having loved this present world, and has departed for thessalonica
Crescens for Galatia, Titus for Dalmatia. Only Luke is 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 Christian In the early church longed to be next to Paul in his ministry, to be invited into the privileged inner circle of his close friends. Demas had that privilege. Obviously, he was not merely an acquaintance of Paul, someone the apostle knew from a distance. Rather, he was a close and trusted friend. Therefore, his betrayal recapitulated the treachery inflicted on Chrisf himself by the betrayal of Judas Iscariot and the denial peter.
Judas and Peter, however, were not the only ones who ran for cover during Jesus' darkest hour. In the Garden of Gethemane, 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 unto death. He implored His friends to stay with Him and watch (Mark 14:32-34). At this moment, no soldiers were present; nobe 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 Be found them sleeping. They were not able to watch with Bim 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'" (Mark 14:38). 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 beyrayed by someone we love and is one of the most painful experiences a human being can endure. At this very moment, in all probability, a person's name is in your thoughts and an image of a face has just flashed throught your mind. I say this with some confidence, as I have never met a oerson who has not experience betrayal 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 it is true that we all have been burned by betrayal, is it because there are a few noxious 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 betray. Not only have we all been abandoned by someone about whom we cared, we probably have played the role of tge abandoner and the betrayer.
Mark tells what happened after Jesus warned His disciples 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 mentionrd two who stayed with him, two 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 Gentiles might hear. Also I was delivered out of the mouth of lion" (4:17). Here we see the supreme difference between the Lord and His people. All of His disciple deserted Him in His hour of need. Yet he never deserts any of His people in their hours of need.
The reason we betray others and the Lord Himself is that '"the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'" The contrast here is not between the soul abd 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 battle Paul described in terms of warfare between the flesh and the spirif. 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 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 the sacred institution of marriage. In the Old Testament, Israel is the bride of yahweh. In the New Testament, the church is the bride of Christ. When Israel went into idolatry, it was decribed by the prophets as an act of spiritual adultery.
Adultery on the physical level and in terms of human relationship is rooted in our propensity toward spiritual adultery. When we are unfaithful to each other, we also ars being unfaithful to God and revealing our deep depravity.
One of the most important Hebrew words found frequently in the Old Testament is hesed. This word is tranlated in different ways in the Englis text of the Bible. Sometimes it is tranlated as "mercy. More often it is translated as " steadfast love." I also have seen it translated as "loyal love."
The mercy of hesed to a love that defined as steadfast." Steadfast love is never fickle. Neither is it driven bypolitical opportunism. It doesnt
'T use or exploit people. It is not whimical or capricious. Rather it is firmly fixed in place and not subject to change. It is steady. Nost important, hesed is a love that is loyal. It is a love that is semper fidelis." It isa love that is constant. It does not betray or abandon.
Hesed is the live 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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