Who is the Traitor?
Something is fascinating about a story built around secrets. Peacock’s reality series The Traitors brings together a group of contestants, secretly identifies a few as Traitors, and lets everyone else spend the game trying to discover who they are. During the day, the players complete challenges together. At night, they gather around a table, study one another, make accusations, and vote to banish the person they suspect. Meanwhile, the Traitors sit among them, smiling, cooperating, and pretending to be faithful.
The show is entertaining because trust becomes difficult. Every conversation may contain a clue. Every friendship raises questions. Someone who appears loyal may be hiding something. Beneath all the strategy and drama, the show touches a very human fear: being betrayed by someone we trusted.
That idea led me to our October sermon series, Traitor.
Betrayal is one of the most painful experiences we carry. A stranger can hurt us, but betrayal requires trust. It comes from a friend, a spouse, a relative, a coworker, or someone who once sat close enough to know us. The wound reaches deeper because the person had access to our confidence, our affection, or our story.
The Bible tells these stories with startling honesty. Its pages contain brothers turning against brothers, family members deceiving one another, friends walking away, and disciples failing Jesus when he needed them most. Scripture shows the damage betrayal causes and the hidden desires that lead people toward it. These stories also prompt us to consider forgiveness, accountability, reconciliation, and God's grace.
Over four weeks of Traitor, we will explore several of the Bible’s most memorable betrayals. Each story will offer another piece of evidence. One figure will remain hidden as the series unfolds. In the final week, we will reveal the Traitor's identity.
Week One: Cain and Abel
The first betrayal takes place near the beginning of the Bible. Cain and Abel, brothers, bring offerings to God. God accepts Abel’s offering, but not Cain’s. Cain becomes angry, and God warns him that sin is crouching at the door and desires to rule over him.
This story raises questions that people have asked for generations. Why was Abel’s offering accepted? Why was Cain’s rejected? Where did Cain’s wife come from? Who was Cain afraid would kill him? We will explore those questions as we follow the story's deeper movement.
Cain’s betrayal begins long before he leads Abel into the field. It grows through comparison, wounded pride, anger, and his unwillingness to listen to God’s warning. His brother gradually becomes his rival. By the time the violence occurs, betrayal has already taken root.
Week Two: Jacob and Esau
Jacob and Esau enter the world in conflict. Their parents choose favorites, and their family becomes divided. Esau sells his birthright for a meal, and Jacob later deceives his father to receive the blessing intended for his brother.
The birthright and the blessing carried enormous significance in the ancient world. They represented inheritance, leadership, identity, and the family's future. Jacob wants the blessing so badly that he becomes willing to betray his brother and deceive his father.
Genesis gives us the full complexity of Jacob’s life. God chooses him, a divided family shapes him, he is responsible for his choices, and his uncle Laban eventually betrays him. The man who deceived his family learns what it feels like to be deceived. Years later, his past catches up with him as he prepares to meet Esau again.
Before Jacob can face his brother, he spends a long night wrestling with God. That encounter forces him to face his history and the man he has become. He leaves the struggle with a new name, a wounded hip, and the courage to walk toward the brother he betrayed.
Week Three: Judas and Peter
The third week brings us to the final days of Jesus’ earthly ministry. Judas has walked with Jesus, listened to his teaching, witnessed his miracles, and shared meals with him. Then he agrees to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver. His betrayal arrives in a garden and is sealed with a kiss.
Peter’s betrayal looks different. Only hours earlier, he confidently promised that he would remain with Jesus even if everyone else abandoned him. In the courtyard, fear takes control. Three times Peter is asked whether he knows Jesus—three times he denies it.
Judas and Peter both fail Jesus during the same terrible night. Their stories help us examine loyalty, fear, regret, despair, and the possibility of restoration. They also raise a difficult question: What does Jesus do with people who have betrayed him?
Week Four: The Final Reveal
During the final week, we will gather the evidence from every story and return to the question that has guided the entire series: Who is the Traitor?
We will not discuss one figure openly during the first three weeks. This Traitor has remained hidden in plain sight and has influenced our lives more than we may realize. When the identity is revealed, the story will lead us toward one of the Bible’s clearest
descriptions of our struggle with sin and one of its greatest promises of hope.
For now, that identity remains hidden.
The search will continue throughout the week. Kohl has developed a social media strategy that will post clues on our church’s Facebook and Instagram pages. Some clues will connect directly with the stories we are studying, while others may only make sense as the series unfolds. Follow our pages, share your guesses in the comments, and like and share the posts so others can join the investigation. Pay close attention. The smallest detail may eventually lead you to the Traitor.
Many of us will enter this series remembering times when someone betrayed us. Some will recognize choices that wounded people we loved. Most of us carry experiences from both sides. These biblical stories give us room to tell the truth about betrayal, examine what grows beneath it, and discover how God meets people in the aftermath.
I hope you will join us each Sunday in October at 10:00 a.m. at First Baptist Church of Massillon. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram throughout the week as the clues begin to appear. Listen carefully as the stories unfold. Study the suspects and share your theories.
At the end of the series, we will reveal the Traitor.
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