Disciples Betray
Notes
Transcript
There are many reasons Jesus chooses a disciple who betrays him, but one overlooked reason: discipling doesn't always "work". The expected outcome is not a perfect Christian, successful in all they do. The "win" is first in faithfulness. It is brutally hard and sad when a disciple betrays or walks away... but the story isn't over yet.
Computers Work
Computers Work
Much of my day every day is working with people, managing, encouraging, sometimes correcting.
The other part of my day is working with computers. Here’s the beautiful thing about coding a computer. Once you get it right, you get the code in and correct. Once you do it right, it just “works.” And it works every time until and unless you change something drastic.
People on the other hand. Ever so slightly “less” predictable. Less certain.
I had one dude on my team, brilliant young dude, great, talented, hard worker… yesterday was his last day. He left us, left the team, left the company.
That’s a sad day. In the last couple weeks we had some of those talks. Anything we could do to change your mind? Exit interviews, many of those questions are “did we do something wrong?” “Could we do anything better?” If we had just done it better he would surely
Do you ever wish humans were as predictable as code? You do the right things, and then they do the right next things, specifically the things you want them to do, and it all works out perfectly, beautifully.
Right at this beautiful moment, Jesus setting the example of loving his disciples, serving them, finding the “Offensive” humility, and making it absolutely clear that this is something they are supposed to do. That we are supposed to practice.
And layered in that same moment is the worst guest at the dinner table.
The Worst Guest at Dinner
The Worst Guest at Dinner
Even as Peter is trying to get Jesus to wash his hands and head…
10 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.”
11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
They have no idea what Jesus is talking about, but he has dropped a few hints, but he is dropping them a lot this last night.
I expect that Jesus is not being passive aggressive. Perhaps each is an invitation to Judas to confess. To repent.
Jesus continues, makes super clear that this is an example for all… and then rolls into yet another hint here in verse 17.
17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
But he knows someone who is and will refuse that blessing:
18 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.’
19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.
20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
Jesus touches on his mission, his sending, his commission, our mission… but he isn’t done with the Judas. His heart is still on it. His spirit is on it.
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
“troubled in his spirit.” What does that mean, really? Hold on to that?
“amen amen” literally, Jesus says. Amen, one of you will betray me.
22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side,
24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
I love how John calls himself “whom Jesus loved”. It isn’t comparative, just identifying himself primarily as “one whom Jesus loved.” More important than his name.
But perhaps this indicates a level of special relationship, of connection. Not just that he is reclining at Jesus’ side, that could be happenstance of seating or positioning, based on who snagged a spot and when.
But Peter signals him. “Hey John… ask him! You ask him!” Maybe it’ll come better from John? Maybe they’ll get a clearer answer?
25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 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.
This sounds like a private conversation, John leaning in to Jesus to ask and him answering. And a silent kind of signal… because it doesn’t seem like Judas would take the bread knowing this is a signal to everyone. It seems like he takes it unawares.
And, more explicitly, no one else at the table understands the next part.
But he offers a morsel of bread. Perhaps a foretaste of the coming “this is my body” bread… but giving a dipped morsel was like offering the “choicest piece” at a banquet.
27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
One of the very few commands of Jesus to “hurry”. Not good.
And “Satan entered into him”? Isn’t this odd?
Listen to the contrast from John 13:2
2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
So in verse 2 the devil had put the idea, the plan, the intention into Judas’ heart. And Matthew tells us that Judas has already been to the chief priests and already received thirty pieces of silver BEFORE the supper (Mt 26:14-16)
But now, the “adversary”, Satan, “entered into him.” Lots to unpack there, the nature of influence, the level of permission, the steps into evil and darkness… from listening to whispers and temptations, to action, to commitment, and the tool of Satan. The adversary of God.
But here now, after he had taken the morsel… the favor of Jesus, and before that the service of Jesus, his act of humble love… he takes it all in deception knowing that his next step is betrayal. This is truly the work of Satan.
28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
29 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.
30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
The next time he sees Judas, in just a few hours, it will be to betray him with a kiss.
What does that feel like? What is Jesus feeling? Let’s go back to where it told us.
21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Tarasso.
Often this word is “terrified”. But it’s the same word for the stirring of the water of the pool called Bethesda.
32 Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled.
35 Jesus wept.
This is what Jesus felt when he says “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The same gut-wrenching, bottom falling out, horrible, terrifying and heart-breakingly sad way that you and I would feel at the certain knowledge that a friend is betraying you.
Or at the death of a friend.
And it is hard to know which is worse.
Betrayal is a kind of death, the death of what was, what you thought would be, the future, the friendship. PLUS the hurt and the anger..
Not just doing something you don’t like, actively subverting your life goal, your mission, your purpose, your calling. Behind your back, while smiling and lying to your face. Receiving the washing of the feet. Receiving all the words of love and compassion… with 30 pieces of silver in his pocket.
At the last supper, Jesus knew that Judas would be betray him… he washed his feet anyway.
That’s not all. That’s not the night that Jesus found out about Judas. John, who heard those whispered words at the Last Supper comes to this profound insight and tells us near the very beginning of the story, when Jesus is first calling his disciples.
64 But there are some of you who do not believe.” (For Jesus knew from the beginning who those were who did not believe, and who it was who would betray him.
70 Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.”
71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.
Jesus knew the whole time. “From the beginning” John said.
Three years of ministry. Of love and laughter. Of joy, of fellowship… of friendship! Breakfasts, lunches and dinners, prayers before and singing together after. Sleeping in random houses for the night, out under the stars, walking the length and breadth of Israel.
