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NOT-SO-JOKE-OGRAPHY:

In Matthew 26, Jesus sits to eat a holiday meal with His closest disciples. As they begin eating, He reveals that one of them will betray Him. They argue, each one insisting they would never do such a thing, but Jesus assures them His betrayal is foretold in Scripture. However, He adds, "But woe to the one through whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born." To me, this is the most chilling sentence ever spoken, particularly because it's said by Jesus, Himself. For Him to declare that someone's fate is so bad that NEVER EXISTING would be preferable is straight up horror so vast I struggle to grasp it.

Psalm 41 contains a poem or song by King David about a betrayal he suffered. Jesus reflects on this song while He faces His own betrayal at the hands of His disciple, Judas.

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JOKE-OGRAPHY: This cartoon references a lot of verses, so here's an explanation for them all:

Matthew 1:18-24 is about the Annunciation (Gabriel announcing to Mary that she will bear the Son of God). This takes place "when Mary and Joseph were betrothed but before they came together." In this context, the word "betrothed" is being used for the stage of ancient Jewish marriage where the bride and groom had entered into the marriage contract but did not yet live together. So Mary and Joseph are legally a couple, but Joseph doesn't take her into his home until the end of this section after the angel reassures him in a dream. The taking of the bride into the groom's newly built home was the final stage of the marriage.

Matthew 22:1-2 is the beginning of one of Jesus's parables where He likens the Kingdom of Heaven to a king preparing a wedding feast for his son. The Bible is just lousy with wedding imagery when it comes to God's relationship with mankind; or rather, marriage is lousy with imagery pointing to the ultimate destiny of humanity to unite entirely with God in life-giving, self-giving love.

Matthew 26:26-28 is where Jesus lifts the bread and wine at the last supper and declares them His Body and Blood of the covenant. Jesus's cup is the cup that all other cups and covenants reflect all throughout the Bible. THIS is the big one, where God pledges Himself once again to mankind, IN THE FLESH!

John 13:33 and 14:1-3 are where Jesus talks about leaving the disciples for a time, then assures them that He's going to prepare a dwelling for them in His Father's house. He adds that, once He's done, He'll come back for them, to take them to Himself. In light of the other verses compressed into this fun little amateur Bible study, we can see Jesus is once again using very wedding-coded imagery to speak about heaven and the anticipated union with the Divine.