loved this present world, and has departed for thessalonica, Crescens for
Galatia. Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke with me at my First defense no one
stood with me, but all forsook me. May it not be charged against them"
2 Timothy 4: 9 - 16
Who was this Demas who forsook Paul? He was a co-worker who labored alongside the apostle and was with Paul during his first Roman imprisonment. Paul sent greeting from Demas to the Colossians ( Col. 4:14 ) and to Philemon ( Philem. 24 ).
I wonder how many Christians in the early Church longed to be next to Paul in his ministry, to be invited into the priviliged inner circle of his close friends. Demas had that privilege. Obviously, he was not merely an acquantance of Paul. Someone the apostle knew from a distance. Rather, he was a close and trusted friend. Therefore, his betrayed recapitulated the treachery inflicted on Christ Himself by the betrayed of Judas Iscariot and the denial of Peter.
Judas and Peter, however, were not the only ones who ran for cover during Jesus' darkest hour. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus declared to His inner circle of friends, Peter, James, and John, that He was deeply distressed and that His soul was exceedingly sorrowful even to death. He implored His friends to stay with Him and watch ( Mark: 14:32-34). At this moment. No soldier were present none of the enemies of Jesus were there. The disciple were alone with Christ. He didn't ask them to fight; He asked them to watch while He prayed. Three times Jesus came to them. Three times He found the' sleeping. They were not able to watch with Him for a single hour. Jesus warned them, saying, "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak'" (Mark14:38).
It is one thing to be attacked or insulted by one's enemies it is quite another to be betrayed by a close friend or family member. To be betrayed by someone we love and trust is one of the most painful experience a human being can endure. You know that what I have just written is true. At this very moment, in all probability, a person's name is in your thoughts and an image of face has just flashed through your mind. I say this with some confidence, as I have ever met a person who has not experienced betrayed at the hands of someone close. This is the pain that makes us guard our hearts against trusting too many people or inviting people into close relationships.
It is true that we all have been burned by betrayal, it is because there are a few notorious souls out there who go around breaking as many hearts as they can? No. If there are many who have been betrayed. It is because there are many who betrayed. Not only have we all been abandoned by someone about whom we cared, we probably have played the role of the abandoner and the betrayer.
Mark tells what happened after Jesus warned His disciple and after the soldiers arrived to arrest Him: "then they all forsook Him and fled" ( Mark 14:50 ). Paul, at least, was not totally abandoned. After he told Timothy of being abandoned by Demas and others, he mentioned two who stayed with him, two who remained faithful First Paul said, "Only Luke is with me" (2Tim.4-11). Then he added."but the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, so that the message might be preached fully through me, and that all the Gentile might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of the lion" (4:17). Here we see the supreme difference between the Lord and His people. All of His disciple deserted zhim in zhis hour of need. Yet He never deserts any of His people in their hours of need.
The reason we betray others abd the Lord Himself is that '"the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. '"The contrast here is not betweet the soul and the body. It is between our fallen, sinful natures ( the flesh ) and the inner man that has been renewed by God. Even as redeemed and regenerate people, we still face the battle Paul described in terms of warfare between the flesh and the spirit. The Lord, however does not have such an inner conflict. His Love and commitment to His people is pure.
For God to love us at all surely is an act of mercy. But the love He gives to us is described in both the Old Testament and the New as analogous to the love that is consummated in sacred institutions of marriage. In the Old Testamenr, Israel is the bride of Yahweh. In the New Testament, the church is the bribe of Christ. When Isreal wrnt into idolatry it was described by the prophets an act of spiritual adultery.
Adultery on the phydical level and in terms of human relationship is rooted in our prosperity toward spiritual adultery. When we are unfaithful to each other, wec also are being unfaithful to God and revealing our deep depravity.
One of the most important Hebrew words found frequentlly in the Old Testament is hesed. This word is translated in different ways in the English text of the Bible. Sometimes it is translated as "mercy." More often it is translated as steadfast love." I also have seen it translated as "loyal love."
The mercy of hesed is linked to a love that is defined as "steadfast. " steadfast love is never fickle. Neither is it driven by political opportunism. It doesn't use or exploit people. It is not whimsical or capricious. Rather, it is firmly fixed in place and not subject to change. It is steady. Most important, hesed is a love that is loyal. It is a love that is semper fidelis, ' always faithful." It is a love that is constant. It does not betray or abandon.
Hesed is the love of God that we are called to mirror and reflect in our marriages, families, and friendships. Without it the flesh will triumph over the spirit, and treachery will vanquish loyalty.
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