Matthew 20:17 \u2013 18<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cNow Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, \u2018Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death\u2026\u2019 \u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Things will not always go rosy and sweet. On our earthly pilgrimage, there will be tough times and tough roads to cross. It\u2019s not true that all our testimonies will be great and exciting. There will be seasons of betrayal and condemnation by loved ones or close friends. Jesus saw what was ahead of Him and confided in His closest friends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have close friends with whom you can grieve? Do you have close friends with whom you can share your deepest sorrow? Jesus needed a place to offload His burden and it was with His disciples. He \u201ctook the twelve disciples aside on the road,\u201d \u2013 Verse 17, shows that it may have been a spontaneous thing, which needed some form of isolation from the others in the larger group. I need to have my inner caucus group with whom I can share my sorrows. If Jesus needed them, I also need them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cLord, I know the days of sorrow will come. O Lord before that day comes, may I have built my team of burden sharers, so that I can freely call them aside to share my sorrows on my days of sorrow. This I ask in Jesus name. Amen.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Matthew 20:17 \u2013 18 \u201cNow Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, \u2018Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death\u2026\u2019 \u201d Things will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7384,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-reflections-from-matthew"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t