21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me on the table. 22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!" 23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this. 24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest. 25 And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 28 "You are those who have stayed with Me in My trials, 29 and I assign to you, as My Father assigned to Me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
21 But behold, the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me on the table.
v.21 – Jesus has already on several occasions mentioned that He will be betrayed and turned over to the authorities and would be put to death. In this verse Jesus makes the even MORE startling announcement… that the man who is going to betray Him is sitting at the table with Him right at that moment!
22 For the Son of Man goes as it has been determined, but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed!"
v. 22 – This verse lends credence to those who hold to the double-predestination belief that God has chosen [predestined] both ALL who will go to heaven and ALL who will go to hell. Their premise is that this man who is going to betray Jesus would fall into the 2nd category! On reason they say this is the word Jesus uses here for this man… “WOE”…
Defining WOE we read that it means:
1 - a serious affliction or misfortune
2 – Grief or distress resulting from a serious affliction or misfortune
Another word for WOE in our English language is the word anguish, which represents great pain and suffering, so this man is headed for great pain and suffering.
23 And they began to question one another, which of them it could be who was going to do this.
Now I want you to imagine the murmur that raced thru the room when Jesus said what He said in v.22. Betray Him? Who would do such a thing, surely not one of us… first each man would have cleared himself, and then suspicions began to arise in their hearts about their fellow disciples… that is when all things started to come to a head…
24 A dispute also arose among them, as to which of them was to be regarded as the greatest.
We can see here that in this moment of doubt and confusion, the flesh took over for these men… I can imagine it going something like this:
Peter – I can’t imagine anyone betraying you Lord, I know its not going to be me!
James – Well I can’t understand why anyone would do such a terrible thing, I know that you can trust me Jesus.
John – James, He knows He can trust the both of us, we have always been there for Him. We would never do such a terrible thing.
Andrew – What do you mean YOU? We have been with Him too, He can trust US too! After all, I was the first to follow Him, He can trust me the most!
Peter – Andrew your are right, You were the first and I was the 2nd to follow Him, we are His most trusted disciples!
Nathaniel – Now just wait a cotton-pickin minute here Peter!! Who told you that? Did Jesus say that? NO! I believe I am the ONE he can truly trust, after all He said that I had no deceit in my mouth…
Before long it became a shouting match and I can just imagine Jesus hanging His head for a moment, wondering if these men had learned anything over the past 3 ½ years He had led them…
Before long it became a shouting match and I can just imagine Jesus hanging His head for a moment, wondering if these men had learned anything over the past 3 ½ years He had led them…
25 And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those in authority over them are called benefactors. 26 But not so with you. Rather, let the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as one who serves. 27 For who is the greater, one who reclines at table or one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at table? But I am among you as the one who serves.
Here is Jesus, trying to calm 12 men who were fighting over who was the most faithful to Him. I see this as a time of grief in the heart of Jesus. But Jesus, still focused on teaching these men about the Kingdom and about the love of God.
He then explains to them what it means to serve in the Kingdom and how they are to lead by their service…He does this by painting a picture for them about how the world does things… and then how those in the Kingdom are expected to do things!
First He gives the example of the Gentile kings… the term Gentile here is given to simply declare a division… Gentile was considered to be someone outside of God’s favor.
To the Jew, a Gentile was outside of God’s favor because he was NOT a Jew, but to Jesus, the term Gentile meant something totally different. It meant a person outside of the grace of God, outside of the forgiveness of God, outside the mercy of God. But the disciples would have heard this from the Jewish perspective, and truthfully it gets the point across from either perspective!
Those kings outside of God’s favor use their position of authority to “lord over” those who do not have the authority. “Lord over” is a term that means to have power over, to have control over… These men reveled in the power of their position and used that position for their own benefit.
This is what Jesus meant when He says, “and those in authority over them are called benefactors….” It was a position that enhanced their personal desires and benefited them, it was not seen as a position of leadership that looked out for the people, but only as one of selfish power.
We see this happen in our world today. A person is elevated to a position of power in an organization and though they may begin as advocates of those they ‘rule’ over, usually it deteriorates to a selfish power grab that seeks only to benefit themselves. This is Jesus describing the HUMAN condition… we are flawed and will fail in this situation.
But those who follow God, those who enjoy His favor and mercy… those who are under His grace… Jesus says that they lead by serving those they are called to lead. Then Jesus says, ‘it won’t look like what you are used to… but this is what I have done since I have been here… do as I have done!’
28 "You are those who have stayed with Me in My trials, 29 and I assign to you, as My Father assigned to Me, a kingdom, 30 that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
Here Jesus reveals to these men that He understands what they have done in following Him over these past 3+ yrs. They had been with Him thru thick and thin, and Jesus wanted them to understand something now that I am sure they had NOT thought about… at least not from a spiritual perspective, and that is what they were going to do when Jesus was gone.
Jesus is passing on the mantle of ministry here to these disciples, and telling them that their faithfulness to God will be rewarded… not only in this life but especially in the life to come!
Jesus lays claim to the eternal kingdom here in that God has assigned the Kingdom to Him and He lays claim to “My table… in MY Kingdom…”
Jesus is NOT setting the disciples up as judges [as Jesus Himself, only, will be the judge all things] but sharing that in the final settlement of the Heavenly kingdom, these men will find favor with God for their obedience… and those who are not obedient will not find favor with God.
This picture Jesus paints is simply a metaphor for these men on how wonderful heaven is going to be… eternal dwelling with the Father in Heaven will be like being a king… we will be exalted by God and will have all of heaven’s resources at our disposal and all of God’s glory will be shining down upon us!
What a great picture for believers even today… when we are faithful, God is gracious and faithful to bless our faithfulness.
