Betraying Jesus

Judas betrayed Jesus to the authorities for thirty pieces of silver.  Peter betrayed Jesus three times before the night was over (before the cock crowed).  We focus on these betrayals of the past and ignore the betrayals of the religion of Jesus in our own time.

Building walls to keep people in or out is an ethical and moral evil.  We know this from the practice of segregation, which, by the way, still exists and colors every facet of our society.  The walls of segregation divide the privileged from the underprivileged, the rich from the poor, the comfortable from the uncomfortable.  It has always been so, but it doesn’t have to be, and that is what Jesus came to tell us. But the walls remain and whatever side of the wall you happen to be, one thing is certain:  the wall poisons any opportunity to connect with the other—for walls prohibit us from discovering a sense of mutual worth and value in each other—which is why walls are built up in the first place.

“American Christianity,” wrote Howard Thurman, “has betrayed the religion of Jesus almost beyond redemption.”  No walls are more formidable than those established by the Church (churches).  Churches have been established for the poor, the weak, the privileged, and the underprivileged, on the assumption that “birds of a feather flock together.”  Churches actually separate rather than unify.  If this is true, then we will never find love for one another, because the first step toward love is a common sharing of a sense of mutual worth and value.  If you stay with your flock and I stay with mine, and we are satisfied with this, then learning how to love one another isn’t going to happen. 

Churches have been established for the Chinese, the Korean, the Mexican, the Filipino, the Italian, the Greek, the white Anglo-Saxon, the Russian, and the African-American. The one place, the Church, which is supposed to emulate Jesus’ command to love one’s neighbor, is one of the greatest barriers (walls) to that ever happening.  What a betrayal!  

We must cease scapegoating Judas and Peter for their betrayal of Jesus during this season of Lent and take a closer look at our own betrayal of Jesus.