wounds, or trauma in our lives, would we be willing to open up our lives to them if we knew ahead of time how they would treat us?
I can’t say I would subject myself to that person if I knew the outcome.
Relationships are hard. Friends can be hard to love, EVEN FAMILY is hard to love at times, but if we want the relationship to continue, we push the pain aside and choose to LOVE.
What about those people who are strangers to us? People we only interact with for a moment. Those slow walking people in the grocery store, telemarketers on the phone, the person who has different values or principles than you do, or even the person who just cut you off in traffic! Do we really have to love them? We don’t really know them and we aren’t planning on letting them in our lives.
Is showing love to them really necessary?
Years ago, Jesus was being questioned by Pharisees and essentially they were trying to trap Jesus with their questions, recorded in Matthew 22. They asked Him…
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Read that last line again… “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Does this mean if we don’t get LOVE right, are we “doing Christianity” wrong?
Look at Judas. Jesus KNEW, that Judas would betray Him and yet Jesus still chose to love Judas. Jesus FORSAW Judas’ betrayal and He still allowed Judas in his life. NOT ONLY HIS LIFE, but His ministry!!! He allowed Judas to walk by his side and work with him in reaching and teaching others about God, and JESUS KNEW the pain that Judas would bring!
JESUS LOVED JUDAS!
Judas, for 30 pieces of silver, brought the guards to Jesus so they could take Him away to kill him! 30 pieces of silver in that time could have been about $600 dollars. Today’s value would be only a little over $ 200 dollars! (grandrapidscoins.com)
Judas, a man who followed Jesus for a few years, worked side by side with Jesus, would have probably called Jesus, “Teacher”, “Rabbi”, and maybe even a “Friend”, walked up to Jesus, KISSED HIM ON THE CHEEK with the weight of his betrayal JINGLING IN HIS POCKET!
…AND YET….
JESUS LOVED JUDAS!
After Judas’ led the guards to Jesus, Jesus’ face was beaten, and He was whipped so severely that his skin ripped from His body. Muscle and bone were exposed! They mocked Him. They spit on Him. They put a crown of thorns on His head and it pierced His scalp!
They forced Him to carry a heavy wooden cross on His already open wounds so they could carry out an ACT OF TORTURE, for their enjoyment! They pounded thick nails through his feet and hands. Very likely, as they stood the cross in place, the weight of the cross dropping into a hole, jarred his body downward, pulling on those nails, ripping through more skin, separating bones, and tearing tendons.
This man, who DID NOTHING WRONG, was put through all that torture, “a willing victim who had committed no treachery was killed in a traitor’s stead” (Lewis, C. S. 2005.), hanging on the cross, holding the weight of MY SIN and yours, finally said, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
THIS IS HOW YOU LOVE OTHERS!
JESUS LOVED JUDAS! This phrase is what I am carrying with me. If Jesus could allow Judas in His life, KNOWING ahead of time the pain that was coming, I can certainly deal with those who irritate, frustrate, or hurt me…
…JESUS LOVED JUDAS!
Great blog source for the value of silver coins! Check it out. https://www.grandrapidscoins.com/blogs/entry/how-much-were-judas-iscariot-s-30-pieces-of-silver-worth
Lewis, C. S. 2005. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Grand Rapids, MI: ZonderKidz.
Cowles Farm 
That is a fantastic post and very thought provoking. Great job.
LikeLike