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Lent Talks - Betrayal
Written and presented by Lucy Winkett, Rector of St James’s Piccadilly

At the heart of the story of Jesus’s final weeks is betrayal. He is handed over to the authorities for execution by a friend and a follower - Judas. The sign of betrayal is normally the sign of trust: a kiss. Other friends betray him by leaving him or saying they don’t know him. Betrayal is at the heart of the story of Holy Week.
Betrayal is a thoroughly human thing. It can be in the heat of the moment or after cool consideration. We often would rather think of ourselves as the betrayed rather than the betrayer – but part of the meaning of the season of Lent is that we take time to dare to face our capacity for betrayal, cruelty, selfishness. It’s hard to accept that we can betray one another because that makes us untrustworthy and capable of great harm.
But understanding our own capacity for betrayal is key to deepening our experience of life and faith, confronting our fears and acknowledging our culpability in the spirit not just of remorse but repentance: I.E. changing our minds and changing behaviour not just feeling sorry for letting someone down.
It’s a fruitful, creative process to face our own identity as a perpetrator rather than as a victim as it addresses us at a point of power (we can act for good or ill) and need (our need for mercy or forgiveness from God or one another). The combination of being powerful and needy is not attractive to us usually, and so we avoid this whole subject. It’s time we didn’t.

Producer: Carmel Lonergan
Editor: Tim Pemberton