Just when the storm seemed to be over for the British government, fresh revelations have emerged about the process which led to Lord Peter Mandelson being appointed as Ambassador to the United States. It appears he failed the security vetting process, but was appointed anyway. Questions are being asked – who knew what?
Lord Mandelson lost his job and is currently in disgrace over his friendship with the notorious felon Jeffrey Epstein, with allegations that he betrayed his country by passing to Epstein market-sensitive information. He protests his innocence.
Treachery is an awful crime, which holds a particular fascination. Witness the huge popularity of the BBC reality TV series ‘Traitors’ – a ‘fun game’ of trust and treachery, portraying back-stabbing, scheming and deceit as life skills, in which players designated as ‘faithful’ have to identify the players who are ‘traitors’.
Would you ever be a traitor?
There have been many traitors in history. The most famous in the Bible was the disciple Judas Iscariot who betrayed Jesus into the hands of the religious rulers. He seemed to be a true follower of Jesus, and fooled the other disciples, though not Jesus. In fact, even before this he had been a selfish and cunning thief:
‘He [Judas] said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it’ (John 12:6).
And he actually initiated the agreement to betray Jesus to the chief priests for 30 pieces of silver (Matthew 26:14-16). He was a fake disciple: a traitor.
In total contrast, Jesus was completely honest and free from any trace of deceit. He asks his followers to trust him, not be ashamed of him, be his friend and try to be like him. He said:
‘For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels’ (Luke 9:26).
Just as in the BBC game, there are only two groups of people; sheep or goats, faithful or ‘traitors’. Jesus also said:
‘Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters’ (Luke 11:23);
and
‘You are my friends if you do what I command you’ (John 15:14).
There is no middle ground. We are either faithful to Jesus or we are not. Surely we want to be faithful, not traitors. We do not want to let Jesus down. And we need to be genuine: we cannot fool God or Jesus. Let us therefore find out what they ask of us and try to the best of our ability to do it. If we do this then God will not be ‘ashamed’ of us, but pleased to give us a place in His wonderful kingdom with Jesus as king.
Anna Hart