I’m studying the Psalms this year and I have come across a statement by David uttered by the Lord. Finding these Messianic verses in the Psalms is akin to digging through a silver mine and coming across a chunk of gold. You appreciate the silver, but finding gold is…well, like striking gold. The context of this text is here:
All that hate me whisper together against me: against me do they devise my hurt. An evil disease, say they, cleaveth fast unto him: and now that he lieth he shall rise up no more.
(Psalm 41:7-8)
David is at his sickbed, and people are gathering around him to gossip. His enemies are not just enemy combatants standing opposite a battlefield. They are peers, confidants, and associates. He perceives, either by the Spirit’s guidance or by his own intuition, that they are not his friends. They are whispering against him, plotting to accelerate his suffering to cause an even quicker death. Is he paranoid? No. It’s not paranoia if people really are plotting against you! His peers talk about his illness as though his death is a foregone conclusion. They expect he will never rise again from his sickbed.
How must it have felt for David, in the midst of his great hardship, to look around and see peers plotting against him, smiling with their lips but scheming with their eyes? Well…
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.
(Psalm 41:9)
…it probably felt like the Lord, who looked around the table at His last supper, and saw Judas Iscariot, acting as if he was just one of the twelve, just another disciple, just a faithful follower. Jesus could see the smile on Judas’ lips, but He could also see the sin in his heart. Judas was Jesus’ own familiar friend, in whom He trusted, with whom he broke bread, and he “lifted up his heel” (an act of defiance) against Him.
Of course, David’s words here were quoted by the Master, drawing a direct parallel between David’s plight and His own betrayal at the hands of Judas (John 13:18). The question may be raised: If Jesus could read Judas’ mind and know what he was planning, why does it say “in whom I trusted”? Doesn’t that imply Jesus was tricked or that He didn’t know Judas would sin? How can you trust someone you know is going to betray you? Isn’t that a contradiction of terms?
I think the simplest explanation is the correct one: Jesus “trusted” Judas in spite of the betrayal he would do. Jesus treated Judas like a friend and a brother because, to Jesus, that’s exactly what Judus was, right up until the moment he actually betrayed Him. Despite knowing what Judas was planning, Jesus continued to speak kindly toward him, continued to confide in him, and continued to break bread with him.
It’s a reminder of our own free will. God knows what we are going to do, but it’s still up to us to do those things. Salvation is available when we choose to do wrong, but the Lord—despite knowing our choice—will not interfere. He didn’t with Judas; He won’t with us. The most He will do, as He did for us all, is die on the cross so that we could have a second chance to make the right choice. Thank God for that.
~ Matthew