Skip to main content

Conversations on the way to the Cross 5: The Betrayal



 The disciples discuss Jesus' comments at the Passover meal


"What did he just say?"

"One of us will betray him?  He can't mean it!"

"Why, we're his closest friends, we've been with him for years.  We'd hardly turn on him now, would we?"

"It's not me, is it Lord?  It's not me?"

"Well, it won't be me.  I'll stick to him till death!"

"Yes, Peter, no one could imagine you being a betrayer!  But if he's right, it must be somebody in this room."

"What did he mean, 'the Son of Man goes as it has been written'?  Written where?"

"Don't ask me, Andrew.  I bet Bartholomew'll know.  Barty?  Did you hear what Jesus just said?"

"Eh?  Sorry?  Oh yes, it just reminded me of something.  Here it is, Psalm 41: 'Even my best friend, that I trusted and shared my food with, has kicked me in the teeth.'"

"That's just horrible!  I wouldn't do that!  Would I, Jesus?  What a thing to say at the Passover meal, too.  It's meant to be a celebration!"

"This one's not been much of a celebration though, has it, John?  Jesus has had something bothering him ever since we got to Jerusalem.  Look at him now - we might as well not be here.  He's got his mind on something else entirely."

"And Judas Iscariot has been acting funny the last couple of days, too.  Didn't you notice?"

"That's right, he really didn't like that woman at Simon's house, did he?  With the perfume.  And he did seem a bit jumpy this morning.  He's just young, though, he'll get over it."

"I don't know, I think this whole Jerusalem trip hasn't quite worked out as he was hoping for.  And disappointment hurts pretty bad at that age.  Poor kid."

"Yeah.  Jesus was the nearest thing to a father he ever had, I reckon.  Complete hero-worship."


"Where did Judas go, anyway?  Did you see, Andrew?  I didn't notice him slip out."

"No, I didn't either.  Judas?  Judas?  Where could he have gone?"

Luke 22:14-23

Other Conversations from the Cross
1: The Donkey
2: The Commotion
3: The Authority
4: The Anointing

6: The Burial
7: The Precaution 
8: The Resurrection

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Where am I going now? The Portway

I should probably explain why I am pottering around Nottingham and its western suburbs, rather than roaming the Derbyshire countryside. It's not just the abundance of paved paths, although that certainly helps - I recently went on a country walk across a cow field and found myself tiptoeing gingerly across boggy mud cratered with six-inch deep hoof holes. Then I was confronted by a sign which said: Private Property, Trespassers Will Be Prosecuted. I congratulated myself on being on a public right of way, then, a few steps on, consulted the map and realised I wasn't. The path was across a completely different field. nice scenery, though I digress. Apart from the absence of cows and angry landowners, the reason I am walking around Nottingham is that it's the start of the Portway. There is a blog called The Old Roads of Derbyshire , written by a man named Stephen Bailey, who has also published a book of the same name. I can't remember now whether I came across the book fir...

Portway: Bramcote Hills to Stanton-by-Dale

I parked in the free car park at Bramcote Hills Park and set off, naturally enough, in the direction of where I'd last been. Up some steps through the woods, along the edge with marvellous views northwards, and down past a school to pick up Moor Lane again. At that point I realised I was supposed to be walking this route in the opposite direction. Oops. Well, it didn't make much difference. It just meant that the Hemlock Stone would come at the end rather than the start. Also, I was doing a figure of eight, so I could switch paths in the middle. That sorted, I pressed on along the disused Nottingham Canal. This had varying amounts of water in it. There were good views back up to the double hump of the Bramcote Hills. Nottingham Canal Also Nottingham Canal Just before I got to Trowell garden centre, I crossed a bridge and walked across a green space to a partly built housing estate. The Boundary Brook had been aggressively re-wiggled. I'm sure it will look better in a year...

The Portway: Lenton to the Bramcote Hills

It was cold. My fingers were cold, and my phone was cold too. The OS map was totally failing to find my location, and the more I prodded it the less feeling I had in my fingers, so I gave up, shoved both my phone and my chilly hands into my pockets, and set off. After all, I knew where I was. This was Wollaton Park. And the path was very obvious. Just follow the avenue of trees... ...past the deer... ...and out through the fancy gates. Crossing a busy road brought me into a neat little housing estate with unusual round street signs. This was built when Wollaton Park was sold to Nottingham City Council in 1925. The old gatehouse, Lenton Lodge, is now estranged from the rest of the park, and stands by itself next to Derby Road. The bridge used to go over the Nottingham Canal, which has now been turned back into the River Leen. The unfortunate river got shoved out of the way whenever someone came up with a new building project. This is not its original course. My hands were warming up sli...