Up Close and Personal
Opening Prayer
Lord, please come and break bread with me every time I open my Bible.
Read John 13:18–30
18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’
19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
“He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good” (Matt. 5:45). Praise God that he is willing to shower his grace on all, regardless of their merit.
Today’s passage offers a stark contrast in relationships with Jesus. At the center of the scene is “the disciple whom Jesus loved” (23). This probably refers to John, a son of Zebedee and brother of James, not otherwise mentioned in this Gospel. Tradition has it that John was the youngest of the disciples—perhaps an older teenager, able to outrun Peter to the tomb (John 20:4)—and the only one to live into old age.
In those days slaves stood or sat, but free people reclined to eat, so Jesus
and his friends reclined next to each other around the U-shaped table celebrating God’s deliverance. Jesus was in the middle as host, his young disciple occupying the place of affection next to Jesus so that he could lean back to ask him questions. As the youngest, he was no threat to the others and his closeness to Jesus meant he could ask the personal, poignant
question: who was the betrayer?
By contrast we have Judas, identified up front as the traitor. Jesus knows
this, but the others have not suspected it; unlike popular depictions of him in art, he looked just like the others. The Gospel depicts him, not as demon-possessed, but as open to Satan (27), and then walking out into the dark, permanent night of his decision to betray Jesus. Yet, despite the contrasts, disciple John and betrayer Judas have one thing in common: the love of Jesus for each. Although in this instance dipping the bread pointed John to the traitor, such sharing was actually a sign of close friendship (Psa. 41:9). Moreover, Jesus had just washed Judas’s feet along with the feet of the others; indeed, he loved them “to the end” (John 13:1).
Apply
Jesus showed the same love to the betrayer as to the one closest to him. Pray that such generosity may grow in your own life.
Closing prayer
Lord, teach me to love those who would do me harm, the same way You loved Judas.
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