THEY WHIPPED JESUS. THEY HUMILIATED HIM WITH TAUNTS. THEY SPAT ON HIM. THEY SHOUTED SNEERING INSULTS. THEY LAUGHED AT HIM.
But there was a stabbing pain of the soul not recorded in Scripture. Oh it’s there alright, but very little or nothing is written about the hurt, the disappointment Jesus felt when Judas stooped low in his betrayal for a measly 30 pieces of silver. Jesus loved Judas. He occupied an important position as treasurer of the group.
Jesus told the assembled disciples, “‘One of you is going to hand me over to the conspirators.’”
Matthew 26:20-21 (msg)
It could have been any one of them. Jesus didn’t name the guy because he didn’t want to embarrass anyone.
If your husband or wife or friend betrayed you, would you publicly hold them up for ridicule? Jesus would never hold anyone up for public embarrassment. He knew the unexplainable pain of disaffection and deception.
“Then Judas, already turned traitor, said, ‘It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi?’ Jesus said, ‘Don’t play games with me, Judas.’”
Matthew 26:25 (msg)
Although nothing is mentioned of Jesus’ feelings at the time, but can’t you just feel Christ’s mixture of anger and hurt.
Arrogantly taking someone for a chump creates a toxic emotional poison in body and mind. You may have read my article on oxytocin, a hormone associated with betrayal and revenge (“Love hath no fury like a woman scorned!”) Oxytocin is a hormone produced by the hypothalamus. In my book, WRITE IT ON MY HEART, I address the issue more completely, but suffice it to say that if you betray her or him, you better watch out! In fact, if either of you starts to nibble around the edges of moral certitude, you’re a goner. Something crazy, along with destructive emotions begin to happen and all hell will break loose. Your sins will find you out. Have you noticed it in real life? Oxytocin & Cortisol – Tiger Woods, John Gotti, Charlie Sheen, and countless others great and small are gluttons for punishment?
Write It On My Heart – Speaking Truth in Love
No, I’m not a molecular biologist so don’t get all freaked out thinking this is an illustrious article with ibids, op cits and quotes from noted scientists, PhD’s, DD’s, MD’s, DVD’s, and other learned D’s past, present and future. Cortisol is a hormone finding its origin in the hypothalamus which then tells the pituitary gland to shoot out Oxytocin, known as the DEATH HORMONE. I think the medical name for it is hydrocortisone. Sometime, old people have too much of it, and then they kick the bucket. IT CAN BE TRIGGERED BY GUILT!
It is a “stress” hormone. Cortisol, the hormone, can increase blood pressure, diabetes, depression, anxiety and other stuff. From a “ministerial” () perspective, I might even jump to this conclusion: since guilt is “a feeling of responsibility or remorse for some offense, crime, wrong, etc., whether real or imagined,” tragic consequences occur in your body, daily activities and in your thinking.
We know – it is proven – that the mind affects the body. I would submit that your spirit affects both mind and body. The Psalmist wrote: “Then I let it all out; I said, ‘I’ll make a clean breast of my failures to GOD.’ Suddenly the pressure was gone— my GUILT dissolved, my sin disappeared.”
Psalm 32:5
CORTISOL is the Death Hormone. Oxytocin is the betrayal/revenge Hormone. It could be that Jeremiah is addressing this thought:
“All … your friends have forgotten you. They don’t care about you. I have hurt you as an enemy would. I punished you very hard, because your GUILT was so great and your sins were so many. Why are you crying out about your injury? There is no cure for your pain. I did these things to you because of your great GUILT, because of your many sins.”
Jeremiah 30:14-15
“Let me tell you something wonderful, a mystery I’ll probably never fully understand. … in a single victorious stroke of Life, all three—sin, GUILT, death—are gone, the gift of our Master, Jesus Christ. Thank God!”
1 Corinthians 15:51-57
Jesus, being fully human as well as fully God, most assuredly had a broken heart beyond words when Judas betrayed him. But think of Judas – he “threw the silver coins into the Temple and left. Then he went out and hung himself.”
Matthew 27:5 (msg)
Oh the hurt that Jesus felt!
Write It On My Heart 