John 14 is like the last will and testament of Jesus.
A Last Will and Testament is a legal document where a person specifies their final wishes regarding their assets and specifies how they wish to provide for family members, friends, pets, and other organizations.
Most standard in a will is what a person gives to their spouse and children. Millionaires have left vast fortunes to families, endowed scholarships at universities and donated to various philanthropic endeavors. People have given money to churches, charities, and communities.
People have used wills to give to loved ones or to take a final jab at people with whom they had strained relationships.
When the hotel heiress Leona Helmsley died in 2007, she entirely cut two of her grandchildren out of her will. For the other grandchildren, their inheritance was contingent upon them making regular visits to their father’s grave. And she left $12 million dollars to her dog, a Maltese named Trouble.
When the comedian Jack Benny died in 1974, he had made a provision in his will that his widow was to receive a single long-stem red rose everyday for the rest of her life. She outlived him by nine years and received more than 3,000 roses.
In John 14, we see the caring provision that Jesus made for his disciples and ultimately for the church.
Jesus will highlight three provisions he’s made for his disciples, and ultimately for his church in John 14:22-31.
The Holy Spirit
In John 14:21, Jesus says:
Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.
This prompts an apostle named Judas (but not the same Judas who betrayed Jesus to ask in verse 22: Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?”
In verse 23, Jesus says: If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
Jesus talks about obedience to him and keeping his word. And in answering, he says that Jesus and his Father will love the person who keeps his word and make their home with them. There’s some nuance here.
In 14:16, Jesus has talked of giving a helper, advocate, counselor to his disciples. That is the Spirit.
But in verse 23, Jesus is saying that it is he and his father who will make a home with the person. Think of it like progressing a thought. Jesus is giving further elaboration on the Spiritual dimension of how he is to provide for his disciples.
In verse 26, Jesus will specify that the helper he’s referring to here is the Holy Spirit.
So he is giving the helper – the Spirit – but the Father and Son will make a home with the person who loves Jesus and keeps his word. This passage emphasizes the Trinity. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are working together.
And it is because we have the Triune Godhead that the Spirit who indwells a Christian can be mentioned in conversation with God and the Son making a home in a person. It is the Spirit who indwells. It is the Spirit who is in us.
And that is why it is necessary that the Spirit share in all of the divine attributes. Anything less would be inadequate. Anything else could not sanctify. The Spirit brings the presence and the experience of the Father and Son into our lives. It is by the Spirit, that Christ is manifested to us, is revealed to us.
The Word
Jesus is speaking in 14:25-26. He will point again to his departure.
25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
Jesus is saying these things while there’s still time. But he knows where he’s going. He knows what lies ahead. As we said a few moments ago, Jesus talks of the Holy Spirit that he will give to his followers.
It’s only the second time in this gospel where we’ve seen the term Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is holy. Again, the Spirit has all of the attributes of God. The Spirit is not a force. It’s a person. The Spirit is not created, he’s eternal. And in this passage, Jesus is saying that the Spirit will teach those things that Christ has said.
he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.
What does that mean?
When Jesus says to his disciples that the Spirit will teach all things and bring to remembrance all that he has said, he’s referring to the witness of the disciples in the writing of the New Testament.
All throughout the gospels, the disciples are not this really sharp, buttoned up group. We see their ignorance. At times, we see their vanity. They often miss the point. But these are the people who wrote the New Testament and were the first ones sent out to spread the good news of the gospel?
For these disciples who lived with Jesus, heard Jesus, saw Jesus, and beheld the risen Jesus, the Spirit would endow them with the ability to recount the word of God.
Like Moses and the prophets of the Old Testament who were entrusted to communicate the very words of God, the disciples too would communicate the greatest revelation of God to the world: the Word, the gospel of Jesus Christ.
The gospels are not just four eyewitness accounts. The secular world likes to treat the gospels like that. Just four accounts of a teacher. But they’re more than that. It is the Spirit breathed and perfect word of God to the world. It is because of that work that we have our gospels and our New Testament.
And it is because of the Spirit that we can trust the New Testament and the gospels. That these are not just opinions of men. It is the word of God.
For the disciples, it meant that the Spirit would point the disciples to the truths about the gospel and the ministry of Christ which were necessary to be communicated.
And this is also the reason why the scripture must trump everything. Because there is no new revelation about Jesus today.
Jesus gives us the Spirit, he gives us the Word.
Peace
Jesus gives us peace. Verse 27:Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.
One thing that’s interesting to consider is the idea of peace in Ancient Rome. For the Romans, “peace” was kept through power. And I think it’s fair to say that that’s true in America too. And I’m not really trying to make a political statement. But there’s peace by force.
But that’s not what Jesus is talking about with the peace that he gives.
As Jesus says, he brings peace Not as the world gives do I give it to you.
That’s because the world cannot give us ultimate peace. There are all sorts of things we can look to in order to have a sense of security. Money, our favored politician, to name a couple. They can’t give true peace.
A person can have all the money in the world. I’ve been going through a biography of John D. Rockefeller. Adjusted by inflation, his net worth when he died would be worth upwards of $400 billion today.
He still died. Money can give a person many things. But it can’t give you eternal life and it can’t give eternal peace. Jesus gives a heavenly peace. Jesus gives peace between people who were once hostile to God and God, yes, that’s part of it.
But here, the idea of peace has more to do with an inward peace in spite of the turmoil of the world and what’s around us.
In Psalm 4, in the midst of chaos, David looks at being able to get a good night’s sleep as a sign of the true peace he has with God.
Psalm 4:8:In peace I will both lie down and sleep; for you alone, O Lord, make me dwell in safety.
In Galatians, Paul will call peace a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). In Philippians 4, Paul will talk about peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:7). Peace is a sign in the Old Testament of the Messianic Age.
Jesus offers a peace that the world cannot give. Do we always feel perfect peace? I highly doubt anyone who’s honest would say so. Some of the greatest Christian thinkers who have ever lived have written about their own struggles and faith challenges.
