Betrayal Isn't the Worst Thing

We spend our lives trying to avoid it. Betrayal cuts deeper than rejection or loss because it violates trust. It is the sting of being handed over by someone you let close. But what if betrayal is not the worst thing that can happen to you?

It was betrayal that carried Jesus to the cross. Judas handed Him over. Peter denied Him. The disciples scattered. Yet that was the doorway to redemption. What men meant for evil, God meant for good. The worst thing ever done became the best thing that ever happened.

The Greek word for betrayal, paradidomi, means to hand over. That same word is used when Jesus surrenders Himself to the Father. The same motion. The same phrase. What Judas did for harm, Jesus did for love.

“When Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, ‘It is finished,’ and He bowed His head and gave up (paradidomi) His spirit.” 
​— John 19:30

The same word: paradidomi. Betrayal turned to surrender. Death turned to deliverance.
​
You and I know the feeling. The moment when trust is broken, or someone walks away, or something collapses you thought would last. It feels final. It feels like death. Yet every true resurrection has a betrayal somewhere in its story. Every new beginning starts with a handing over of what you cannot keep.

God can take what was meant to break you and make it the exact thing that brings you back to Him. Betrayal reveals what is fragile but surrender redeems it. The flesh feels betrayed when the spirit is being freed.

Betrayal is not the worst thing. Refusing to surrender it is. When you give even that pain to God, you step into the same story Jesus lived. The story where what is handed over in loss is received back in life.