A God Betrayed
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. One of His
disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, 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.” (John 13:21-27)
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ!
Have you ever been betrayed? Betrayal, at its heart,
is a break of trust, particularly a break of trust from someone close to you, someone
you should most be able to trust, a family member, a friend, a colleague, an
ally. The deepest hurts that I’ve experienced have been the result of the
betrayal by someone close to me. Someone who should have had my back but who
stabbed me in the back instead. “Et tu, Brute?”
The effects of betrayal can be brutal. You can’t
eat. You can’t sleep. And when you do sleep, your mind keeps playing over and
over again how it all might have been different. In the worst cases, it manifests
itself in a kind of PTSD. I guess that shouldn’t be surprising—the deepest
wounds leave the worst scars. If you’ve been betrayed, it can make it difficult
to trust others, even years down the road. It’s especially difficult to trust
the one who betrayed you—and, in many cases, it probably would be foolish to let
down your guard. There’s only one cure for the hurt of betrayal—the forgiveness
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So, let’s go to the night when He was betrayed.
Jesus tells His disciples He’s going to wash their
feet. Peter refuses, “Lord, You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus tells him, “If
I do not wash you, you have no share with Me.” Peter goes overboard in the
other direction. “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus
has to correct him again, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except
for his feet, but is completely clean.” Then He adds, “And you are clean, but
not every one of you.” For He knew who was to betray Him; that is why He said, “Not
all of you are clean.”
Not everyone shares the blessings that Jesus offers,
because not everyone believes in Jesus. One of Jesus’ disciples has pushed
Jesus from his heart and is about to betray Him. The Lord knows that. He had
alluded to it another time (John 6:70-71). He knew it would come to this when
He chose the Twelve. Therefore, He announces that His words of guidance and
blessing do not refer to all of them.
But if Jesus knows it, why does He let it happen? Now,
it is always dangerous to speculate about the mind of God, but in this case, He
tells us why in Matthew 26:24. Jesus chose one disciple even though that one would
eventually reject and betray Him because it fulfilled Scripture. Jesus didn’t
choose this disciple to betray Him. That was his own doing in sin and unbelief.
Jesus chose him because when he would carry out his betrayal, He would fulfill
Scripture. Psalm 41:9 had recorded words that applied to the Messiah: “Even My
close friend in whom I trusted, who ate My bread, has lifted his heel against
Me.” That friend would deliver Jesus to His enemies. The time has come for
those words to be fulfilled in Christ’s life. In all He does, Christ steadfastly
obeys the Word of His Father and fulfills all messianic prophecies.
Jesus tells the disciples about it now as another
sign to build their faith. When the betrayal happens, it will not change Jesus’
relationship with the rest of them, nor His mission for the world. He gives them
His solemn words that whoever receives anyone He sends will actually receive
Him. And whoever receives Jesus receives the Father who sent Him. He had told
them that another time (Matthew 10:40), and now He reassures them on the eve of
His crucifixion.
Who can imagine the grief Jesus feels in His heart
as He thinks of the betrayal, the crucifixion, and the effect the next day’s
events will have on the disciples? He is “troubled in His spirit.” “Truly,
truly,” He stresses, “one of you will betray Me.” He says it plainly. They
cannot mistake His meaning. They stare at one another, wondering which one of
them He means. Not believing it could possibly be true of one of their brothers,
each one praying to God it was not was not he.
How was it possible?
One of those the Lord had chosen? One who had walked with Him and heard Him and
seen His divinity and power with his own eyes? If this can happen, then
anything can happen to any one of them.
The disciples understand
this. They don’t profess their innocence. They know that if their Master says
it, it is so. They are confronted with the unfathomable mystery of evil. No one
can be sure of himself in this case. Everyone has to stand the test. They are
willing to do it. They begin taking turns asking: “Is it I, Lord?” (Matthew
26:22).
