“Meeting Betrayal with Love: The Last Supper Together”(John 13:18–30)

Series: “John: Life in Christ’s Name”Text: John 13:18–30

By: Shaun Marksbury Date: March 24, 2024

Venue: Living Water Baptist ChurchOccasion: AM Service

Introduction

One of the most fascinating studies in history is that of traitors, for we love to hate them. For every Ceasar who arises, there seems to be a Brutus or two, ready with a knife. In the history of America, for instance, one name is synonymous with treachery. As one commentary explains, the

most infamous traitor of the Revolutionary War (and indeed in all of American history) was Benedict Arnold. Annoyed at being passed over for promotion and seeking money to fund his extravagant lifestyle, Arnold offered to surrender the key fort at West Point to the British. When British Major John André, the liaison between Arnold and British General Sir Henry Clinton, was captured carrying incriminating papers, Arnold’s plot was exposed. He deserted to the British, and fought against his own countrymen. He died in exile in England, scorned by Americans and British alike.”

There are many such collaborators, sell-outs, and turn-coats for history students to rightly boo and hiss. Sometimes the plans of traitors succeed, and sometimes they fail. Of course, for some of us, dealing with treachery is hardly just a matter of history — it’s a present reality. Life-long friends or family members may metaphorically stab us in the back for seemingly insignificant reasons. As Christians, we often struggle with how to deal with our own pain, loss, and betrayal, wondering how to deal with such individuals in our lives.

Of course, in this passage, we get a glimpse of how our Lord began to deal with it. The most famous story of betrayal is right before us, but Jesus deals with it differently than you or I would be tempted to do. He meets betrayal with love, showing us a different way of handling these kinds of situations in our own lives. In this passage, we see Jesus lovingly predict His betrayal, lovingly confronts His betrayer, and lovingly allow His betrayal. Let’s consider the first of these challenging points.

First, Jesus Lovingly Predicts His Betrayal (vv. 18–21)

“I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.”

Jesus never looses focus for why He is here and what He needs to do. Yet, He filters all His choices through love. As we read back in v. 1, “Jesus…, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” He served them by washing their feet, indicating to them that they were all eternally cleansed by His word.

Yet, there was Judas. Jesus already knew betrayal was in his heart, not love (He said back in 6:70 that one of them — who turned out to be Judas — was a devil). Yet, Jesus doesn’t just expose Judas to the others, pointing and saying, “Get him!” Rather, Jesus leaves the question of betrayal open for a moment, allowing all to search their hearts and know for themselves where they stand. In other words, He offers all of them, even Judas again, a moment of grace.

Of course, Jesus offers the rest a more substantial grace. When Judas is eventually exposed, the other disciples may become disillusioned. So, Jesus informs them ahead of time that Judas hasn’t pulled the wool over His divine eyes, nor was Judas’s selection to the group an accident. The Lord elected Judas, not for eternal life, by for this very purpose. This would provide the disciples with comfort after they understand why it was necessary for Jesus to die.

Still, this doesn’t mean Jesus chose Judas to call him to sin; in the words of James 1:13, “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God’; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone.” Judas always had the choice, but he was “carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death” (James 1:14–15). His sin caused him to turn away from Christ in the end, but Judas always had an opportunity to repent.

Jesus allowed him to walk with Him and to share meals with Him. As such, our Lord quotes from Psalm 41:9. There, David laments his betrayal, possibly by Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15:31). That moment served as a type of Judas’s relationship with our Lord. As one commentary explains,

The long-term sharing of bread in the Middle Eastern context was normally interpreted as referring either to a family member or a permanent guest at the table. … To lift up the heel, therefore, in a culture where displaying the bottom of the foot has been regarded as a breach of honor, especially after one had enjoyed acceptance at the meal, was the epitome of shaming the host and the equivalent to being a traitorous scoundrel, after the manner of Ahithophel and his betrayal of David.

But, nonetheless, Jesus continues to operate with love and care, not frustration or anger. He tells them in v. 19 that He is predicting these events ahead of time. A false prophet gets prophecy wrong (Deut. 18:18–22), but they will see all His predictions come true.

The main reason He cites here for this prophecy is so that they may believe, “I am.” The translators have added in the word “He,” but in this case, that seems unwarranted. In context, this reflects the divine name of Exodus 3:14, making this a divine claim. Consider Isaiah 43:10, which says God is God because He rightly knows the future (“ ‘You are My witnesses,’ declares the Lord, ‘And My servant whom I have chosen, so that you may know and believe Me and understand that I am He.”). Because Jesus proves He’s God through His accurate prophetic insight, He lacks error in His choices, both of the traitor as well as the rest of them with their inconsistencies.