But know that we have a savior who is the way, the truth, and the life. He came to give peace. In a world where there’s so much turmoil, he is meant to be our true hope and our true peace.
Perhaps part of the reason why we so often lack peace is that we too often get too caught up in a worldly perspective what peace ought to look like.
Bruce Barton is helpful in the Life Application Study Bible Commentary on this. I’m paraphrasing his ideas. The world’s peace is meant to give us a sense of security in ourselves, in this life. Jesus is meant to give us peace in him and knowing his gospel and who he is and walking with him.
The world likes to say that peace should bring ease. The Bible points us to having peace that God will provide, but gives no such promise that things will always be easy. But through the difficulty, we have God.
The world likes to say that peace is the absence of conflict. Ultimately, that is the future hope we have in a perfected state. It is the hope we have today in that we have peace with God. But with a world that is sinful and opposes God, in spite of the conflict, Jesus invites us to remember that we are his.
The world wants us to look to a certain set of circumstances for our security. Jesus invites us to be secure in him.
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In John 14:16-17, Jesus is foretelling his death. He promises another helper in referring to the coming of the Holy Spirit. In John 14:18-21, Jesus promises that he himself will also return.
John 14:18: “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
When Jesus says I will not leave you as orphans, that seems to have a double meaning. The disciples will not be orphans both because they will be given the Spirit of truth who will be the helper with them forever. And they will not be orphans because Christ himself will return. And at the end of the verse, he says: I will come to you.
Scholars have interpreted that last part of the verse in different ways. But the best evidence is that Jesus is talking about the resurrection. That on the night before he was to go to the cross, Jesus was promising his disciples that he would come back.
Given what will follow, I believe that is what makes the most sense because Jesus will start talking to the disciples about what is revealed and what the world is blind to, both in light of the resurrection.
There is an immediacy to Christ’s coming back which I think fits better with the resurrection appearances.
John 14:19: Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
Here, Jesus is clearly talking about the circumstances of his death and resurrection. When he says the world will see me no more, it’s referring to the sinful and fallen humanity. Those who are not of God and who are not his disciples. And on the eve of his death on the cross, it is true that the world will not see him again.
His resurrection appearances will be exclusively to those who are his disciples or to those who will become his disciples, such as when he appears to Saul. And while the world will not see him again, the disciples will see the risen Lord. This will be covered in chapters 20 and 21 of this gospel.
And not only will the disciples see Jesus, they will have life because of Jesus.
Because I live, you also will live.
Life in Christ has been talked about all throughout this gospel.
In John 11, when Jesus’ friend Lazarus had died, Jesus had proclaimed:
“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, 26 and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”
The Gospel
Again, the world loves to create its own gospel. It loves to undermine the truth. It loves to tell you there are other ways. It loves to tell you that you can make your own way.
But the Gospel of John is continually confronting us with the fact that it is Christ and Christ alone who is the way to life and who is the giver of true life. That there is one gospel and this is it. That Jesus would go to the cross and die for the sins of the world.
John 14:20: In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you.
In the day that Jesus is raised from the dead. On the first Easter, you will know. When you encounter Jesus, you will know. And we too are invited to know the risen Lord. To know that he died, and rose, and lives forever and that life is found in him. We are invited to know him and live in the truth of who he is and what he has done through the power of the Holy Spirit.
John 14:21: Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
It’s noteworthy that Jesus is mentioning obedience to his commands for the second time. When he says whoever has my commandments and keeps them, the point is that it’s not just knowing his commands. It’s also about following….Him.
Grace and Law
There is this complicated balance within churches of grace and law. Too many churches go too far to one extreme or the other.
If you go too far to the extreme of law, you have a church that’s very legalistic and self-righteous. The danger of that is that you can start to withdraw your faith from Jesus and ultimately start to put your faith in yourself. Your goodness, your righteousness.
And when you do that, you’ve missed the whole point.
You can follow a bunch of rules and not even believe in the gospel at all. Following all the rules is worthless without faith because you’ll never be good enough.
But on the other side of the coin, you have churches that go too far to the grace where we lose sight of the commands of Christ and accountability, and repentance
The danger of this is that we can start treating grace like it’s a license to sin.
God is loving. So it doesn’t ultimately matter what you do because he’s a loving God who loves to love people.
This devolves into what Dietrich Bonhoffer called “cheap grace.”
And what that means is that it cheapens the gospel, it cheapens what Christ has actually called us to.
Quoting from the Cost of Discipleship. I’ve read this before but it’s a classic.
Cheap grace
“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.
Costly grace is the treasure hidden in the field; for the sake of it a man will go and sell all that he has. It is the pearl of great price to buy which the merchant will sell all his goods. It is the kingly rule of Christ, for whose sake a man will pluck out the eye which causes him to stumble; it is the call of Jesus Christ at which the disciple leaves his nets and follows him.
Costly grace is the gospel which must be sought again and again, the gift which must be asked for, the door at which a man must knock.
Such grace is costly because it calls us to follow, and it is grace because it calls us to follow Jesus Christ. It is costly because it costs a man his life, and it is grace because it gives a man the only true life. It is costly because it condemns sin, and grace because it justifies the sinner. Above all, it is costly because it cost God the life of his Son: “ye were bought at a price,” and what has cost God much cannot be cheap for us. Above all, it is grace because God did not reckon his Son too dear a price to pay for our life, but delivered him up for us. Costly grace is the Incarnation of God.”
What we need is balance between the two. Now it’s interesting in our passage.
And I think the key to balancing all of that is right in our passage. Let’s look again.
Jesus says: you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
Jesus speaks of his unity with the Father. He’s said similar things elsewhere in this gospel.
But what’s unique to this passage is that Jesus also adds and you in me, and I in you.
That we will be in Christ. That when we have faith in the gospel, we are united with Christ. That’s not to say that we are Christ, or are somehow deified.
But we are forgiven in Christ. We are loved in Christ.We have union in Christ.
