By Canaan Chapman
Scripture Reading: Exodus 23:4-5, Matthew 18:15-20, Luke 6:27-36, John 18:15-18, John 21:15-19, Colossians 3:12-13
Have you ever been betrayed? Consider when you’ve felt cheated or wronged—perhaps a friend who shared your secrets, a spouse who broke your trust, or a colleague who took credit for your work. Betrayal can leave us feeling hurt and angry. It can make us feel like prisoners, shackled by bitterness and searching for justice.
In Luke 6:27–36, Jesus made a radical command to love our enemies and do good to those who hate us. It’s about making room in our hearts for those who have wronged us, extending mercy without expecting anything in return. This is a difficult one, as it’s a directive that goes against our instinct. Yet it’s the essence of biblical hospitality.
We can usually understand making room for people we already love or who are obviously in need of love. Most of us can grasp the need to care for the young and impressionable in our lives and make room for children. We can get behind caring for our church and making room for other like-minded believers, and the poor, widows, and orphans that are always among us. But betrayers? Being commanded to make room for people in our lives who should love and champion us but instead have shown themselves as deceptive, disloyal traitors? In no uncertain terms: exactly, yes, and amen.
Betrayal is painful, but Jesus himself experienced it. Peter, one of his closest disciples, denied Him three times. Jesus’s response was forgiveness and restoration. His actions model for us a powerful truth: making room for our betrayers is not about condoning their actions but about releasing our right to revenge and entrusting justice to God. The world tells us to cut those who hurt us out of our lives, but Jesus’s way is different. It’s a paradox that is central to the gospel—that forgiveness and love can come through pain and betrayal. Just as Jesus made room for his betrayers, so it must be with us.
While I may not be familiar with a specific application for your life, we can together consider our circumstances and lean into Jesus’s ways of treating each other as we consider what it means to make room for betrayers. When we interact with the people who have let us down, think about the freedom that comes from releasing them in the heart. It’s not about forgetting what they’ve done but about choosing forgiveness and freedom over the grip of sin.
This is not an easy task. It requires humility, gentleness, and a love that can only come from God. It’s a love that looks past the offense to the person behind it, recognizing the shared grace we’ve all received. When we choose to extend kindness to our betrayers, we’re not just showing them love; we free ourselves from the chains of bitterness. It’s a radical act of spiritual hospitality—one that mirrors the hospitality God extends to us.
Written by Canaan Chapman
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