C. Shocking the Twelve (vv. 21b-24)
1. The shocking announcement (v. 21b)
“[Jesus] said, Verily I say unto you that one of you shall betray me. ”
The translators used “betray” because Judas was a betrayer, but the Greek text literally reads, “one of you will deliver Me up. ” What a shocking announcement! When anyone shared a meal with another person in that part of the world and at that time in history, he was identifying himself as a friend. The idea of eating a meal with someone and then turning him over to his executioners was unthinkable. In Psalm 55:12-14 David contemplated such a betrayal: “It was not an enemy that reproached me; then I could have borne it. Neither was it he that hated me that did magnify himself against me; then I would have hidden myself from him; but it was thou, a man mine equal, my guide, and my familiar friend. We took sweet counsel together, and walked into the house of God in company. ” David was betrayed by a friend, not an enemy. The same is true in Jesus’ case. So when Jesus told the disciples that one of them would deliver Him over, they knew one of them would do it, knowing that Jesus would tell the truth.
2. The sincere disciples (v. 22)
a) Their sorrowful demeanor (v. 22a)
“They were exceedingly sorrowful”
That is a strong way to indicate the degree of their sadness and grief. Some may have even cried. The parallel account in John 13:22 says, “Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spoke. ” They didn’t know whom Jesus was talking about. They didn’t know it was Judas because he was a capable hypocrite, excellent at playing out his masquerade. The parallel account in Luke 22:23 says, “They began to inquire among themselves, which of them it was that should do this thing. ”
Judas was so adept at his hypocrisy that the rest of the disciples had actually chosen him to be their treasurer. They didn’t have any doubt about his integrity–they trusted him with their resources, which were meager at best. Jesus had done nothing to expose Judas in front of all the disciples. If anything, Jesus did everything He could to pull Judas close to Him. Judas sat to Christ’s left during the meal, a place of great honor according to Jewish historian Alfred Edersheim (The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1980 reprint], II:494). Jesus also dipped bread and gave it to Judas (John 13:26), another symbol of Judas’s honored position at the meal.
b) Their wholesome distrust (v. 22b)
“Every one of them [began] to say unto him, Lord, is it I?”
Why would each of the disciples be so quick to imagine himself as the traitor? Since Christ had just rebuked them for their pride and ambition, they felt ashamed. And they were doubly ashamed when Jesus washed their feet. In fact, Peter told Jesus, “Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me” (John 13:8). After having been so soundly rebuked, the disciples were especially sensitive about their weaknesses. So it is not surprising that even they didn’t trust themselves regarding their possibly betraying Jesus. That shows great integrity on the part of the disciples. They knew that deep down inside them was a sinful principle so ugly, it might lead them to betray the One they loved. Commentator William Hendriksen said they had a “wholesome self-distrust” (The Gospel of Matthew [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1973], p. 905).
3. The symbolic revelation (v. 23)
“He answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. ”
Christ and His disciples had no knives or forks; they ate with their hands, dipping the bread, the herbs, and perhaps even the lamb. When Jesus said, “He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish,” He could have been referring to any of the twelve because they all were dipping food into the dish. In John 13:18 Jesus quotes from Psalm 41:9, pointing out the incongruity of the betrayal, “He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. ” That refers to Ahithophel, who betrayed his friend David (2 Sam. 16:20-23). Ahithophel is a picture of Judas, the ultimate traitor. The parallel account in Luke 22:21 says, “The hand of him that betrayeth me is with me on the table. ”
4. The sovereign plan (v. 24a)
“The Son of man goeth as it is written of him”
Christ was not a victim of a plan gone wrong. His betrayal is exactly what God had prewritten in prophetic history. No one did anything to Christ that was not a direct and immediate fulfillment of God’s eternal plan. That is why Revelation 13:8 refers to “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. ” In Acts 2:23 Peter says Jesus of Nazareth was “delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God. ” That was the divine plan.
Judas was a betrayer, but a betrayer by his own choice. He rejected grace and the offer of salvation. He made his own choices, yet God in His marvelous sovereignty used Judas’s betrayal to accomplish His holy purposes. So we see that an unholy man in the hand of a sovereign God accomplishes a holy end. But that doesn’t make Judas a good man. During my senior year in seminary, I decided to do my thesis on Judas. I was amazed to find a number of books taking the position that Judas was a hero who should be exalted. They claim Judas forced Jesus to the cross to fulfill prophecy. Some even believe Judas purposely planned the crucifixion of Christ so that the world could be redeemed. Don’t believe it! That’s simply not what Scripture says.
5. The severe curse (v. 24b-c)
a) The announcement of the curse (v. 24b)
“Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is [delivered over]!”
The man who betrayed Christ is cursed. Jesus said he was a devil (John 6:70). John 12:6 says he was a thief. He loved money and sold Jesus for money. Judas had no desire to usher in the Kingdom on Christ’s terms. He had no desire for the salvation of the world.
The Old Testament predicted that Christ would die on a cross. Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 describe the crucifixion in minute detail. It was written that He would die on the cross for the sins of the world. Yet even though that was in the plan of God, the man who turned Jesus over is still a cursed man.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