Jesus and the Father have perfect unity with each other. And we have a share of that when we are in Christ. Now we are still human and still sinful so it is not yet the perfected union that it will be. But we are in Christ and Christ is in us through the Spirit.
And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.”
That to love Jesus is to be loved by God. Because Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the one whom God sent. Jesus is the one who goes to God on our behalf. Jesus is the one who sits at the right hand of God.
Again, John’s Gospel does not give wiggle room. Jesus is not just a great teacher.
He is the way, the truth, and the life, and he is the one who gives us the privilege of being loved by God.
And Jesus says he will love us and manifest himself to us.
That we will have a greater and greater sense of the truth and love that are in Christ, as a result of having the Spirit, as we live for Christ and walk with Christ.
And that is why our lives matter and what we do matter.
Because our lives are not our own. When we truly know Jesus, when we truly love Jesus, that Jesus changes us from the inside out. True faith creates a new person who can never again be the same.
And the world does not understand that message.
The world thinks Christianity is just a guy telling people to be good, and mocking that idea because anyone should be able to figure that out on their own.
Christianity is living a new Spiritual life in Christ to the glory of God.
And because we’re still finite people living in a fallen world, we will do that imperfectly, and the good news is that there is grace and forgiveness when we fail.
But the costly grace of the gospel is that Jesus calls us to live for he who paid the ultimate price for our forgiveness.
And that’s either beautiful to you or detestable.
It’s either the wisdom of God or it’s an absurdity.
But what is it to you? Is it the bedrock on which to build your life? And is it shaping who you are?
In 2019, Merrill Lynch and Age Wave did a survey on Americans over the age of 55 on the subject of end of life planning. 45% of those over the age of 55 did not have a living will.
And when it came to having a living will, an advanced directive in terms of end of life decisions, and a power attorney, that applied to just 18% of those surveyed over the age of 55. You might think “well maybe those legal affairs aren’t equally relevant for everyone.”
That may be. But in the same survey, nearly half of respondents – 43 percent – expressed worry that they lacked an advocate to look out for their interests at the end of their life. Planning for death is not an enjoyable task.
On the night before he was to go to the cross, Jesus was telling the disciples of the provision he was going to make for them when he was gone. He knew the agony and torture that awaited him. But here he is thinking about his disciples.
He was going away to the Father, but Jesus told the disciples that he would not leave them as orphans. In John 14:15-21, Jesus talks about two provisions which he made for the disciples.
The promise of the Holy Spirit, and the promise of his return.
The Promise of the Holy Spirit
Jesus tells his disciples: If you love me, you will keep my commands.
D.A. Carson points out that this is actually the first time in the Gospel of John where Jesus has called the disciples to love him. Jesus has talked of his love for the Father, and the Father’s love for him. Jesus has talked of his love for the disciples, and he’s called the disciples to love each other.
He’s talked about the importance of loving the Father. He’s talked about eternal life. But here he talks of the importance of loving him.
And love results in keeping his commands. Truly knowing Jesus, truly getting it with the gospel results in a life that is changed by the gospel. And so as a result of verse 15, Jesus continues speaking.
John 14:16-17:
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
Studying the word “paraclete”
In verse 16, Jesus says that he will give another Helper.
That’s the word the ESV uses. It comes from the Greek word “paraclete.” And the way that word is translated varies quite a bit in English Bibles.
NASB, and New King James Version also translate the term as “helper.” The King James says “comforter.” NIV and NLT say “advocate.” The Christian Standard Bible says “counselor.” The Message says “friend.”
It’s such a rich and multi-faceted term that I think English translations struggle to capture the full meaning of the word.In a sense, all of those translations are right because they all capture different aspects of the meaning. The Spirit is all of those things. He is our helper, comforter, advocate, counselor, and friend.
Instead of talking about which one of those words is best, I think it’s helpful to take a moment and get a sense of how the word is used in the Bible and to allow that to paint the picture of what the paraclete, the helper, does.
Also, it’s worth nothing that Jesus says “another helper,” and he says that because he too is a paraclete. Jesus is the first helper. It is the Spirit who is the second helper who will come after Jesus has gone.
The Greek word paraclete is used four times in John’s Gospel and once in 1 John 2:1. And that is the extent of the usage of that term in the New Testament.
Atchafalaya river
In the book Creature of the Word, the authors give an illustration about a river in Louisiana called the Atchafalaya. It’s an important river for industrial and commercial activities. But it is totally dependent upon the Mississippi River.
It’s a distributary that breaks off of the Mississippi, but otherwise has no other water source. So if the water on the Mississippi is high, the Atchafalaya will be high. If the Mississippi is low, the Atchafalaya will be low. But ultimately, the Atchafalaya owes all that it has to something outside of itself.
The river achieves what it achieves because of its source. So it is with the Holy Spirit. End of verse 16. Jesus has talked of how he will provide this helper, this paraclete. To be with you forever.
Jesus had an earthly ministry that lasted for a finite amount of time. It was short. About three years. But he gives the Holy Spirit which we will have forever.
When Jesus was saying these words, that had not yet been realized. The disciples had not yet been indwelled by the Spirit.
Theology – Holy Spirit
In the New Covenant, the people of God, who have faith in the gospel will have the Spirit of God dwelling in them. And so when Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commands, that is ultimately true due to the work of the Spirit.
Love for Christ, obedience to Christ, and the Holy Spirit will all work together in New Covenant. Because it will be the Holy Spirit who enables people to obey Christ.
The world so often misunderstands the heart of the gospel, and of the Christian life.
And sadly still, too many Christians misunderstand this. And what we misunderstand is the Spiritual aspect of faith. The Bible is not teaching us “just be good and God will love you.” That’s what the world often thinks Christianity is. And again, too many Christians think that way too. Strive to be good enough.
That is exactly what the gospel is not.
We are saved by grace.
But.
For a person who truly has faith, they have the Spirit and the Spirit works in them. And it is that which results in a life that is changed by the gospel.
Christianity is not YOU be good enough so God will accept you.
