Mar | 15 | “Et tu, Brute?”

Key Word:- FORGIVE

Title:- “Et tu, Brute?”

Psalm 41:9 Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, Who ate my bread, Has lifted up his heel against me. 

Today in 44 B.C., Julius Caesar was stabbed. Caesar’s friends feared the potentate's growing power and the people’s comparison of him to Alexander the great and so ‘for the good of Rome,’ decided to assassinate him. Shakespeare, in his tragedy of Julius Caesar (Act I, scene ii). Portrays Caesar being stabbed in the back by his friend Marcus Brutus and falling to the ground uttering those famous last words, “Et tu, Brute?” (And you, Brutus?)

Betrayal is a common theme in the Holy Scriptures in both specific and general terms. So when this happens to you dear friend, as it surely will, do not think that you are the first and most slighted of all people upon the earth! People, you see, often let you down and from friends, fiancées, children and spouses, we might all at some point, feel the sharp stab of betrayal in our bewildered little backs. The closer the friend, the deeper the wound. Remember that.

When we feel such betrayal, whether it is real or imagined, whether it is intended or an unfortunate happenstance; our tendency will be to eventually withdraw. However, though we might feel angry and bitter and these two nasty little twisted twins, drunk on a cocktail of hurt and revenge and partying in our seeming disaster, may cause some devastation in ourselves and our relationships. The more gruesome of facts is that the deeper damage, is not from the knife in our back, but rather from the one we place ourselves, deep into our own belly, when we testify and prophecy even further distraught devastation to our own turtle-headed death, as we withdraw even more from both the broken relationship and the stabbing scene..

You see, when we pronounce our protective declaration of “I will never let that happen to me again!” We do in fact by degrees, lock ourselves away and throw away the key, bend upon our knee, take the devils knife of bitter glee and disembowel ourselves before him! To many of you I have to say today: "Look! Spread before you on the floor is all that that you once were; is all that you should have been and it is put there mostly, by your very own bloody hands and not by those who stabbed you in the back!"With shaking shock, let God begin to heal those wounds today. Are you ready? For you need to know that God has dealt with betrayal ever since Adam and Eve dug deep their teeth into the forbidden fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Betrayal, like bittersweet juice, has run down the haughty chin of men since that tearing fruity crunch echoed through the halls of heaven and called the Father to come and search for the very first couple of naked betrayers. God knows about this kind of stuff. He can help. He wants to help. Only He can help.

I am afraid betrayal is in us. You, yes you yourself O wounded one, are by nature a betrayer yourself, and you need forgiveness for your betrayal of God and for the betrayal of yourself! For we both know that your greatest betrayal probably took place after your baptism. Didn’t it? Of course it did. Face it! It is You that needs forgiveness first.

You cannot immediately take away the pain of betrayal but you can stop your own disemboweling and concentrate on gently removing the knives from your back. We do this in two ways and these ways friends, make most unusual marriage partners, for we must seek both vengeance and we must seek forgiveness. That’s right! Betrayal needs the response of vengeance and forgiveness. These two must needs be married.

David was honest in expressing the feelings of his heart in the book of Psalms. “Let me get better,” he often says, “so I can pay them back.” Or, “if I can’t repay them for what they have done to me God, then You go get ‘em God and get ‘em good! Sick ‘em, bite ‘em, and kill ‘em dead. O Lord smash their bloody teeth in!” Yes, in the same way as David, we do need to express how we feel and then we need to commit our cause to God, for knowing that we too are betrayers and the fact that we too will be in need of mercy ourselves someday and probably for the exact self same crime of betrayal, well, it means we should temper our demand for vengeance and that specifically means, temper the seeking and the expressing of our vengeance and this in turn will, when matched with wisdom, always propel us to leaving our revenge with the righteous judge Himself. In other words, “Express it, but let God deal with it!”

As we meditate on the fact of our own betrayal of Jesus, it will be easier to hand over our right of vengeance, to our correctly judging and most merciful Father, for in the end remember, all of us betrayers need forgiveness! As we then, with no doubt fearsome emotion, hand our hurt and claim of vengeance over to God, we can then get up from our knees, let go of the devils suicidal blade, place our hand on our own prison door of withdrawal and begin to step out into the growing light of forgiveness and freedom. Everyday, step away from vengeance, hand it over to God and walk in forgiveness, blessing and doing good, even to those that have hurt you and abused you, knowing that soon the pain will ease and in the handing over of your vengeance and the practicing forgiveness, the pain of betrayal will finally, oh finally begin to ease and to eventually cease.

Listen: - Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; If he is thirsty, give him a drink; For in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Romans 12:17-21

Pray: And forgive us our sins, For we also forgive everyone who is indebted to us. And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one…..Amen. Luke 11:4