Dante’s Inferno is a 14th century literary classic. In it, Dante tours the nine levels of hell. The deeper you get, the worse the sin and the worse the punishment.
A statue of Dante Alighieri in Verona, Italy. PICTURE: Marcus Ganahl/Unsplash
The early levels are for simply falling for temptation – lust, glutton, greed. Hell for the weak-willed.
Then you enter into willful disobedience – violence, fraud, heresy.
But the deepest level of hell, the worst of the worst in Dante’s view, was reserved for the betrayer. The one who knows you, says they love you, and then betrays you.
You can understand an enemy hurting you, but a friend, a husband, a wife? Psychologists tell you – it’s hard to recover from betrayal.
Jesus was betrayed by Judas, and abandoned by His friends. Jesus knew it was coming, yet He went to the cross anyway – for you.
Betrayal – and redemption.
Paul Clark’s musings can be heard on radio across Australia and at atthetop.org.au.