It’s that you’re not good enough. But on the merit of Christ, God will accept you. And for the person who truly has faith in Christ, they have the Spirit, and it is the Spirit who works goodness through them. So we are not saved because of our own goodness. But to have a life that is unaffected by the gospel shows that someone doesn’t truly have the gospel.
That is why Jesus says If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
Because in the New Covenant, the time we’re in now, true love for Jesus is in the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit has a ministry which carries on the work of Christ.
Without its source, the river dries up.
-It is by the Holy Spirit that we are born again when we have faith in Christ.
-The Holy Spirit teaches us and points us to truth and to righteousness.
-The Holy Spirit bears fruit in our lives which enables true believers to live according to the virtues which were valued and exemplified by Christ.
-The Spirit equips us with Spiritual gifts to use in order to serve God and build up his kingdom.
-The Spirit does convict us of sin while also working to sanctify and transform us to greater love for God.
Passing the point of no return. No turning back. Taking the plunge. There are a number of phrases to communicate the idea of an irreversible deed. Burning bridges, which is often used to refer to employment but originates with military imagery of eliminating all options but moving forward and not looking back.
Burning boats, similar meaning, such as when Cortez burned his ships when he brought men into Mexico. You can’t unring a bell.
Fait accompli is a French phrase for “already accomplished.”
And then there’s my personal favorite: “Crossing the Rubicon.” That refers to Julius Caesar taking an army across Rome’s Rubicon River in 49 B.C. as an act of insurrection through which Caesar became emperor of the Roman Empire.
When Judas left the last supper, a point of no return had been crossed. And on the night before Jesus died, the wheels were in motion for him to be betrayed, sold out to the Sanhedrin, and brought before the Romans on trumped up charges.
And with all of that happening, and Jesus knowing what was about to happen, as he sat with – then – eleven disciples, he was instructing them to love each other.
The main idea of our passage is: Jesus taught a world who killed him how to love.
That is the beauty of the gospel.That the world was sinful, so sinful that it killed its own savior, but it is through the death or our savior, that he died so that we could have life.
This passage divides nicely into three parts: a glorified savior, our call to love each other, and Christ’s greater love for us than our love for him.
A glorified savior
John 13:31 begins: When he had gone out,
This is the departure of Judas.
He has left Jesus and the disciples and it is immediately after Judas has left that verse 31 continues: Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
So John ties together Judas moving forward in his plot against Jesus with the glorification of Jesus which would happen at the cross.
Throughout this gospel, Jesus has pointed forward to the cross, pointed forward to his hour, pointed forward to glory.
Now it’s happening.
With Judas’ departure and Jesus’ statement “Now is the Son of Man glorified,” that seems to be the official beginning of Christ’s passion in John’s Gospel. Jesus speaks about what is going to happen as if it has already happened.
No turning back.
Jesus refers to himself as the Son of Man. Son of Man originates in Daniel 7 when depicting a vision of a heavenly figure in the clouds. And so as the glorification of Christ begins, he states that he is the apocalyptic Son of Man figure foretold in the Old Testament.
Jesus is glorified in the cross, but in this passage, Jesus also points to God being glorified in Christ.
Jesus continues to speak of that mutual glorification in verse 32:If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.
God is glorified and he also glorifies Christ at the cross.
Glory of the world
It’s interesting to think of the things that the world glorifies. The world glorifies the beautiful, the famous, the rich.
We have accomplishments that we glorify. Great innovators, inventors, and entrepreneurs. We glorify political figures and influential leaders.
We glorify moments like when a team wins a championship or a singer leads thousands of people in singing a great rock anthem at a packed arena or stadium.
Those are the glorious moments that our world has to offer.
Jesus looks to him giving up his life as the moment when he would be glorified.
There are several aspects to Christ’s glorification at the cross. Christ is glorified at the cross by living a life where he perfectly revealed God to the world.
Hebrews 1:3: He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power.
Jesus is the radiance of the glory of God.
In John 17:4, when Jesus is praying he will again talk of his fidelity to God.
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
Jesus is glorified by God in being obedient to the divine plan in going to cross.
The cross is the culmination of that perfect life.
Philippians 2:8-11: being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10 so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
Jesus is glorified at the cross by undoing the curse of sin upon humanity.
Romans 5:18 says: Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men.
Jesus is glorified at the cross by dying so that people can have forgiveness in him.
Hebrews 2:9 says: Jesus, crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.
Jesus displays glory at the cross by showing God’s love to the world.
John 3:16: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
If God can take humanity’s great act of wickedness and rebellion in killing its own savior, surely God really can take the worst things that happen in our lives and work those for good as well. For his ultimate glory, God works all things for good.
On the night before Christ died, the thought that the cross could be the thing which God would use for the ultimate good and blessing of humanity would have seemed impossible.
At the cross, Jesus takes the ultimate example of humiliation, and it is worked for his exaltation.
At the cross, Jesus takes an act of great sin and works it for an act of greater grace. At the cross, Jesus takes hatred and shows love.
A call to love one another
Verse 33:Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
He addresses the disciples here as “little children,” undoubtedly a term of endearment for these men.
This is a very endearing moment. Jesus is talking to a group of men with whom he had traveled for three years.
They had spent three years with the Lord of love. They had seen his glorious signs. They had seen him face opposition and turmoil. They had seen him live his life absolutely righteously and sinlessly.
He had been their friend. Their teacher. He had taught them how to truly live.
And here he is telling them that he must go and that they cannot come with him.
Twice in this gospel, once in John 7, once in John 8, Jesus is facing opposition from Jewish groups and he tells them that they will seek him but not find him.
He picks that language up again in this verse, but here, the tone is more optimistic.
In the first two instances, it serves more as a warning to come to him before it’s too late.
But the meaning is different here with his disciples. He must leave. First, in going to the cross, but even after the resurrection, his time with them will still be short and then he will have to leave to be with the Father.
It’s also interesting that Jesus says: as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you
The disciples are Jewish. But in pointing to the command that he is about to give to them, they have a newer and greater identity.
