Last Supper: Betrayal and Love
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We are about a month away from Easter.
and I want to approach Easter this year with a deep dive into Jesus’s last message to his disciples.
The last supper discourse.
John chapter 13-17
This is the dinner conversation that Jesus has with his disciples 24 hours before his death.
THese are the last things he wanted his disciples to know before his death.
And it actually doesn’t start with a conversation.
It starts with Jesus doing something unexpected
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus had one day left with his followers and he starts by washing his disciples feet.
Feet washing was a job reserved for the lowest of servants.
people walked around mostly barefoot, or in sandals. roads were made of dirt, theres no running water
feet are gross.
and Jesus goes and makes himself the lowest of servants
Peter does not like this
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Peter is suprised to see his master, the messiah, the son of God, stooping down to be a servant, and he will not have it.
And then when Jesus says, I have to wash your feet or you will have no part of me, in true peter fasion he asks Jesus to wash his hands and face as well.
Washing hands before a meal is a good idea, and washing your face clears dust off the road as well.
Peter is in 110%
Jesus replies by saying, look you probably already bathed today, (it is passover) so only your feet should be dirty.
But even now Jesus knows that Judas will betray him,
Jesus washed Judas’s feet as well.
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Jesus then explains what he was trying to teach them by washing their feet, He is their master and Lord, but he stoops low enough to wash their feet, so if they wish to follow Jesus’s example, like followers should, they ought to be willing to do anything for each other.
This is a summary of everything Jesus had been teaching them up to this point
Lets look back at an earlier teaching of Jesus
And Jesus called them to him and said to them, “You know that those who are considered rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great ones exercise authority over them. But it shall not be so among you. But whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Jesus constantly told his diciples that the least shall become great and the greatest will be least, that the greatest person will be the servant of all.
and Jesus became the lowest servant, washing his disciples feet.
Church if we are to truely follow Jesus, there should be nothing that we are unwilling to do for others and each other,
and that goes against our natural inclinations.
I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
Jesus immediately goes into a sad revelation, that Not all of the 12 are loyal to him, that someone will betray him as Scripture foretold,
He cites psalm 41 - Which was written by King David, and foretells how the people will turn against Jesus, consipre to kill him, and even his close friend will kick him.
They say, “A deadly thing is poured out on him; he will not rise again from where he lies.” Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me. But you, O Lord, be gracious to me, and raise me up, that I may repay them!
And of course all the disciples are confused, who amoung the 12 disciples, who spent 3 years with him, and did miracles along side him, and knew who he was, could possibly betray Him.
Look what Matthew says about when Jesus reveals this to his disciples.
When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”
This is a tragic moment. In this moment all of his disciples are confident that none of the others could betray Jesus, but they all have in mind some reason why they themselves might.
Each one of them thinks it could be possible for they themselves to betray Jesus. Maybe not now, but conceivably in the future.
One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
Now of course Peter is nosy about who its going to be who betrays Jesus, so he gets John to ask jesus who it is, and Jesus sneakily does this way of revealing that it is Judas,
and then Judas leaves - and everyone thinks that he is going to get more food, but he’s going to betray Jesus.
And Satan entered into him.
Judas is the only person in the Bible to be possessed by Satan.
Jesus now begins with his actual teaching, now that the only people left behind are his true followers.
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once. Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
Now i am going to skip ahead, because Peter gets stuck on this point, that Jesus is leaving:
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.” Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
Peter is hung up on the fact that Jesus is leaving
He claims boldly that he will follow Jesus wherever Jesus might go.
even to death.
perhaps he is emboldened because he was saw that Judas was going to betray Jesus, since only one person was going to betray Jesus, if it was Judas than it cannot be Peter.
But Jesus then says, even peter will deny Jesus three times that very night.
Just because one person outright betrays Jesus, does not mean that all the other disciples are going to be steadfast in their faith.
Peter, the rock, the leader of the disciples, the foundation of the church, the one who walked on water, is going to deny Jesus 3 times.
Even the strongest Christian sometimes falters. Even the most devout sometimes doubt. Even peter who would never betray Christ disowns him.
Now lets go back and look at what Jesus actually says here.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
But before anyone can question it he tells them to love each other,
He says this a new commandment.
but it ties in with the greatest commandments
And one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, asked him, “Which commandment is the most important of all?” Jesus answered, “The most important is, ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”
- Love God - with everything
Love your neighbor - the people you meet every day - as yourself
Do to others what you wish they would do for you
Love each other - other disciples, other christians - as Christ loves us
Willing to stoop down and wash each others feet, willing to die so that they may live, willing to give up anything and everything to help each other.
This is codifying the lesson he just tried to teach them by washing their feet.
and telling them to care for each other, now that it has been revealed that all of them, even after 3 years with Jesus, have their doubts.
Love each other despite their doubts and shortcomings.
love each other despite your own doubts and shortcomings.
By this all people will know that we are His disciples.
