Jesus said: “One of you shall betray me”.
“And when it was evening, he came with the twelve. And, as they were reclining at table and eating, Jesus said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me, one who is eating with me.” They began to be sorrowful and to say to him one after another, “Is it I?” Mark 14:17-19 ESV
We read in the Gospels that the disciples often just didn’t get it. They were with Jesus and He was teaching them and showing His power through miracles on a daily basis. But, because they didn’t get it, Jesus’ words to them often began with “Oh, ye of little faith”.
The disciples were there when Jesus fed five thousand men (plus women and children) from a few loaves and fishes. Yet, not long after that, Jesus asked them about feeding four thousand and they said it couldn’t be done.
Jesus kept repeating the fact that He was going to Jerusalem to die. Yet, they took it to mean He was going to start His earthly reign, and spent time arguing over which of them would get the highest office in that kingdom. They just didn’t get it.
However, in the Scripture above, during what we call The Last Supper, they did get it. When Jesus said one of them would betray Him, they didn’t accuse each other and point fingers of guilt. No, each of them sorrowfully recognized his own weakness and asked the troubling question “Is it I?”
Before we start condemning them, we need to ensure we get it. We need to recognize we have no real strength without Jesus. We may not betray Him in the same manner He described, but we can betray our faith in many different ways.
The assurance comes, though, in that we don’t have to act on our own strength. 1 John 4:4 tells us Whose strength we can rely on:
“Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world.” 1 John 4:4 ESV
I Was Thinking the Other Day About... 
I love that they asked “Is it I” because they recognized the possibility, coming face to face with their own propensity to sin. I think it’s when Peter stopped asking this question, that he fell into danger. Instead of asking, “Is it I?” later on, he declared, “No way! Even if others fall away, I’ll never leave you, Jesus!” We all need that reminder to keep allowing God to search our hearts and draw us to Him! Thanks for sharing, Bill!
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Thanks Heather – glad you enjoyed it. Yes, at one point I had included the example of Peter’s forgetting that earlier statement, but decided to stop where I was. And now, thankfully, you’re added it back where it needs to be.
I hate that we all have betrayed Jesus! But I love that last scripture!
God Bless you & yours!
Yes, it is a struggle – but as the Scripture says – Greater is He!
Thanks and God Bless you and yours also.
Enjoyed the thoughts you presented. I guess the disciples’ minds were too set in the concrete of “Messiah’s earthly reign.” And then, everything Jesus said was “upside down” from mortal thinking; no wonder they were bewildered.
Even today a person finds it hard to comprehend divine power or plan. We pray for our own needs, God meets them in some unique way and we’re amazed. We pray for someone going astray — and when they turn around we can hardly believe it actually could happen. Thanks be, He understands! “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” Isaiah 55:9
Thanks Christine – glad you enjoyed it. As you say, there are a lot of ways we (and especially me!) don’t get it.