Normally I try to start my sermons with a funny story, but today I want to start it with something of a confession. The last two years God has taken me taken me through some deep valleys in my life, with pain and hurt that I can honestly say I don’t wish and anybody, but you can understand if I say I’m glad I went through it. I’m a different man because of what I’ve been through and I’ve learned a valuable lesson, to just let things go. People do stuff to us some intentional some unintentional, whatever it is one of the best lessons we can learn in life is to let it go. Because if you don’t it will simply eat you alive.
It is because of what I’ve been through and what I’ve learned that this particular passage has become very important too me. This is one of those experiences where you read a passage that you know really well and it’s like you’re reading it for the very first time. It’s the story of the last supper in John chapter 13, it is amazing to really look at everything that Jesus was doing here, and I want to share them with you in the form of images.
The first image, is the image of transition. Look at verse 1, “When Jesus knew that His hour had come.” This is a statement that marks a change. As John is writing his gospel, looking back on the key events of the life of Christ he realizes that this was the start of everything changing, and so he uses the language of transition. Jesus’ hour, His time had come. It is time for Him to go from teacher to condemned prisoner, but it is also time for Him to go from the servant to all to the Lord of All. It is a time of transition for Jesus.
One of the lessons we need to learn about transitions is that transitions take time. It’s quick to make a change. Change a persons job, title and description, the change is quick the transition for them and the people around them takes time. Move to a new city, the change is quick the feeling that its home takes a while.
Going through a transition successfully takes time and in these John 13 we see Him laying the groundwork for a successful transition. John 13:1 says, “When Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own how were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Jesus knows His hour has come and He’s going to spend the next four chapters prepare His disciples to handle it. John 17:1 He’s in the garden and He prays “Father the hour has come.” The four chapters in are His final teachings to His disciples on earth. He spends four chapters preparing them for the transition. To understand how huge this is. John’s record of Jesus life, from his prologue about the beginning, to John the Baptist to Jesus entire ministry to this point, everything He taught, everything He did that John recorded took 12 chapters, but John spent 4 chapters talking about these few hours.
But Jesus wasn’t the only one who was faced with a transition here. This was a time of transition for Judas too. Look at verse 2, “And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.” Judas is going through a time of tragic transition. He is making the move from disciple to betrayer. But understand that from John’s point of view looking back from the end of his life to the events that happened earlier, John realizes who’s in charge. Look at verse 3, “Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands.” Even as Judas is helping to plan the murder of Jesus, Jesus is fully aware and fully in charge.
So what Jesus does next become even more amazing. First we have the passage where Jesus washes the disciple’s feet. Before He becomes the ruler of all, He puts Himself in the position of the lowest servant, He’s teaching the most visible lesson on servant leadership in perhaps all of history. Then He sits the disciples down and He makes a statement that should get the attention of everyone at the table, He says, “I do not speak concerning all of you.” In that moment the change has begun. Until then Jesus has always included everyone, it didn’t matter who you were or what you’d done you were welcome with Jesus. Look at John 6:70, “Did I not choose you, the twelve, and one of you is a devil?” From the beginning Jesus included everyone, even the one He knew would betray Him, He included, until now, now the change has come, Jesus is moving from servant to Savior, and the language changes.
With the change we move to the image of betrayal. Jesus is picking His words wisely now that He has their attention He says, “I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted his heal against Me.” Jesus is quoting Psalm 41:9, “Even my own familiar friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.” He’s quoting a psalm from the life of David, one they possibly were familiar with but He makes a very important omission. He doesn’t refer to Judas as His familiar friend. That is a reference to someone you trust, to a close confidant. Jesus drops that and refers specifically to someone that He invited to eat at His table.
In the Near East it was a great honor to be asked to eat and the King’s table. When you ate there you were honored as a member of the family with all of the privileges that go with it. When Jesus implemented communion, He was inviting us to His table. As we remember Him, He honors us as part of His family.
That is why this saying denotes the bitterness of the betrayal at hand. This person was invited to sit at the kings table he was treated as part of the family, given an honor he was not born to. And this person who was treated so well, betrays the very person who honored them so. The term used is “has lifted up his heel against me.” It was a symbol of dishonor, it can also be translated as “has kicked me.” This is the pain of a deep betrayal by a trusted friend.
Psalm 41 is a Psalm from later in David’s life it is from the rebellion of Absalom. Understand this rebellion was 20 years in the making, Absalom wanted his father’s throne, he was just afraid to try and take it from him. David was really good at war, Absalom understood it was probably a bad idea to fight with him. So he waits until David is sick, until he can’t fight his battles anymore, then Absalom strikes. So on his sick bed David cries, he reminds God that he had taken care of the poor, then he cries out at the injustice of his enemies and asks for deliverance. Then comes this statement about betrayal by the one who eats at his table. Understand Absalom had moved out of David’s house years before.
