The Passion: Betrayal & The Cogitations of Jesus
Study The Word
Psalm 55:12-14
For it was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it: neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hid myself from him: But it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and mine acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.
One of the most powerful things that we discover when studying the trial of Jesus is that the prophets and the Psalms give us something that the eyewitness accounts of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John do not. The Gospels give us the external account — what people saw, what was said, what was done. But the prophets and the Psalms? They give us the cogitations of Jesus Christ. They give us what was happening inside of Jesus’s mind, inside of His heart, inside of His thoughts while He was going through these things. This is incredible!
When Judas came to the garden and kissed Jesus, and Jesus said to him, “Friend, do you betray the Son of man with a kiss?” — what was going on in Jesus’s heart at that moment? Psalm 55 reveals it. He was saying, “It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it.” He says, “If it was an enemy, I could have handled it.” But then He says, “But it was you — a man, my equal, my guide, and my close friend. We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.” These are the thoughts and feelings of Jesus when His own friend, Judas, betrayed Him.
And then Psalm 41:9 adds to this: Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But look at what follows in the very next verse — But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up. Even in the anguish of betrayal, Jesus turned His heart toward the Father! He said, “By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me.”
Now when Jesus was arrested and brought before Caiaphas the high priest and the council, the Bible says that all His disciples forsook Him and fled. And Peter followed from afar off. What was going on in Jesus’s heart at that moment? Psalm 38:11 reveals it: “My lovers and my friends stand aloof from my plague; and my kinsmen stand afar off.”
שִׂיחַ siyach meditation – thought, musing, complaint, inner dialogue
He is watching Peter from the corner of His eye, sitting with the servants, warming himself by the fire — at a distance. His friends, His disciples, the ones He called “my lovers and my friends” — they all stood afar off. And the scripture was being fulfilled. And then Psalm 38 goes on and reveals even more of what was happening in Jesus’s mind when the false witnesses and the leaders were accusing Him. Verse 12 says, “They also that seek after my life lay snares for me: and they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and imagine deceits all the day long.” He saw through every trap. He saw every snare that they set. He knew their mischief. And what did He do? Verse 13: “But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth.”
And when the false witnesses rose up and lied against Him, what was going on in His heart? Psalm 27:12-14: “Deliver me not over unto the will of mine enemies: for false witnesses are risen up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty.” He said they breathe out cruelty! And then, even in that moment of distress, look at His faith: “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.”
חָרָשׁ charash deaf – silent, still, speechless, holding peace, ploughing through in silence
How touching. How truly touching. Even in His darkest hour, the cogitations of Jesus’s heart were full of faith, full of trust in the Father. When His friend betrayed Him, He turned to the Father. When His disciples fled, He turned to the Father. When false witnesses accused Him, He said, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord.” That is how you get through a trial, beloved. You let the Word of God be the meditation of your heart. You turn to the Father in the midst of every betrayal, every false accusation, every abandonment. The thoughts of your heart matter. Guard them. Fill them with faith in God. That is what Jesus did and that is what we must do.
Pray The Word
Heavenly Father, I thank You for revealing to me through the Psalms and the prophets the beautiful cogitations of Jesus’s heart during His trial. Thank You for showing me that even in His darkest hour, His thoughts were fixed on You, full of faith and trust in Your goodness. I receive grace today to guard my heart and fill my thoughts with Your Word in every trial, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
Speak The Word
My heart is fixed on the Lord! In the midst of every trial, every false accusation, and every betrayal, the meditations of my heart are faith in God and trust in His Word. I will not faint, because I believe to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. I wait on the Lord, and He strengthens my heart!