THE BEGINNING OF THE END (AND OF THE BEGINNING) - JOHN 13:21-35

 

13:21-30

Jesus & His Betrayer

After saying these things, Jesus was troubled. “These things” would primarily be his teaching that one of them was not clean and would lift up his heal against him. (18) Jesus knew he would be betrayed and by whom. In 6:70, he told the disciples one of them was a devil. The synoptic gospels record several times Jesus indicated his betrayal.

Yet, Jesus was troubled in spirit. This shows us he was fully human as well as fully divine. He was tempted in all of the things we are  (Hebrews 4:15). It was not a sin to be tempted. Hebrews 4:15 also says he was without sin.

 

Despite the sting of betrayal that troubled him, Jesus did not let his emotions deter him from God’s will. He continued upon the path to his crucifixion and prepared his disciples for his absence. 

Surely the disciples would be able to see he was in agony. And in that agony of spirit, he said “one of you will betray me”. (21) He invoked the double amen (truly, truly) to emphasize the truthfulness of his situation. 

The disciples looked around the room. They did not know who the betrayer would be, but it had to be unsettling to hear this. Having one of this close knit group betray its leader and master was unfathomable. In that society, betraying someone you had eaten with was itself a horrific action. 

The seating arrangements here are key to understanding the scene. The men are reclining at table, leaning of their left elbows with their feet stretched out behind them. They were eating with their right hands. 

Peter, although often the leader, was not positioned next to Jesus. John was on Jesus’ right side. Therefore, when Peter motioned for John to ask Jesus to identify the betrayer, John could turn to his right and be face to face with Jesus and ask him quietly. 

Jesus answered, not with a name, but by giving a sign. It would be the one to whom Jesus gave a morsel of bread after dipping it. It seems like Jesus had the bread in his hand already. He would have reached onto the table with his right hand and dipped it into whatever sauce they were using. 

Then Jesus gave it to Judas, meaning Judas was sitting close to Jesus, maybe even on his left, a position of honor. Judas took the bread and Satan entered into him. Jesus told him to go and complete his betrayal quickly.

The other disciples did not hear Jesus identify his betrayer and did not know why Jesus told him to go quickly. (28) Some thought Jesus was telling him to buy food for the feast, meaning the week long Feast of Unleavened Bread, or that he was to give money to the poor, another tradition of Passover. 

Judas left the room and John wrote “it was night”. This is beautifully written. John uses the contrast of light and dark repeatedly in his gospel. When Judas left the presence of Jesus, the light of the world, he fully surrendered himself to Satan (whether he knew this or not) and spiritual darkness. 

The place of eternal punishment is sometimes described as “outer darkness”. (Matthew 8:12) Judas was headed there, from light to outer darkness. 

Jesus was also about to experience darkness, not for judgment of sin, but because he would surrender himself to the powers of darkness. Jesus told the crowd that came to arrest him that “this is your hour, and the power of darkness”. (Luke 22:53)

The New Commandment

13:31-35

After Judas left the room, Jesus began to teach the remaining 11 disciples. Since his death was imminent, Jesus said now he is glorified.  (31) He tied his glorification to his death. In his perfect obedience to the Father’s will in going to the cross, Jesus glorified the Father. The Father will then glorify him. 

Jesus referred to himself here as the Son of Man, not Lord or Teacher. He did this to evoke Daniel 7, where Daniel’s vision shows the Son of Man coming to the Ancient of Days, who gives him glory, dominion and a kingdom that is everlasting. (Daniel 7:13-14) Although the demons saw defeat and the crowds saw humiliation and shame, heaven saw glory and we now see it too.

Having set the wheels in motion for his departure from the disciples, Jesus turned to teaching them so that he could prepare them to carry on in his absence because they cannot go where he was going. (33) This being true, he gave them a commandment to obey while he was gone.

That commandment was that they love one another as Jesus loved them. (34) That is the way people would know they were Jesus’ disciples, that they loved one another. This commandment would be a recognized trait of the early church as Christians loved each other and lived in unity.

The love of Christians for each other testified to the love of the Father for the Son, and their love for those who loved them. This love was expressed in compassion as well as evangelism. 

Paul picked up this theme, telling us that love is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22) and showing us what love looks like. (1 Corinthians 13) It is a daunting picture in many ways. 

Love is patient and kind. Love does not envy or boast. Love is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way (even in the style of music used in worship). Love is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice in wrong doing. It does rejoice with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.

John, who heard Jesus say this commandment in person, later wrote:

“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does no know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7-8)  

Our love for each other testifies to our conversion and to God’s love. 

This commandment deserves revived attention in the church. The power struggles, personal ambition, and personal attacks have not only brought criticism on the church. It shows we have lost the concept that our love for each other testifies of the love of God for us. And thus we have largely lost that testimony.

So, this week, let us reflect on this commandment given to us by our Savior and Lord. Let us love each other and show our love in acts of service and living according to 1 Corinthians 13. Let us recapture this witness so people will know that we are Jesus’ disciples because of our love.