John 13 Cont.

The Betrayer, The Glorified, The New Commandment, Peter’s denial prediction.

I want us to make sure we do not forget what Jesus told the disciples moments before, Jesus revealed Judas as the betrayer.

“I know whom I have chosen”.......I will say again, Jesus said this so that the disciples will not be caught off guard when it all started happening. It was for them and us, to assure us that the Father’s will was not circumvented, but rather Scripture was fulfilled by the betrayal of Judas....Psalm 41:9 “Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, Which did eat of my bread, Hath lifted up his heel against me.”

Basically, Jesus is telling them that He knew all along. Judas didn’t trick Jesus into thinking that he was on board and then all of a sudden have a change of heart.

Jesus reveals this to us back in John 6:70 “Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?”

He has go this! This is how it is supposed to go down.

Let’s look closer now......Verses 21-30 ...........Jesus was troubled and testified to the trouble.....

“One of you shall betray Me.”

This is a pointed part of the passage, they wouldn’t of saw this coming. One of you......!

They looked at one another, confused about who Jesus spoke of.............

They were, in each others eyes, faithful.

The only disagreement they had was who was the greatest among them.

John and the others could only see and write about Judas after the fact, only Jesus at this point knew who the betrayer was.

John never refers to himself by name in the account of his Gospel. “The one that Jesus loved” was the way John refers to himself, here.

No, he was not arrogant, he was captured by the love of God through Jesus Christ.

One writer wrote: Just as ‘the beloved disciple’, if a self-designation, implies not arrogance (as if to say ‘I am more loved than others’) but a profound sense of indebtedness to grace (‘What a wonder—that I should be loved by the incarnate Word!’), so the silence as to the identity of the beloved disciple may be a quiet way of refusing to give even the impression of sharing a platform with Jesus. ‘Like the other John at the very beginning of the Gospel, the first witness to Jesus, he is only a voice.

He was near to Jesus, leaning on Him.

Peter is always the first it seems, he asks John to ask Jesus who is it that He is speaking?

John then asked Jesus, who is it?

Now, if you reference Matthew 26 and Mark 14, the disciples ask “Is it I?”

None really sure of who it is.....

However, John’s acct. has him asking Jesus. Others asking, probably happened at the moment Jesus said that one of you shall betray Me.

Not hearing John ask Jesus, not sure but is a speculation.

Jesus answers that the one that will betray Him, is the one that he gives the sop (morsel) after He has dipped it.

Jesus gave the morsel to the one who would betray Him. It was Judas........

Giving a house guest a morsel was a gesture of friendship, but this was a marker of evil.

Verse 27 tells us that at that moment satan entered into Judas. We know from John 13:2 “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him;”

Judas was exasperated at how this has all turned out and things recently wasn’t going the way he thought it should go.

Not sure the motives, other than John calling him a thief and extorted money from the bag.

Any how you look at it, Judas was of the world, Jesus knew it and used the hardness of his heart to fufill His purposes!

Jesus then tells Judas to do what he was intending to do quickly. The time had come to complete the reason why He came!

A side note Matthew 26:25 “Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.” .........Judas asked Jesus, that is probably when Jesus gave him the sop.

None of the disciples, really knew what was going on, they thought Judas, being he had the money, was going to buy things for the feast or to give to the poor.

The things that the Gospel writers say about Judas, they say with a completed knowledge.

John calls Judas a thief, only after the fact, he had no idea before.

Hindsight is 20/20, it is no mistaking who Judas was, now!

Judas left and it was dark, that meant that Friday had begun.......some say.

I have read that this also has a spiritual reference, as well. Although it was a full moon, darkness covered the land, but also darkness had completely covered Judas, separated from God forever, God would of forgave him, if he would of just believed in Jesus but Judas was sold to this world (satan).

Jesus, now, has His faithful left....He takes this opportunity to teach, comfort, and strengthen......The hindrance is gone, it is just Him and them and time is drawing near that He was going to carry the burdens of many, go to the grave, arise, and ascend. After that, He will be gone from their physical, presence and there is so much to tell them. Verses 31-38....Some call this the “Farewell Discourse”

In some of my reading I come by 3 points of what is in this passage

We are marked by the love for our Lord’s glory

We are marked by our love for one another and their well-being.

We are marked because of love by loyalty.

Verses 31-32, I believe are very important! Jesus declares that what He is about to do or what is about to happen will reveal God’s glory and glorify Himself.

Listen to the apostles as they speak of this:

Ephesians 3:20-21 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen.”

Jude 24-25 “Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.”

2 Corinthians 4:6 “For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.”

These men were overcome with that glory, some call these writings “outbursts of the heart and minds”

They were speaking of their salvation and then burst into praise, but it also is more than just lip service.  It’s more than the praise of their lips or the praise of their pen.  It is how their heart cries that their Lord be glorified.

They desire because of what they know of God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, which has brought them to love God!

This is why Paul wrote this: 1 Corinthians 10:31 “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”

Now, Jesus tells them that He will only be with them a little while.

He calls them “little children”

At this point the disciples were unsure of what was going on or how it would all happen.

In this respect, Jesus refers to them as little children, because they have forsaken all and faithfully followed Jesus, but didn’t have the foreknowledge of what was to come like Jesus did.

Jesus speaks to them as a father would speak to his son.

He repeats what He said to the Jews in John 7 & 8......you can’t go with Him at this point.

Those Jews weren’t going at all it seems, but one day the disciples will be with Him, but right now they can’t come. They have a Gospel to deliver to the world!

“A New Commandment” just as Jesus has loved us, we should love each other! Was this really a new commandment?

Leviticus 19:18 “Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the Lord.”

Deuteronomy 6:5 “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”

The answer is NO! But it was new to them!Remember, we talked last week about the disciples in Luke’s acct. were arguing over who would be the greatest in the Kingdom. They still didn’t get it.....

Secondly, to the Jews, it was new, ‘cause Judaism was filled with animosity, bitterness, strife, conflict, separations. Love wasn’t taught, who would be the greatest was probably more the conversation than loving one another.

Now, we all know verse 35.  By this, by our love, all men will know that you are My disciples if you have love for one another.  We are to be known by our love.  We are to be marked by our love.  And I think that’s true of genuine Christians.  Throughout history, there have been some people who profess to be Christians, some religious institutions and organizations who profess to be Christians who are loveless and in some cases even brutal.  But true believers are to be known by their love.  We can be known for our doctrine.  We can be known for our theology.  That is what we believe.  But what we believe is supposed to transform our lives so that the final test is who we are, how we live.

Verse 36 & 37.....Where are you going?.......is almost like a child wanting to follow their father......Why can’t we follow you, Lord?

Peter hints here of some kind of desperation, “I will lay down my life for you.....”

I believe there was some sincerity in Peter, but he did not have the power within to handle what he promises and he didn’t fully understand the mission.....

For a brief 33 years Jesus had humiliated Himself, condescended to become incarnate in human flesh, lived as an infant, as a child, as a young boy, as a man.  He had humbled Himself, restricted the full manifestation of His glory, and He had taken a terrible amount of abuse.

Jesus was about to embark on the greatest event of history, by means of extreme agony and the wrath of God!

Peter, however, did not understand it all, none of them did, Thomas is still asking in the next chapter.

Verse 38 Jesus reveals the denial of Peter..........only a few hours from this Peter would be willing to die for Jesus, but later he would deny that he had ever knew Jesus!

Will you lay down your life for me???

One writer wrote: “The true Peter is not seen in his denial, but his repentance.”

No, no, Jesus lays down His life for us.......Peter’s denial should remind us of our weakness, but also the richness of divine grace!