Three years of intentional discipleship from the Master, the greatest human of all time, the wisest, best source of knowledge and truth in the Universe. The Way, the Truth and the Life. From the leader of all leaders, the King of all Kings.
Is there a better possible discipler than Jesus himself? Nope.
Is there a better possible class? Group of men to learn alongside and learn from? I doubt it.
And here is the thing I have been sitting with. Did the other disciples know what Jesus knew the whole time? That it was Judas who would betray them?
Oh, obviously it’s the broody guy with the shifty eyes. Or, more importantly, it’s the one Jesus always treats differently. The one he doesn’t trust, the one he doesn’t like, the one he doesn’t love. The one he doesn’t teach or invest in or correct or lead in the same way. The one who has always been on the outside.
Nope. They look around that room and have NO IDEA who Jesus is talking about. And even when Jesus then tells Judas to “hurry, do what you are going to do.” What do the disciples think is happening?
28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
Does “no one” even mean John? John, who at least heard Jesus say “the one to whom I will give this bread…” and watched Jesus give it to him?
Even if we assume John means “no one else but him and Jesus…” I am thinking about what this means.
Did Jesus treat Judas any different than anyone else at that table? No.
He loved Judas. He called Judas, and Judas followed. He taught Judas, intentionally, beautifully, perfectly… even perfectly adapted to Judas’ heart and mind and his own needs. He fellowshipped with Judas, he was a friend, he listened to him, he corrected him right on time, he taught him the right and true things.
I even bet, and this is just me imagining, I bet Jesus that Jesus prayed every day for his beloved friend and disciple Judas… and prayed that Judas wouldn’t do it.
We talk about foreknowledge and predestination and how all that works with the Sovereignty of God. Here’s one that we KNOW and see. Did Jesus know and predict that he was headed to the cross? Yes. Absolutely. Over and over. And, both fully God and fully man, did Jesus pray honestly and urgently, from the depths of his being, for another way? Another “cup to drink”? Another path?
Three times he prays, on his face, “sorrowful and troubled”, sweating drops of blood.
We understand “his cup” to be the coming cross. But the betrayal of his friend is at hand too.
I bet that all along, every day, Jesus is praying for all his disciples. And when he comes to his beloved friend and disciple he prays for a change. He prays for heart. He prays for God to make a way, to save Judas, to give him wisdom to see, patience to wait. He prays for another cup.
But see… God made this crazy choice. In many ways a terrible choice.
He did not make us like computers, automatons, input in leads to discrete and predictable output out. Instead He created us with free will.
Free Will
Free Will
I think this is the center of what it means to be Imago Dei, made in the image of God. A people with His Breath, His life, the ability to think and to choose right… or wrong.
The ability to enjoy the Garden… or choose the one thing they can’t have.
The ability to choose Him, and so truly love him… or the ability to reject and betray Him. For a moment, a minute, a season, a lifetime, an eternity.
We see glimpses of why he did it:
“Free will, though it makes evil possible, also makes possible any love or goodness or joy worth having.”
-C.S. Lewis
But it has a terrible effect. We see the ripples of it in our world, as soon as someone does something that hurts us, we rail at it. We want free will for us, but not for them. Not for “that guy”.
And when it comes to disciples of Jesus. When it comes to discipling people, leading them in next steps towards Jesus… it doesn’t “work.”
Discipling doesn’t “work”
Discipling doesn’t “work”
I wish Discipleship just “worked”. A program, a process, you do the right things step by step on the other side out “pops” a whole and healthy, faithful and fruitful disciple of Jesus.
God didn’t make humans that way. That isn’t how choice works, how free will works. That isn’t how love works.
And so it isn’t how discipling works. Or coaching, or mentoring, or leading… or parenting.
And “discipling” is not ultimately a process. It is personal. Life committed to love and follow Jesus as Lord and Savior. Or to choose self. The choice of Satan, the adversary.
That is a hard truth.
What we don’t know
What we don’t know
We do NOT know what Jesus knew. We don’t know who will follow through, keep the faith, walk the Way. We don’t know who will break our heart.
And of those who walk away, we don’t know who will reject the Spirit unto death and beyond… and who will repent and turn or return to Jesus.
We don’t know.
Would it be good if we did?
I want to know… but why do I want to know? To save myself hurt. To guard myself, protect myself from the hurt, from the betrayal.
I want to do exactly what Jesus didn’t do. I want to treat Judas differently, keep distance, stay safe, keep my heart safe. I don’t want to be “greatly troubled” when or if the day of hurt comes.
So, I believe it’s a gift. That we can love as he first loved us. And then keep loving, keep trusting, keep hoping, to the end and beyond. Because we don’t know the end of each story…
but we know the Author of the Story.
Trust the God who knows
Trust the God who knows
We trust the one who sees beginning and end. The God who loves anyway, pursues anyway, disciples anyway.
Trust the God who knows… the Jesus who knows… and loves anyway. Perfectly.
He knows the Judas’ who betray and end in tragedy. He knows the Peters who betray and deny… and yet have a story of redemption and restoration in front of them.
We know that God loves our friend, our child, our disciple… more than we ever could. That the Father will move heaven and earth to rescue and redeem, that the Son will and did lay down his own life to rescue and restore… that the Spirit is calling and convicting and rebuking, drawing them back.
And our job? To love. . To be the hands and feet of Jesus. To model life and love and joy and peace… a life worth living. Where we are given responsibility, domain, it is our place to discipline, to correct.
But mostly to love. and because we love, we teach and disciple and serve.
And trust God in all of it.
