John 13:21-32
When Jesus had said these things, He became troubled in spirit, and bore witness and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.”The disciples began looking at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him to inquire, “Who is the one of whom He is speaking?” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus answered, “He is the one for whom I shall dip the piece of bread and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the piece of bread, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. And after the piece of bread, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were thinking, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night.
Therefore 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 will glorify Him immediately.
Introduction
No fewer than 8 times prior (and arguably much more) in the gospel of John did Jesus foretell His own death. Many of those were veiled (“the Son of Man must be lifted up”), and none of them explicitly spoke of His betrayal in so many terms. Here is Jesus performing on a small scale what we might call progressive revelation. He knew it all from the beginning, exactly how His life would play out. But for the sake of His disciples and those around Him , He kept many things hidden.
I could speculate as to why Jesus kept this particular fact hidden from His disciples, and indeed many have. But the simple fact is that scripture does not tell us precisely why. And I am content in that, knowing that He withholds many facts from the lives we are living today by the same merit. None of us knows the day or hour of our own deaths, and that is good. We are not paralyzed by what is inevitable anyway.
Here, on the night of His betrayal, Jesus identifies the traitor in the midst of the twelve. Judas is given a piece of dipped bread, sealing his fate as “Satan then entered into him.”
The necessity of evil
This statement from Jesus begins with “Truly, truly”. The double use of “amen” from the Lord is emphatic. What follows is something that is necessarily true. One of His disciples would betray Him. And in fact, the KJV renders this verse as “one of you shall betray Me.” Here we see it even more strongly. Not only would one of His disciples betray Him, but one of His disciples should betray Him. It was integral to the redemptive plan of God that He face this betrayal at the hand of one who was close. Close enough, even, to be among the twelve.
Additionally, after the resurrection, as the women witnessed an angel where the body of Jesus ought to have been, that angel reminded them, “Remember how He spoke to you while He was still in Galilee, saying that the Son of Man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again.” (Luke 24:7) He must be delivered into the hands of sinful men for the plan to be successful. Precisely what the powers of darkness desired became their undoing as they crucified the Son of Man (1 Corinthians 2:8).
All this came about for the sake of God’s glory. As Judas left their company, Jesus declared He was then glorified in that moment. Even though He had not yet suffered, died, and risen from the dead, He was glorified already. Because the pieces had been set in motion, His glory was essentially present before them.
Did Judas have a choice?
All this leads to an interesting and difficult philosophical question many have wrestled with since the very days of this occurrence. If it was necessary for Jesus to be betrayed, and Judas had been marked out for this task as early as John 6 when Jesus declared “not all of you believe”, then was there any hope for this man, Judas Iscariot? Was it even possible for him to find repentance and redemption in the One whom He was to turn over, or is doom his lot?
As with many other complicated questions in theology, the answer is a bit of yes and a bit of no. A related question that might seem strange at the onset is, “Were Christ’s bones breakable?” In John 19, during the crucifixion, we read that the soldiers were coming to break the legs of those who were still on their crosses before nightfall so that no bodies were left hanging during the Sabbath. But Jesus’ legs were spared, because He had already died at that point. John makes a point to tell us, “these things came to pass in order that the Scripture would be fulfilled, ‘Not a bone of Him shall be broken.’” (John 19:36)
This prophecy John lifts from Psalm 34 tells us that none of His bones would be broken, not that His bones were unbreakable. For Jesus to have unbreakable bones would mean He was something other than human, because humans have breakable bones. We know, then, by necessity that this coming to pass was because of God’s providence and His sovereignty over all of history rather than some direct intervention. Likewise, the betrayal of Judas was certainly inevitable. It was foretold, after all! But the inevitability of Judas’ betrayal does not mean that he did not enter into it freely and willingly. John repeatedly gave us insights into Judas’ character. He liked to steal from the treasury. He was sneaky and unrepentant. And ultimately he gave into his love for money and betrayed the Son of Man over to the Pharisees and chief priests because he always would; because what Judas intended for evil, God intended for good. Your life will be marked by experiences of great trouble and evil. But these are not by accident, and they are not meant for your destruction, but that you would glorify God and praise Him for the good He is able to work out from all things
May the Lord bless you and conform you into the image of His Son.
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