Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. If you had interviewed the twelve apostles on Palm Sunday and asked, “Who among you would be willing and able to betray the Lord?” they would have floundered for an answer. There was nothing they could see in their number, including in Judas, that indicated that betrayal was on the horizon. They had, after all, be together for three years and knew each other well by that time. They could not envision one of their number as a betrayer. We are, as the Twelve were, faithful followers of Jesus. Yet each of us has the same potential to be a betrayer, or a denier, or abandoning as Judas and the rest did. When we have as our priority success, achievement, recognition instead of love, service, forgiveness we are the slippery slope that leads us away from the genuine following of the Lord.