“Is it I, Lord?” This
is the first question a disciple asks his Master when he hears talk of betrayal,
even in the inner circle. He knows that only one thing is certain—the only one
way to salvation is to hold on firmly to the Lord.
But Peter wants to know
more. He whispers to John, who is closest to Jesus at the table. John leans back
and asks Jesus about whom He is talking. Jesus tells him, “It is he to whom I
will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” Apparently only John and
Jesus share this exchange.
Then Jesus breaks a
piece of unleavened bread and folds it, as was the custom, and dips it into the
dish to pick up a piece of meat. Then He holds it out to Judas, a sign of
respect. The host would do this when he wanted to honor a guest.
Judas must understand
the meaning of this. Jesus is offering him forgiveness, friendship, and
fellowship. Everything can be as it was before. But Judas decides to go his own
evil way. He takes the bread but not the outstretched hand. Judas looks away from
Jesus and rejects His last offer of forgiveness. Satan enters him in that
moment. Judas forfeits his last opportunity for reconciliation.
Jesus knows this but
doesn’t draw attention to it. He says only, “What you are going to do, do
quickly.” He says it so naturally that the others think He is having Judas go
out to buy something for the festival or to given something to the poor from their
little community purse.
So Judas leaves. The
door opened for just a moment. “And it was night,” John says. He is alluding to
something more than just the time of day. Judas goes out into the darkness, the
outermost darkness that is eternally separated from God. This can happen even
to those who are close to Jesus. They can turn down His last offer. They can
harden their hearts to His final attempt to win them back.
This event teaches us
what it means to receive Holy Communion in an unworthy manner. The Bible doesn’t
speak about worthy and unworthy communicants. None of us is worthy enough to receive
Christ and His gifts, but we can receive them in an unworthy manner. That means
to do what Judas does: to sit with Him at His Table with a firm conviction in
your heart not to obey Him, to go your own way—at least at some particular
point. That’s when a person goes to Communion in unbelief and defiance or
possibly in total indifference.
To receive it in the
right way means doing what the other disciples do. They want to follow Jesus. They
trust Him. There is a lot they don’t understand, but they know the truth is in
Him. They have their share of infidelities. They will all fail in all their
good intentions that same evening. But they know He is right, and they can go
to Him for help. Our Lord Jesus Christ, on the night of His betrayal, institutes
His Supper for people like them.
People like you and me.
People who have betrayed our Lord on more than one occasion. Each time we’ve failed
to fear, love, and trust in God above all things. Each time we’ve misused God’s
name or failed to call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.
Each time we’ve despised God’s preaching and His Word, failed to hold it sacred
and gladly hear and learn it. Each time we failed to honor our parents and
other authorities. Each time we’ve hurt our neighbor or failed to help him when
we could. Each time we’ve failed to lead a sexually pure and decent life in
what we say and do. Each time we’ve sought to take our neighbor’s money or possessions
or failed to help him improve and protect his possessions and income. Each time
we have damaged or not protected our neighbor’s reputation. Each time we’ve
coveted someone or something that God has not seen fit to give us. We’ve betrayed
our Lord countless times, often for much less than thirty pieces of silver.
Judas would soon come
to regret his little deal. But we must do more than regret; we are called to
repent. To recognize that Jesus came for sinners like us. That this plan was
God’s. And the price He paid would be so much more than thirty pieces of silver.
He would be betrayed and denied by His disciples, forsaken by His heavenly
Father, His blood shed for the sins of the world, even for the likes of you and
me.
Jesus, in His great
mercy and love, keeps reaching out to us. Reminding us that He has redeemed us,
lost and condemned sinners, purchased and won us from all sins, from death, and
from the power of the devil; not with gold or silver, but with His holy,
precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death, that we may be His own
and live under Him in His kingdom and serve Him in everlasting righteousness,
innocence, and blessedness, just as He is risen from the dead, lives and reigns
to all eternity.
This is most certainly
true.
The peace of God, which
passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen
Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are
from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights
reserved.
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