That brings us to the next verse. Jesus will still commission them after this for His ministry. He chooses His apostles, those whom He would send with His authorized message. They write these gospels, for instance, under His authority. They will write the epistles according to His word. Those who reject the writings of the apostles reject the Christ who sent them. Accepting them, though, not only accepts the Christ who sent them, but also the Heavenly Father.

Still, though Jesus is divine, He is also human. As He ponders His death and His betrayal, we read in v. 21 that He “became troubled in spirit.” In John 11:33, with the death of Lazarus, we read He “was troubled” or that He “troubled Himself” being disturbed or agitated of heart. This also happened when He speaks about His coming death (John 12:27). Now, again, speaking of this betrayal, He is disturbed. In context, He cared for Judas, even lowering Himself washing Judas’s feet, but the Lord pains Himself as He thinks of how this friend will betray Him. This is evidence of His true humanity.

Now, it is time for the disciples to be stirred of heart. They’re shocked to hear what’s troubling Him. Yet, that is the exact effect He wished to spark, bringing us to the next point.

Second, Jesus Lovingly Confronts His Betrayer (vv. 22–26)

The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

John paints another vivid scene, with flabbergasted disciples glancing back and forth. Surprisingly, they didn’t suspect Judas, a fact all four Gospels highlight. The disciples instead, in a rare moment of introspection, question themselves. In Matthew 26:22, we read, “Being deeply grieved, they each one began to say to Him, “Surely not I, Lord?” Was Judas also looking around at this point to throw suspicion off from himself? In any event, they responded as though it was beyond comprehension that one of their fellowship would betray Jesus. It is worth our note that such introspection can be good, that we should first consider our own state before the Lord long before we ever consider the state of others.

At some point, though, they obviously become suspicious of others. Luke 22:21 says that “they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing.” This might be why Peter felt the need to get more information.

Before we get to that, in v. 23, we read something that might strike our ears oddly. We’ve noted before that, while we sit around tables to eat, that was not always the custom of Jesus’s day. As one study notes,

The usual arrangement was several couches arranged in a U formation around the table. The participants would lie on their left sides with their heads toward the table and their feet stretched out away from it. They would support their head on their left hand and eat from the table with their right. The host reclined between two other guests on the chief table placed at the center of the U between its two arms. The place of honor was to his left and behind him and the second place was to his right or in front of him. The person reclining there, the beloved disciple, would have his head near the breast of the host.

So, there’s nothing suggestive here, as some with corrupted minds have suggested. This is why, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, our Lord describes “Abraham’s bosom” as a place of honor (Luke 16:19–31). Of course, the word “side,” a perfectly acceptable translation here, may help some people in their reading.

The Apostle John, of course, would have been the disciple beloved of our Lord. He was the youngest of the group, and therefore, perhaps the dearest to the Lord. In any case, John avoids naming himself in his Gospel, perhaps out of humility, so he shades his self-references with his relationship with his Savior (cf. John 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20). Incidentally, it is also good for us to consider ourselves first in our relationship with Jesus, that He loves us, a fact we shouldn’t take for granted.

Peter was not near the Lord at this moment, so he gestures for John to inquire about the traitor. They do have two swords, after all (Luke 22:38, 49–50). So, in v. 25, John asks, and considering their positioning (the NIV might give the best rendering here) he asked while leaning back against Jesus to look at Him.

We read Jesus answered him in the next verse. We don’t read that Jesus answered “them.” Given that the other disciples continued to be unaware of Judas, we must conclude that Jesus only spoke loud enough for John to hear. John, either out of discretion or a stunned silence witnessing what follows, does not relay this information to the group.

Ultimately, this was a moment between Jesus and Judas. There was a custom of dipping a morsel, usually bread or sometimes bitter herbs (given the Passover), into a bowl and giving it to an honored guest. Since Matthew 26:23 records that Judas and Jesus seem to be sharing a bowl, and we read here that Jesus passes the morsel to Judas, we have to conclude that Judas is in the other seat of honor, on Jesus’s left side. Thus, we have here another implicit act of love that Jesus gives to Judas.

Why the presentation, then? This tradition would give Judas one more opportunity to repent. Jesus has washed this man’s feet, and now he offers him the honored piece of food. Judas could see the loving service for what it is — a kindness calling him to turn from sin. This is how our Lord chose to confront Judas — by getting to the heart.

