When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”
They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely you don’t mean me?”
“It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

We see terrorists around the world killing and murdering people and this is an open crime against humanity. We are currently in a situation in the US where criminal gang members are being transported to a maximum security prison in El Salvador. When we hear of the heinous crimes some of these people have committed, it is heart wrenching. We might say, “It would have been better if they were never born.”

On the other hand, we also have to take into consideration to some degree how they were brought up, the lack of love and nurturing they received in life, and where they started from. For my part, this does not excuse their evil actions, but it helps me understand how to better love them and others as Jesus would have me love them. It also helps us as a society to try to correct the possible injustices done to them early on, and try to create a better environment for children to grow up in.

Jesus here calls out his betrayer, without mentioning his name. Why? It was not his place and maybe the other disciples might have attacked him. I believe that Jesus still loved Judas and was hoping for him to stop sinning and repent. He had to give Judas the option to repent, even though he knew he would betray him.

It is a brief moment when we see the human nature of Jesus interacting with his divine nature. He was fully God and fully man. As a human he needed to honor God and give Judas grace. As God, he says it would be better if he had not been born, because he knew what Judas had done already and what he was about to do.

Judas had the love of Jesus around him everyday. He followed him and then he betrayed him. This is a horrible crime. Betraying an innocent man for money. Greed. (He might have figured he deserved it, because Jesus had embarrassed him and rebuked his common sense in the instance with the expensive perfume Mary had poured on him).

The sequence of events going forward are: Judas betrayed Jesus, Jesus was arrested, tried in court, and condemned to death. And during all this time, Judas could have repented. After Jesus died, Judas could have repented too. But he did not. Jesus, as God, knew, ahead of time, he would not repent.

For the terrorists and gang members who are murderers and rapists above, they too have the ability to repent. They will still have consequences. But they can choose to follow Jesus and live with him in eternity. Sadly, most of them do not. And if we had the ability to see into the future as Jesus did, we could also say of those who did not repent that it would be better for them if they were never born, because they will burn in the lake of fire — hell.

Lord, thank you that you are God and always have been God. You are all-powerful. May you fill me with your grace and peace today. Teach me to love my enemies as you loved Judas. And help me to also preach the truth.