Verse 34: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
The disciples are a new community united in Christ.
And before Jesus departs, he says a new commandment I give to you.
Now, the command to love is not new.
We see it in the Old Testament. Leviticus 19:18 says: you shall love your neighbor as yourself
That command gets picked up elsewhere in the gospels, such as the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10.
So how is that given as a new commandment?
It’s a new commandment in the sense that the grounding for the command is new. Yes, there was a command to love your neighbor in the Old Testament law and as part of the Old Covenant.
But Jesus is reconstituting that commandment for his new covenant community. It’s a new command in the reason why we are to love one another.
Leviticus 19:18 says love your neighbor as yourself.
But Jesus says: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
So in the Old Testament, the golden rule is to love your neighbor as yourself, to treat others as you would like to be treated.
But Jesus calls the disciples to an even higher form of love. They’re to love each other as Christ has loved them. And the glorification on the cross shows just how high a standard that love is. That we are to have gospel love for one another.
Jesus doesn’t say “a new suggestion I give to you,” “a new virtue I give to you,” “a new idea that I give to you,” but “a new commandment I give to you.”
You cannot love God without loving his people. And a sincere love for God is meant to flow into our love for people.
The Apostle John, who wrote the Gospel of John wrote three other letters, and 1 John largely revolves around love within the Christian community.
1 John 4:19, John says: We love because he first loved us.
That is our command as believers in the gospel and as a church. To love one another well. It’s a high standard.
But it is meant to be a distinguishing mark of a Christian community.
Jesus told the disciples.
By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:35).”
If you want to show people that you love Christ, you need to love his people.
1 John 4:20, John says: If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Again, that is a high standard. Because not all people are equally loveable. And there can be disagreements. And there can be wounds.
So what does love for one another look like?
In the times when it’s difficult, may we remember that we have a savior who gave his life for us so we could have life in him.
Love is a complicated idea in our society.
C.S. Lewis and the 4 loves the four loves
There’s a well known book by C.S. Lewis called “the four loves” where he looks at the four Greek words for love and explores their meanings.
In some ways, I feel like that’s part of our problem in English. That we don’t have enough vocabulary to describe love.
We use the same word “love” to describe how we feel about our God, our spouses and our children that we use to talk about how we feel about our favorite restaurant, favorite team, and chocolate.
We use love to describe things we love and we use love to describe things that we enjoy. What is love?
I think we look to the love that Christ had and displayed throughout his ministry.
This list is by no means exhaustive but here are a few thoughts.
Love accepts.
Love doesn’t affirm sin. Jesus never affirms sin in the gospels. He never downplays sin and says “that’s ok, I love you.” But he always accepts. He’s always gracious.
Love sacrifices.
Jesus will say in John 15:13: Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.
Jesus sacrificed his life. It is very rare in our society that such a love is required of us. But there are still ways we can make sacrifices. Our time, our talent and skills, our treasure.
Love is active.
Love is an action. Jesus is constantly serving people, ministering to people.
Love is forgiving.
Jesus displayed the ultimate forgiveness in going to the cross. We are called to forgive each other. To be gracious.
Ephesians 4:32 says: Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
If anyone here has a history with someone with whom they have bad blood, my point isn’t that the sins of another are insignificant. But we still must work to forgive. Forgiveness comes as a cost. We see that on the cross. And when we personally forgive, that costs us something too.
Christ’s greater love for us than our love for him
So Jesus has just given this incredibly important command for the disciples to love one another and how that communicates to the world that they are his disciples.
And Peter speaks up. As we so often see in the gospels, Peter is the one who speaks up first.
13:36: Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Peter may or may not have even heard Jesus give them the command to love. All he’s focused on is when Jesus had preceded the command by saying he was going to be leaving them.
Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
Peter cannot follow Jesus because Jesus is going to sacrifice himself for the sins of the world and that is not a mission through which anyone else can join him.
But Jesus responds to Peter in giving a prophetic statement that Peter almost surely didn’t realize at the time.
Jesus said that Peter cannot follow him…now.
But you will follow afterward.
Jesus is foretelling that Peter will one day follow Jesus in martyrdom. Obviously Peter’s death was not an atoning sacrifice the way that Christ’s was. But Peter, along with most of the disciples, would give his life for the gospel.
After Jesus died and rose, he commissioned Peter to be a leader in the early Church but he also tells Peter in John 21:18: Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go.
But it’s not yet the time for Peter to give his life for Jesus. Indeed, Peter is not yet ready for that. But Peter doesn’t want to hear it.
Verse 37: Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Peter says he will lay down his life for Jesus. It’s easy to say the things we’ll die for when we’re not in a life and death situation. Jesus has said that it’s true that one day, Peter will.
But Jesus knows Peter better than Peter knows himself and he knows that Peter will fail him.
Verse 38: Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
I listened to a sermon recently and I forget who the preacher was but someone pointed out that after Jesus says this, in John’s gospel, Peter gets real quiet.
In chapters 14-17, Jesus will give a lot of teaching to his disciples and we hear nothing from Peter. Almost like that quiets him for a few minutes. I think that Peter’s problem here is that he’s pledging his loyalty to Jesus but he’s doing that in his own strength and capacity.
In John 18, Jesus is arrested, and we see Peter quickly there to intervene. He takes out his sword and cuts a man named Malchus. Jesus rebukes Peter for this. But after Jesus is arrested, he’s spotted and a girl questions him as being one of Jesus’ disciples. And three times, he denies being with Jesus.
But in John 13, those events were still a few hours away and it’s just Jesus and his 11 disciples.
It’s ironic.
Jesus has commanded the disciples to love each other as he loved them, knowing that he’s about to lay down his life for them.
Peter speaks up about being loyal to Christ to the point of death when he will ultimately deny Christ when under duress.
Jesus has called the disciples to love each other as he loves them while exposing the imperfections of their love for Christ.
It’s a high standard. Because we fail.
We don’t love people as Christ loved us because Christ loves us with a perfect love. And we don’t love Jesus as much as he loves us.
