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Door to Darkness – John 13: 26b-27a

Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.

It is helpful to examine how Satan has been at work in Judas’ life. Back in verse 2, we are told that “…the devil had already prompted Judas.” In chapter 12, verse 6 John tells us that Judas was a thief. He would actually steal money from the disciple’s common purse.

Judas was a bad egg. He accepted Jesus’ invitation to be a disciple. He traveled with Jesus for three years. Yet he didn’t really see or hear Jesus. Instead, he was thinking about himself. One thing led to another and in the end, Judas became completely owned by Satan.

Dabbling in the darkness is dangerous. It opens the door to the things that live in darkness. Those spirits lead to dark thoughts and dark ways, and a fear of the light.

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Clouds – John 13: 21-27

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.”
His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, ”Ask him which one he means.”
Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, ”Lord, who is it?”
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. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. So Jesus told him, ”What you are about to do, do quickly.”

In today’s passage, we see Jesus “troubled in spirit.” Have you ever been there? The problem with being Jesus is that he knows what the trouble is about. He knows what is going to happen, and he knows who is going to betray him. Because of these things he is troubled.

In our world, we are often troubled about things we do not understand. We are not God so we cannot “know” what will happen in the future. (We might believe we know what will happen, but that is not the same kind of knowing that God is privy to.) Maybe it is a feeling of foreboding. Perhaps it is someone else that you know who is in trouble, and that troubles you. What are you going to do?

In Jesus’ case, he meets trouble head-on. “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”

BOOM! There it is. Right out in front of everyone.

Of course, everyone but Judas is now troubled. (Judas might have been troubled for other reasons.) Who is the traitor?

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The Nose of the Camel – John 13: 20

Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.

There is an old saying that goes something like this: “If the camel gets his nose in the tent, the rest of him is soon to follow.”

The mental image this creates in my mind seems funny to me. The lonely camel wanting to be inside the tent with his master. It is cold outside, and nice and warm in the tent. Somehow he gets his nose under the tent flap and is able to wiggle it in just a little. Later, his whole head is in the tent. While the camel’s head is small enough, the rest of the camel is not. By the time he has wiggled his whole body into the tent, all the tent pegs are dangling from their strings. The tent is now little more than a blanket on the back of the camel.

The story is a great metaphor for many things. How many bad habits start with something small and innocuous? Only later do they take over a person’s whole life and destroy it. How many people are in debt over their heads because they allowed themselves to get a credit card? The little plastic card seems so innocent, and yet it can lead to uncontrolled spending and enslavement to debt.

But these are all examples of bad things that happen. What about good? Does the camel ever represent something good happening? If we tweak the metaphor a bit we can illustrate today’s verse in a new light.

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Convinced – John 13: 19

I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.

Imagine that you have the ability to tell the future. By closing your eyes and concentrating on a question about the future, the answer comes to you. And it is always right. How would you use this power?

Some might use it to build a fortune in the stock market. Others might use the power for political gain. Still, others might want to impress their friends. But how would you do that?

If you wanted to convince people that you could predict the future the obvious thing to do is tell people what will happen tomorrow. When it happens as you predict, people will say … what?

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Connections – John 13: 18b

But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me.’

As a writer, I write a lot of words. Some here, some other places, and a lot that ends up in the recycle bin. Do I remember everything I have ever written? The answer to that is, “No.” There is simply too much. (Of course, the other factor is my imperfect memory!)

Referring to yesterday’s post, there are things that Jesus knows that we do not know. Some of that knowledge is hidden from us, some we are incapable of grasping. Some is right in front of our noses.

As I have come to know God over the years, I understand that He is the author of all Scripture. Not just the parts where he is quoted as saying something. Jesus, being one with God the Father, also knows Scripture. All of it.

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Filed Under “Jesus Knows” – John 13: 18a

I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen.

I am tempted to lump several of the verses from verse 18-30 into one or two posts and be done with it. This part about the betrayal is disturbing for me to read. Yet, even in these verses, there are jewels among John’s words.

In today’s passage, Jesus has just finished talking about the washing of feet and following his example. He then adds, “… you will be blessed if you do [these things].” Immediately after saying that he clarifies his meaning by adding, “…I am not referring to all of you…”

That must have gotten their attention!

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Blessed – John 13: 17

Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Cool! Okay, Jesus. I think I understand. Forgive people as you forgive us. (Even enemies!) Serve others in personal ways that glorify God. We disciples are not greater than our teacher.

Then Jesus adds, “you will be blessed if you do them.”

Sometimes things become so common that we lose sight of them. Have you ever noticed that? We have a grandfather clock in our house that BONGS on the hour and chimes on the quarter hour. If you have never heard it before it is quite noticeable. After hearing it for months it starts to fade into the background. Lately, after years of having the clock in the house, it has become invisible to me. Even trying to listen for it to chime is hard. I almost never hear it.

Then recently we had the clock mechanism serviced. It was taken out of the cabinet and moved to the clock shop where it waited its turn to be cleaned and serviced. Good clockmakers are hard to find so it had to wait several weeks before he even started working on it.

Do you know what happened?

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Greatness – John 13: 16

Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

When I read today’s verse in the context of this chapter, I am inclined to sort of BLEEP right over it. It is like the narrator’s voice in my head reads, “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am,” and that is what I hear. When I get to, “Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him,” I seem to hear YADDA YADDA YADDA. Why?

For one thing, this saying seems out of context. Why would Jesus suddenly mention something about who is greater?

As I ponder this passage now, I think I see why.

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Monkey See, Monkey Do – John 13: 13-15

You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

When I was a kid my parents had a saying that summed up the way we learn, peer pressure, and curiosity all in one phrase. Whenever one of us did something dorky that we had seen someone else do they would say, “Monkey see, monkey do.”

Presumably, real monkeys are prone to copy what other monkeys do. Certainly, kids are prone to copying what other kids do. Did you take my crayon? Okay, I’ll take yours. Then, of course, somebody goes crying to Mom and the oldest kid (me) always is the one to get in trouble.

Regardless of the origin of this quaint saying, Jesus applies the same principle here. We should do what we see Him doing.

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