Friend, Wherefore Art Thou Come?

In the garden, with a crowd behind him and a kiss on his lips, Judas came to betray Jesus. And Jesus said to him, “Friend, wherefore art thou come?” Even in that moment, he used the word friend.

That tells us something about the heart of Christ. Judas wasn’t short of an invitation. He had walked with Jesus for years, heard every sermon, seen every miracle, and he was still called friend at the very end. What he lacked was a return.

Jesus told a story about a son who did come back. “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” The father ran. The welcome was waiting before the son said a word.

If you have drifted, or done something you think can’t be undone, the door has not closed. The question isn’t whether he will welcome you. It is whether you will come back.