Wednesday 18th March 2026

On the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, ‘Where do you want us to make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?’ He said, ‘Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, “The Teacher says, My time is near; I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.”’ So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover meal. When it was evening, he took his place with the twelve;  and while they were eating, he said, ‘Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.’ And they became greatly distressed and began to say to him one after another, ‘Surely not I, Lord?’  He answered, ‘The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that one by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that one not to have been born.’  Judas, who betrayed him, said, ‘Surely not I, Rabbi?’ He replied, ‘You have said so.’

Reflection

As I write this reflection I am struck by how real and natural the disciples’ response is.  How many of us, when we hear a general accusation, immediately feel guilty, even when we know we haven’t done anything wrong?  Or is it just me?

I remember once at school having to wait a long time outside a classroom.  The teacher was delayed for some reason, and the class were getting restless.  When the teacher finally arrived and saw people fooling around, we were given a collective punishment.  While feeling hard done to, as I hadn’t deserved the punishment, I accepted it and spent the evening writing lines.  I took the paper in the following day, to find that I was the only one who had taken the teacher seriously.  How often does that happen?

And so, perhaps it’s no surprise that the disciples turn to Jesus and ask that question – ‘Surely not I, Lord?’   One of them, Judas, has betrayed Jesus, and yet he is the last one to speak, as the others wonder if they have, inadvertently, said or done something wrong.  In their distress, they feel the collective guilt, and the collective pain of what is about to happen.  Perhaps, as Judas leaves the room, they are wondering if they could have said or done something to stop him.

How would you have responded to Jesus’ statement?  What would you have said?  Would you have felt that collective guilt?  Do you feel that collective guilt?  Do we feel that guilt every time we betray Jesus by failing to live out our calling to be His people, and share His love with the world, or as we stand by and watch as others betray Him?

Feelings of guilt can either help or hinder – they can hold us back or help us to move forward – to be more certain of what and who we believe in, and to be true to that in the way we live our lives.

Prayer

Loving God,
we can only imagine the distress of the disciples 
as they heard those words, 
‘One of you will betray me,’ 
and responded with cries of ‘Surely not I, Lord?
May the guilt we feel 
as we join in those cries be positive and encouraging,
drawing us into a closer relationship with you,
as we live out our faith in the world around us,
in Lent, at Easter, and always. Amen.