And, it does seem that it stirs something within Judas. It is at this point, according to Matthew 26:25, that Judas finally asks if he is the betrayer. Neither he nor Jesus seem to be speaking loudly enough for the others to hear. Jesus simply says, “You have said it yourself.” Jesus doesn’t yell, or rant, but rather answers with an economy of words which confront Judas.

Judas now knows Jesus knows. Of course, this gives Judas yet one more moment to decide whether he will continue down this path. That brings us to our last point.

Third, Jesus Lovingly Allows His Betrayal (vv. 27–30)

After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night.

This is one of the saddest moments in Scripture. Some wonder if Judas was a puppet, being controlled by our Lord and then by Satan. The devil had put this notion into Judas’s mind (v. 2). However, Judas had his moment of decision and obviously chose an evil intent. It was the fact that his heart turned so firmly toward darkness that it was open to possession by Satan. As the Reformation Study Bible says here, “Judas’s refusal to respond to Jesus’ appeal opened up his heart to the control of Satan. He was still a responsible agent, but had surrendered to the dominion of evil (cf. 8:34).”

This was the signal for Jesus. Our Lord who had delivered the demoniac and so many people oppressed by evil spirits could perceive that He had just witnessed the possession of His friend. Further, since Jesus knew what was in the heart of man (John 2:25), He knew that Judas had chosen finally to reject Him. So, Jesus says, “What you do, do quickly.”

Thus, we have a picture of Jesus’s permissive judgement; as Romans 1 would say, He gave Judas over to the desire of his heart which had invited possession (v. 24). This judgement also reflects Revelation 22:11a, which says, “Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and the one who is filthy, still be filthy.” There comes a point when the Lord just allows someone embracing his sin to remain filthy and unrighteous, on into an eternity of punishment.

There was apparently a difference in volume in our Lord’s voice, though, for v. 28 implies that they had all heard Him say this. Of course, no one knew the tense moment that had just transpired, that their fellow disciple had just failed the valley of decision. Instead, as v. 29 says, they suspected Jesus was sending His treasurer off for some purpose related to the feast — either to get supplies or to honor the tradition of giving alms to the poor. How sad that they still had a sterling view of Judas, a man who had just chosen to reject their Messiah and friend forever.

Judas, of course, was likely now operating on pure adrenaline. Jesus knew of his treachery, and, for all he knew, was about to tell Peter the hothead and the others. We read that he left immediately. Of course, that would have been one more chance to stop, but he went out to prove he was never truly one of them.

John adds an interesting note — “and it was night.” Paul later confirms that this was night (1 Cor. 11:23). This is a picturesque description of Judas’s soul. When the people arrest Jesus, He will say they can only do so because the power of darkness is upon them (Luke 22:53), and that is certainly the case for Judas in this moment.

But, Jesus lovingly allows it. It’s not so much love for Judas at this point, of course, but love for the rest of His disciples. He allows the betrayal to happen so it’ll set the final events in motion for His sacrifice. He allows the betrayal out of love for all those He came to save, including you, if you are a believer.

Conclusion

Our Lord gives us an example of how to deal with a betrayal in progress. He showed a supernatural level of patience and love, right until the point of no return. While this is no guarantee that this will halt a traitor in his or her tracks, this is exactly how Christians should treat their enemies. Of course, we are always in need of God’s grace to overcome our emotions and to accomplish such a feat!

The sad reality is our love may not stop our adversaries from their attacks, who may take us to court or elsewhere. Still, as Scripture commands, “so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men” (Rom. 12:18), and avoid court actions if we can (1 Cor. 6:1–11). It’s not that self-defense is wrong, or that the Lord always calls us to sacrifice. But, sometimes, we can’t convince the traitor to stop. So, it’s up to us to determine to remain faithful, to keep the gospel and the love of Christ central as we craft strategies for dealing with such individuals. We mustn’t allow our emotions to rule the day.

Judas himself represents more than just betrayal, though. John MacArthur lists several other points about him besides his treachery, and to summarize them: Judas embodies lost opportunity and wasted privilege, demonstrates the danger of loving money and the need for self-examination, serves as a reminder of the devil’s presence among God’s people and the deadliness of hypocrisy — yet, also demonstrates that nothing thwarts the sovereign plans of God. God knew this treachery from eternity past and used this to accomplish His work of salvation in Christ.

Judas demonstrates one other point. He shows us just how many openings the Lord leaves us so we will repent. Unbeliever, I hope you don’t think any action you’ve taken so far is too far for God’s redemption. He can forgive you in Jesus Christ, and you can begin the long road of reconciliation by His grace. Don’t embrace wickedness — come out of the darkness and step into the light of the Savior’s love.