There’s obviously no way for us to know what was in the heart of Peter when he stood up and made this pledge. But I believe that Peter really believed what he was saying there. In that moment, he was sincere.
But it was also a moment or pride.
We have a savior who knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows who we truly are. He knows our sins. He knows the darkness of our own hearts and lives. He knows our pride. But he loves us anyway.
And so instead of beating our chest, and talking about how great we are at loving each other, how great we are at loving Christ, we should look to Christ’s example and learn from him.
And we should know that we were not made to have this love in our own strength.
In Galatians 5, Paul talks about the fruit of the Spirit. It’s the work that the Holy Spirit produces in the life of a genuine believer.
The first of those fruits: love.
We don’t love him perfectly, but he loves us perfectly. The good news of the gospel is that we are not saved by the intensity of our love for Christ, but based on the loving savior who loves and forgives us.
Christ’s grace is stronger than our love. But we are called to love the savior who gives us life and who forgives us of our sins.
Loving one another as Christ loved us.
Like Peter at the Last Supper standing up and proclaiming that he would die for Jesus.
With love, it can be very easy to talk about love, but actually showing love, being loving, loving people who are hard to love, can be very difficult.
And while there is grace when we struggle, let us never have a nonchalant attitude about love. Love is not a Spiritual gift. It’s a Christian command. And more than anything else, it’s what shows the world that we love the Lord.
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In Saratoga National Park in Eastern New York, there’s the Boot Monument, which was erected in 1887 to honor one of the great generals of the early part of the Revolutionary War.
An inscription on the monument reads:
“In memory of the “most brilliant soldier” of the Continental Army who was desperately wounded on this spot the sally port of BURGOYNES GREAT WESTERN REDOUBT
7th October, 1777, winning for his countrymen the decisive battle of the American Revolution and for himself the rank of Major General.”
The general had also helped lead a victory in the battle of Ticonderoga in 1775 and had put together one of the first naval fleets in America’s young history.
His name?
Benedict Arnold.
And before he became infamous for his betrayal of the American cause in attempting to surrender West Point to the British, he had been one of our greatest generals.
I tell that story for this reason.
Sometimes it can be hard to separate a person from the moment that made them infamous.
John 13:18-30 covers the last supper and Jesus will foretell the betrayal of Judas, and three words sum up the scenes of this passage: anticipation, speculation, and revelation.
Anticipation
Verse 18: I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’
All four gospels mention Jesus foretelling his betrayal.
When Jesus says that he knows whom he has chosen, it is that he knows who has been chosen to be among his true disciples. And then he goes into explaining why his betrayal is fulfillment of prophecy.
Jesus is quoting from Psalm 41. The background of that Psalm is pretty interesting to consider because Psalm 41 is a Psalm about David being betrayed by his own son, Absalom who teams up with David’s closest advisor, Ahitophel to conspire against David.
Talking of close relationships, David says in Psalm 41:9:Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
David is talking of the close connection of a person with whom he had enjoyed table fellowship and eating bread. Communing with someone and that was the person who betrayed David.
Jesus quotes that verse because he’s saying the same betrayal of one who is in close fellowship will befall Jesus.
Jesus knows what it’s like to be betrayed by one close to him.
Betrayal by one close
Borrowing a second idea from Richard Phillips. When someone close to us betrays us, betrays our trust, it is absolutely devastating. The betrayal of trust of a parent to their children can leave emotional wounds from which a person never fully recovers.
There’s the bitter pain that a spouse endures when the one who has vowed to be faithful and to forsake all others cheats in the relationship. There are siblings who have exploited the close family ties for their own gain. There are betrayals in close friendships.
I’ve seen family members who have had business partners cheat them. I’m sure that many of us here today have had a point in our lives where someone close to us really hurt us, or abused our love, friendship, or trust. Used our goodwill against us. That’s a difficult thing to endure. It hurts.
And this doesn’t erase the pain, but it’s important to remember that we have a savior who entered into that. In being man, in being human, he too had relationships with people. And he too was betrayed by one close to him.
There’s no excusing betrayal. I’m not trying to mitigate the sins one person commits against another.
But in the times when there’s a temptation to hold onto bitterness, or contempt, or hatred, to also remember that we have a savior who was gracious in the face of his great betrayal.
Verse 19. Jesus is continuing to speak. I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.
So Jesus talks of his betrayal, and the reason why he foretells his betrayal is to inform the group. That when he is betrayed, his role as the Christ is in no way diminished. The divine plan is in no way thwarted.
History has given us many people who would have been otherwise inconsequential without infamous atrocities.
World War I was triggered by the killing of the archduke of the Austro-Hungarian Empire Franz Ferdinand by a Serbian nationalist named Gavrillo Princip.
That one man changed the course of history.
The September 11th terrorist attacks were carried out by 19 hijackers. 19 men changed the course of history in a day that we’re still living in the shadow of.
Judas did not turn the ministry of the Lord Jesus upside down. He didn’t stop Jesus, he didn’t interrupt the divine plan.
In quoting Psalm 41:9, Jesus talks of this betrayal as fulfillment of prophecy and he informs his disciples of his betrayal before it happened so that their faith would not be shattered after the crucifixion.
Jesus is the prophet who points to the fulfillment of prophecy and he’s the savior who’s betrayal had been foretold in the prophets. Jesus says that he’s telling them what will happen so when it does happen, you may believe that I am he.
We once again see Jesus using the phrase “I am,” the Greek form “ego eimi” which is pointing here to his divinity in using the divine name from Exodus 3. Something he’s done throughout this gospel.
Verse 20: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
In some ways, this verse is a precursor to what will come next. But for now, Jesus is preparing the disciples for when he’s gone.
Jesus is going to be betrayed. His time with the disciples is limited. Even after Jesus is raised from the dead, that time with them is also going to be short. And so he’s telling the disciples that when he’s gone, receiving the disciples will be tantamount to receiving Jesus because receiving Jesus is tantamount to receiving the God who sent him.
