Initials are . . .

One of my college teachers often said, “Someone turned in the wrong psalm for this week’s assignments. I won’t tell you his name. But his initials are Andrew B. Spurgeon.” Although he implied anonymity, he didn’t.

This was not true of the Lord Jesus. He truly kept the name of the betrayer anonymous.

“Jesus said, ‘See, the hand of my betrayer is on this table with me. The Son of Man is going just as appointed. Woe to that man through whom he is betrayed.’ The disciples began to search among them, who out of them would do this thing.” (Luke 22:21–23)

The disciples’ struggle to identify the betrayer tells us Jesus never showed any ill feeling towards Judas that the disciples said, “Of course, we know who it is: Judas. Jesus and he fight all the time. They can’t disagree on anything.” That was not the case. In another gospel, when Judas left the last supper to betray the Lord, the disciples thought he went to get more food. The Lord trusted him with their moneybag; Judas was their treasurer. Perhaps the Lord trusted him and gave him such leeway because he thought it would give him an opportunity to repent and change his ways. Sadly, he didn’t. He betrayed his friend for a few pieces of silver.

The Lord Jesus works with us similarly. He will never be found guilty of partiality in showing his love towards us, suspicion of our character, or lack of trust in our ability to do things entrusted to us. He trusts and entrusts us to his ministry, knowing we will succeed. And he doesn’t badmouth us should we fail. We always remain anonymous to others.