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.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 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. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 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. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
John 13:21-30 (ESV)
Jesus the man
Jesus here reveals he is man as we are. “He was troubled in his spirit”. Though He is Emmanuel, God with us, He is also “the word that became flesh”. Being flesh comes with all the emotions as well. But of course, we can see from the OT that God has emotions. Here’s a list. Fully God and fully man. Not many have ever been betrayed to this extent, and surely none has loved to a greater one.
Last chance
None of the disciples except Judas, knew who Jesus was talking about. Likely, they just couldn’t fathom it. “When Jesus offers Judas a special morsel from the common dish, such as it was customary for a host to offer to an honoured guest, it is a mark of divine love which ever seeks to overcome evil with good.” (Tasker, quoted in enduringword.com)
Bruce adds, “Satan could not have entered into him had he not granted him admission. Had he been willing to say ‘No’ to the adversary, all of his Master’s intercessory power was available to him there and then to strengthen him.” (Bruce quoted in enduringword.com) This is also true for any hearing the call of God and feeling the temptation to evil.
Evangelizing a Judas
Does the story of Judas shed light on our evangelism efforts? Even one who knew Jesus directly, saw the miracles and heard His direct claims to be God could reject Jesus. Juxtaposed to this is the thief on the cross who, at most, only heard about Jesus yet, at his point of desperation, humbled himself in faith to declare Jesus as Lord, Messiah.
<- Reflection ->
- Fellow soldier of the Lord. “Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.” (Rom 12:12 ESV) Keep trying to reach out to the lost. Be in prayer. Don’t assume who will respond and who won’t. And of course, let Him do His part and we do ours.
I don’t at all believe it that Jesus was seeking to evangelize Judas! Directly before telling John about the morsel he said, “Truly one of you WILL betray me.”. He knew that he certainly WOULD be betrayed and then his very next action was to point out, to John, even WHO it was to betray him. Is not the handing of the morsel sufficient to simply be a way to point out WHO the betrayer must be, must it be turned into evangelism? I think that reads a lot into the text. Remember, our LORD also taught us not to “cast our pearls before swine.”. Therefore, appropriately, there is a proper time to NOT evangelize and Jesus knew that perfectly.
Hey David. Good to see your post. I can see now that the post could make one think I said Jesus was trying to still save Judas. Thanks for bringing this up. I fully agree that Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas would betray Him. He honored Judas by giving him the bread dipped in wine per their custom. He knew Judas wouldn’t repent, but still wanted to show him (and the disciples, and us) that He loved “to the full”.
When I said, “evangelizing a Judas”, I meant that we, as humans, never know the final destiny of any individual so we should keep trying – with a good dose of discernment for how to use our resources.