We can’t deduce it from this verse alone, but at this last supper, as Jesus will continue speaking to his disciples, he will tell of the work that they will have to do in doing Christ’s work in the world when he’s gone.
So that’s our first scene. Jesus has talked of his betrayer. And he’s alluded to it before in this gospel. But now he’s talking about it on the night when he is going to be betrayed.
And so the first scene is the anticipation for the betrayal.
It’s quite likely that the disciples don’t necessarily realize how imminent this betrayal is.
And that leads us into our second scene.
Speculation
Verse 21: After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
Jesus now explicitly tells the disciples that he is going to be betrayed.
But again, we don’t see any indication that the disciples know how imminent this betrayal is. It’ll be later that same evening.
It’s also not certain if they grasp the weight of what Jesus is saying. It’s not that one will slip up and somehow betray Jesus. It’s not that one of them will inadvertently betray Jesus.
But that Jesus will be deliberately betrayed.
Verse 22:The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke.
I think verse 22 is important because I think when we imagine this scene, it’s tough to not imagine this like a movie.
And in the movie, it’s the last supper. They’re at the table. Jesus says “One of you will betray me” and it’s almost like we expect the camera to shift over to Judas.
Dun. Dun. Dun. And the actor even looks a little bit evil.
He has an evil looking mustache and he’s off to the side cackling to himself about his evil plan.
Nothing like that.
That’s not what the reality is. And the disciples have no idea. They’re looking around, uncertain, trying to figure out who Jesus is speaking of. In Matthew’s Gospel, when Jesus foretells his betrayal, Matthew says:
22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord? (Matthew 26:22).
They wonder if they themselves might unwittingly be the betrayer.
At the beginning, I talked about Benedict Arnold and the reason for that is it’s illustrative of a point. With Arnold, it’s very easy to forget Benedict Arnold, the successful major general and to only remember Benedict Arnold, the man who betrayed America.
With Judas, it’s easy to forget Judas the disciple and only remember Judas the man who betrayed Jesus.
My point isn’t to build up the character of Judas. My point is that it’s not like he’s walking around during the ministry of Jesus and the other disciples see this dark cloud hovering over Judas.
He’s one of the guys. In Matthew 10, Jesus sends out the 12, including Judas.
Matthew 10:1: he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction.
Judas was in that group. He was gifted. John 12:6 mentions that it was Judas who had been in charge of the money bag. Yes, the passage also mentions that Judas was stealing from that money, but the other disciples didn’t know that at the time. Having charge over the money shows a certain level of trust. You usually don’t pick the person you trust least to be your treasurer.
Judas was one of the group.
And there’s another piece of information in the passage which shows us why Judas would have been just about the last person people would have guessed.
Verses 23-25:One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side, 24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 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.
A few things to note about those versesFirst. Unless you’ve ever studied the background of the last supper, you’re probably picturing it wrong.
History – Triclinium
I think the temptation is to imagine that like how a seating arrangement might look today. Jesus and the disciples sitting at one long table or at a big round table.
We see images like Leonardo Da Vinci’s famous painting called “The Last Supper” where Jesus is at a long table with the disciples sitting all around him. That is almost certainly not what the arrangement was. The Roman custom was to sit in an arrangement known as a Triclinium. And that fact is not a useless piece of trivia, but is actually relevant in this passage.
In a triclinium, you have multiple tables which are low to the ground and arranged in a U shape. And there was a hierarchical structure to the seating arrangement. The central table is where the three most prominent people sat, with the most prominent person seated at the middle spot.
We have something somewhat like this where we have a head seat at our tables. And it is not uncommon for an invited guest to be invited to sit at the side of the table.
Back to first century Roman seating arrangements.
Instead of sitting on a nice wooden dining room chair, you’re sitting on the ground or a pillow and you’re leaning on the table. The gospels translate is as “reclining.” I always think of reclining as leaning back. It’s more of a relaxed lean on your side.
The standard was, you would sit at the table on your left side and eat with your right hand.
All of this is relevant to understanding the scene.
Because verse 23 gives an indication about where John is sitting.
One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus’ side,
Brief side note. John never refers to himself by name in his own gospel. He always refers to himself as someone whom Jesus loved. He’s not saying that out of pride or boasting. Actually, it’s the opposite. He’s not saying, “I, John, am so important in the ministry of Jesus.” He’s almost losing himself in the story. He’s saying that the main thing that should identify me is as someone whom Jesus loved.
And that should be true for all of us.
That should be the central, most important aspect of our lives. That we are known by the Lord Jesus Christ.
Not who we are, not who our family is, not where we went to school, not how much money we have. But that we are loved by Jesus.
And that should be the part of our lives that is most clear to the world. Are relationships to Christ.
So John isn’t trying to boast, but he is mentioning where he’s seated.
The ESV says that John was reclining at the table at Jesus’ side.
And the word to focus on is “side.” If you’re imagining the scene that they’re sitting at a standard dining room table, it’s easy to think that that’s just saying John is sitting next to Jesus.
But that’s not how it worked. Jesus is leaning into the table and John is lying down next to Jesus, also leaning into the table. The word that is translated as “side” in the ESV, in the Greek, more literally means that the disciple is sitting at Jesus bosom or breast. So Jesus is leaning on his left side, John is to his breast which places John to the right of Jesus.
Hold that thought as we continue in the passage.
Verse 24: so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
Peter is not sitting at the main table. So clearly everyone must be wondering who Jesus is talking about when he says that one of them will betray him. Peter is always the one who speaks up in the gospels.
But verse 24 doesn’t say that Peter asks Jesus who he was speaking of.
Verse 24 tells us Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.
In other words, Peter motions to John – who’s sitting next to Jesus – to ask Jesus.
John obliges Peter in verse 25: So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?”
Again, notice the closeness of their proximity.
Leaning back against Jesus. In our world, that would be an absolutely awkward seating arrangement. But that was the custom in the first century Greco-Roman world.
John is literally next to Jesus and he asks 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.