But David did have a trusted advisor, his name was Ahithophel. Even with David’s illness Absalom still wasn’t ready to rebel until he sent word to Ahithophel and asked if he would become his advisor against David. When Ahithophel came to Absalom’s camp, that is when Absalom rebelled. As David is a parallel to the life of Christ, some people believe Ahithophel is of Judas as well.
Jesus used the passage to describe the hurt that He was feeling over His betrayal, but He was also using it as a warning. You see Judas would know the rest of the story. Even though Absalom saw Ahithophel’s defection as necessary for success at some point he lost confidence in Ahithophel and rejected his advice in favor of others. When Ahithophel saw that he was no longer value and he couldn’t go back to David, he went home, put his house in order and hung himself.
You can see the parallel between the two. So could Jesus, he knew Judas future just as well as He knew His own. And here He stands knowing what is to come feeling the pain of the betrayal of one that He welcomed to His table and treated as a family member. Even as He stands there using this passage to describe the pain that He is feeling, Jesus is issuing a warning to Judas. Understand that according to the timeline in Mark Judas has already met with the Pharisees he has already agreed to betray Jesus. Jesus knows this, He already can feel the sting of it, but rather than banish Judas from His presence as most of us would do. Rather than point the finger of guilt at the one who was guilty, Jesus reaches out one final time to Judas. Judas you’ve hurt me, but Judas see the danger, Judas don’t follow in the footsteps of Ahithophel.
It wasn’t too late you don’t warn someone of danger unless they have a chance to avoid it. Jesus knew what Judas was doing, but He warns him anyway. Here as He uses the image of Psalm 41 to paint the image of betrayal, He also uses it to offer redemption to Judas. With this warning the image of redemption comes into view.
Look at what Jesus says next, “Most assuredly I say to you one of you will betray me.” In case Judas missed the symbolism Jesus then bluntly states what is about to happen. Now He has everyone’s attention in the room, but understand His desire here, it’s not to point a finger, His motivation was that they would believe in Him. We know this because that what He says verse 19, “Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.”
Jesus wants them to believe, notice again by the way the language of inclusion. It’s that “you” may believe, not all of you except one, but that “you” may believe. Also understand that the person who should have been paying the most attention was Judas. This is an offer of redemption. Judas it’s not to late, I know what you’ve done, I know what you’re going to do, but believe in Me, I am the One.
Jesus makes this offer even clearer, verse 20, Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” This is an offer to who ever. The language is all inclusive, Judas if you will just receive Me you can find redemption.
Do we understand the forgiveness that is offered here? We make forgiving people such a big deal. Well they need to ask me for forgiveness. They need to say their sorry and admit that they are wrong then I’ll consider it. See we crossed some thing up. We’ve taken the steps that we’ve been instructed to do when we’ve wronged someone and we’ve decided that those are requirements for us to forgive anyone. Who made us the judge?
Here is Jesus, looking directly in the face of one who was about to willingly hurt Him so, and Jesus is offering to forgive Him. In fact, I believe that Jesus already had in the human sense, Jesus had let the anger go. That is a lesson for you and me. As He is preparing to leave, first He models for us that we are to be servants to all then we are to forgive those around us. We’ve all been hurt, people do things to each other, it happens. Sometimes it’s intentional and some times it not, but the concept is that we have to learn to forgive so that the bitterness doesn’t eat us alive. So that whatever it is that hurt you doesn’t get to control a portion of you life and then more and more until that hurt transforms you into someone you never wanted to become in the first place. We’ve got to learn the lesson of taking the pain of our past and letting it go.
Understand this is part of the lessons that Jesus is teaching in the transition. He’s teaching them how to live, but He’s also telling them who’s in control. He knows that crisis of faith that the disciples are headed to. They are about to what Him be wrongfully arrested, and falsely accused in an illegal trial and murdered by the most cruel torture available at the time. It’s the kind of thing that will shake anyone’s faith, but Jesus is telling them in advance, that He knows what coming, so that they will understand, who was in charge, He always was, remember “He knew that God had placed all things in His hands.”
He was preparing them for the transition that His death would bring, but He was also preparing them for something else. Judas was not the only one who would betray Him that night. Peter was going to deny Him three times. John was going to come to His trail and remain silent. The rest of them were going to hide as far as we know. Understand that disciples were responsible for the care of their master, when His life was literally being taken from Him, His disciples were going to deny Him, remain silent, and hide. In the garden when they were supposed to pray, they would fall asleep. Even after His death, these men that He had taught, these men, who He was letting know that He was in charge of the events, would forget that He said, He was going to die and come back. Thank God the women checked the tomb, who knows how long we guys would have left Him standing around waiting for us to show up. Ok I’m kidding but the point is, everyone that was at the table was about to fail Him. All of them, we point the finger at Judas but they were all guilty.
Maybe we like to point the finger at Judas not just because he’s such and obvious target, but if the rest of the disciples are guilty then so are we. That is something we don’t like to think about but all of us fail God at some point. We sin, we disobey, we don’t do the good things that we know we should do. We fail to forgive others and then we cop and attitude about it like we are right. Like my mother used to say, two wrongs don’t make a right. But understand the offer for repentance was for everyone at the table.
