Jesus, Betrayed by Judas, Is Arrested
Jesus’ Response: He Is Calm
 
Jesus encounters Judas and calls him “friend.” We don’t know if Jesus is being sincere or intentionally ironic, but he doesn’t slander his betrayer. He doesn’t try to pummel him to the ground. Instead, he reacts with calm equanimity: “Do what you are here to do.” We encounter Jesus in stillness. Having prayed in the garden only moments before, Jesus knows that whatever is going to happen next, God has his back. Even if his friends abandon him, God is with him at all times.
 
How would your life be different if you could live with that level of confidence, exude that much calm? One of my favorite stories from the Gospels is when Jesus says that if you have the faith of a mustard seed, you can move mountains. A mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds in the world. But how many of us are moving mountains? Peter had that seed for a moment when he walked on water. But, all too human, he dropped it along the way and fell into the sea.
 
Yet those seeds of faith are on offer to us all the time, and we can access them not by being full of wild emotions but by being still. I don’t mean that you can’t move around or go about your day-to-day duties but instead that you can experience peace in times of difficulty, knowing that God is with you.
 
Excerpted from Station to Station