Once again, it’s not a movie. When Jesus does this, there’s no soundtrack that suddenly switches to ominous music. To anyone looking, it appears that he’s just given Judas a piece of bread.
And I think this can be easy to miss when we read the story. But there’s no indication that the other disciples know the significance of Jesus giving the bread to Judas.
When we read the story, I think we imagine that everyone heard what Jesus just said. But they didn’t. John hears what Jesus said. Because John is right next to Jesus. But not everyone else is.
Except for John and…
Judas.
At least, that’s the view of most scholars. That Judas is the other person at the table of honor. And I think that view is what makes the most sense of the story. And I think that’s further reason as to why Judas would have been the last person the disciples would have expected.
He was gifted, in charge of the money, and seated at the table of honor. But Jesus shows Judas he knows who he really is.
He knows who all of us really are.
Judas might have fooled the other disciples. You might fool people in a church, you might fool people in your own family. There’s no fooling the Lord. The antidote to that is faith. Believing in the Lord. Loving the Lord. Walking with the Lord.
Wolves in sheeps clothing
Just because someone is in the Christian community does not mean that they’re in the family of God. Just because someone is in a church, or a small group, or knows the Bible does not mean that they know the Lord.
In Matthew 7, Jesus warns the disciples.
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. (Matthew 7:15)
There have always, and will always be those who prey upon the church for their own gain.
Again in Matthew 7, Jesus warns the disciples when he says: “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)
There are those who infiltrate God’s church, not out to worship, not because they’re curious about God, but because they’re at war with God.
Never be shocked when people fall from grace. There are very few people you truly know.
I’m not saying to be cynical and untrusting of the world.But we do live in a fallen world.
I think of high profile ministry leaders who fall from grace. I’m not the one who is the judge of people’s hearts and what they truly believe. But for some of them, I can’t help but wonder if they know the Lord at all.
Because it can be easy to talk the talk, and a person can be very talented and gifted, all the while using those tremendous talents to undermine the church.
Revelation
Third scene. We see Judas set himself against Christ.
Verse 27: Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Judas attacks Jesus and it is demonic, but Judas is still responsible for his own sin and rebellion against the Lord.
Verse 27 is the only time the word “Satan” appears in John’s Gospel. In the other gospels, you see people demon possessed, and Jesus performing exorcisms.
John never mentions that. Craig Keener points out that John’s Gospel instead likes to focus on the devil’s role in Christ’s betrayal. The bread that Jesus gives to Judas is meant to be a symbol of hospitality and fellowship as they celebrate the Passover.
But Judas is set to betray Jesus.
The other disciples are apparently still oblivious to this, and we see that in verse 28. Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.
They don’t know what’s going on. But the Apostle John knows. Because John is sitting right there. He’s given a front row seat to the betrayal of Jesus. When Jesus tells Judas in verse 27 to do what he must do quickly, Jesus is showing that he’s still in control, he knows what Judas is up to.
Verse 29 shows us that the disciples didn’t know what that meant. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
They think that Jesus has told Judas to move quickly in order to run an errand.
And that misunderstanding among the disciples is the reason why they’re still aloof when Judas leaves the dinner.
Judas is leaving to betray Jesus. But the other disciples don’t suspect a thing. The passage ends on a simple, but ominous note. Judas leaves in a hurry.
So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
It was night.
Throughout the Gospel of John, light and darkness are important symbols. Jesus is the light. He’s the light of the world. The light is contrasted with darkness. Significantly, at the end of the last chapter, Jesus said the light was leaving.
And here, there’s no mention of light. Only darkness.
Yes, it’s evening when Jeus leaves, but the greater mood that John is setting is that it was night in the sense that it was the darkness of humanity and the human soul that was conspiring to forever darken the light of the world. There was now no stopping Judas from betraying Jesus.
Conclusion
I keep mentioning that Judas served with the disciples, that he was gifted. I do that not to minimize his betrayal of Jesus. But I do that because it can be so easy to look at Judas like he’s almost some inhuman species.
Like he’s on such another stratosphere of evil that we can’t possibly relate to him. But when we do this, and act like Judas is so different from us, we make his part of the passion story something that we can’t learn from.
There’s an idea I appreciate from the psychologist Jordan Petereson. And it’s this idea of man as a controlled beast. That we are capable of tremendous evil.
We look at bad people and think that they’re so much worse than us, but we’re just as capable. We look at Nazi Germany and think that they were so much worse than us, that we could never do those things. It’s easy to think we’re better than others and that the evils of others are just so inherently worse than anything we could do. That gets us off the hook.
We can play the comparison game. But what is it that makes you incapable of doing horrible things to others? Just because we behave doesn’t mean we’re incapable of tremendous evil.
Peterson argues, and I think that he’s right, that we cannot begin to understand our capacity for good without understanding our capacity for evil. It’s easy to think we’re good, that we’re capable of doing good things.
But what about evil? Are we just so good that we can’t do horrible things to others? Of course we can!
We’re fallen people in a sinful world. We’re sinful and rebellious. Everything we willfully sin, it is an affront to the almighty God of the universe. Everytime we sin, we’re exercising our own pride in saying we know better than he does.
We find ways to ignore the Lord. We turn from his light and follow darkness. We turn to other things besides God for our sources of fulfillment and joy. We can be bitter towards others, self-righteous, controlling, manipulative. We sin against the God of the universe. I said a moment ago that we cannot understand our capacity for good without understanding our capacity for evil.
And it is also true that we cannot understand the greatness of God’s grace without understanding the depths of our sinfulness. That we are great sinners, but Christ is an even greater savior. That we are in darkness, but Jesus is the light. That we are dead in sin, but Jesus invites us to eternal life.
And that apart from Christ, we’re just as lost as Judas. And just like with Judas, Jesus invites us to his table. Judas walked away from it, into the darkness.
But we have an opportunity to respond to the light. To believe in Jesus. To embrace his grace. To know the forgiveness that he offers and to live lives not for the world but for the Lord.
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