What happens next is understandable. Jesus is finished and the disciples become perplexed. Everyone begins to ask everyone who it is. I’m sure they had suspects but no one wants to admit it. Finally John asks, John the teenager in the innocence of you asks, “Lord who is it?” At first glance it’s seems unfair that Jesus didn’t name Judas. He made the disciples question who it was. I’m sure some of them questioned if He was talking about Him.
But you see I don’t think Jesus could have named Judas yet. To name him would have been to brand him as guilty and Judas hadn’t committed the sin yet. Oh he had thought about it, he had met with the Pharisees about it, but he hadn’t done it yet.
This brings us to the saddest image of all, the image of decision. It’s not too late for Judas to repent and turn. I believe that Jesus plan still would have happened the Pharisees broke a bunch of rules that day they could have found another accuser. Now is the moment that Judas must decide. Look at Jesus response to the question, verse 26, “Jesus answered, ‘It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.’ And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.” Jesus dips the bread, Judas makes the decision to take it. If you question if it’s a decision look at the next verse, “Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, ‘what you do, do quickly.” Satan wasn’t in control of Judas yet, Judas could still have repented, it’s part of why Jesus invests the time He does, this was Judas final chance. And now Jesus is there holding out the bread to him, and Judas takes it.
I wonder if he knew that at that moment his fate was sealed. When he took that bread, when he made that decision, that he would be the one to betray Christ, I wonder if he knew that at that moment it was too late. Satan comes into him, he is no longer in charge of his life. He has made his decision and now he must play his role and pay his price. Verse 30 says, “Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.” I wonder if he knew that he was a prisoner in his own body. I wonder if as his hand hit the door he understood that there was a force in him that he could not resist. I wonder if he knew as his hand hit the door that he would never be able to come back. I wonder if he knew. The image of decision is a terrible image. For Judas, this decision was fatal. It was one he could never come back from.
I think we have to ask ourselves how he got to this point. We understand that it was the little sins along the way, the quest for money, or perhaps position, was he envious of the other disciples, we don’t know everything that went into his making the decision. But now he’s at a point he can never come back from.
You know what’s tragic? What happens next is tragic. Verses 28-29, “But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him. For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, ‘Buy those things we need for the feast,’ or that he should give something to the poor.” Excuse me? Jesus tells them He’s going to be betrayed by one of them. Everyone freaks out about it, they all want to know who it is. Jesus says, it’s the one I give the piece of bread that I dip to. They watch Jesus do it, they watch Judas take it, they hear Jesus say, “What you do, do quickly.” And we’re supposed to believe that they thought Judas was leaving with a good intent? Excuse me?
It sounds unbelievable unless you’ve worked in the church for a while. We Christians can make excuses for anything to justify anyone that we like and we call it being loyal. Hey you want a picture of loyalty. What if Peter instead of swinging a sword in the garden had said, “Wait, Judas what are you doing?” You’re not going to betray Jesus are you?” What if Simon the Zealot, the warrior had decided to stop him from leaving for his own good? But no one said anything, accountability was totally missing at that moment. The greatest sin in the world was about to be perpetrated by Judas, his friends were warned about it, the guys who had served with him for three years, the guys who knew him well, but rather than understanding what he was capable of, they just made and excuse for him. A convenient story and Judas goes out into the darkness from which he will never return.
Here’s step on of the personal application, when we see some one headed down a road that’s going to destroy them we need to tell them stop. This isn’t just about evangelism, but within the church. We need to hold our friends to a higher standard, sometime we’ll want more for the people around us then they want for themselves, that’s alright it’s a good thing. You know what, that mean sometimes we’ll be corrected too, by people who want more for us. Our mission is to want more for each other and to lift each other up to become more and more like Christ.
The second thing is Jesus was willing to forgive Judas, who do you need to forgive. I’m not talking about going to someone you’ve wronged and apologizing, I’m not talking about going to someone who’s hurt you and telling them they’re forgiven. I’m talking about coming to the altar or praying where you are, or just simply making the decision to take that pain and leave it behind. Just let it go. I’m not saying you weren’t hurt, I’m not saying that whoever hurt you wasn’t wrong, or even that they’re a good person, because none of us are. I’m saying today make the decision that you are going to forgive them whether they deserve it or not because you deserve to be free of the pain. Let it go today and step into the freedom of forgiveness.
The final application and I can’t let this one go, who do you know that headed out into the darkness. How do you know that they still have time left? Who do we need to get serious about reaching? Maybe someone in your 8 to 15 people that God has supernaturally place in you life for you to share the gospel with, maybe their time is about to run out. Maybe you’re the one who’s been hiding, it’s time to stop, you never know when that final decision is, when the next time you reject God was the last time you had a chance, today listen to whatever it is He’s calling you to do.
