John 13:18

We have here the discovery of Judas's plot to betray his Master. Christ knew it from the beginning; but now first he discovered it to his disciples, who did not expect Christ should be betrayed, though he had often told them so, much less did they suspect that one of them should do it. Now here,

I. Christ gives them a general intimation of it (Joh 13:18): I speak not of you all, I cannot expect you will all do these things, for I know whom I have chosen, and whom I have passed by; but the scripture will be fulfilled (Psa 41:9), He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. He does not yet speak out, either of the crime or the criminal, but raises their expectations of a further discovery.

1. He intimates to them that they were not all right. He had said (Joh 13:10), You are clean, but not all. So here, I speak not of you all. Note, What is said of the excellencies of Christ's disciples cannot be said of all that are called so. The word of Christ is a distinguishing word, which separates between cattle and cattle, and will distinguish thousands into hell who flattered themselves with hopes that they were going to heaven. I speak not of you all; you my disciples and followers. Note, There is a mixture of bad with good in the best societies, a Judas among the apostles; it will be so till we come to the blessed society into which shall enter nothing unclean or disguised.

2. That he himself knew who were right, and who were not: I know whom I have chosen, who the few are that are chosen among the many that are called with the common call. Note, (1.) Those that are chosen, Christ himself had the choosing of them; he nominated the persons he undertook for. (2.) Those that are chosen are known to Christ, for he never forgets any whom he has once had in his thoughts of love, Ti2 2:19.

3. That in the treachery of him that proved false to him the scripture was fulfilled, which takes off very much both the surprise and offence of the thing. Christ took one into his family whom he foresaw to be a traitor, and did not by effectual grace prevent his being so, that the scripture might be fulfilled. Let it not therefore be a stumbling-block to any; for, though it do not at all lessen Judas's offence, it may lessen our offence at it. The scripture referred to is David's complaint of the treachery of some of his enemies; the Jewish expositors, and ours from them generally understand it of Ahithophel: Grotius thinks it intimates that the death of Judas would be like that of Ahithophel. But because that psalm speaks of David's sickness, of which we read nothing at the time of Ahithophel's deserting him, it may better be understood of some other friend of his, that proved false to him. This our Saviour applies to Judas. (1.) Judas, as an apostle, was admitted to the highest privilege: he did eat bread with Christ. He was familiar with him, and favoured by him, was one of his family, one of those with whom he was intimately conversant. David saith of his treacherous friend, He did eat of my bread; but Christ, being poor, had no bread he could properly call his own. He saith, He did eat bread with me; such as he had by the kindness of his friends, that ministered to him, his disciples had their share of, Judas among the rest. Wherever he went, Judas was welcome with him, did not dine among servants, but sat at table with his Master, ate of the same dish, drank of the same cup, and in all respects fared as he fared. He ate miraculous bread with him, when the loaves were multiplied, ate the passover with him. Note, All that eat bread with Christ are not his disciples indeed. See Co1 10:3-5. (2.) Judas, as an apostate, was guilty of the basest treachery: he lifted up the heel against Christ. [1.] He forsook him, turned his back upon him, went out from the society of his disciples, Joh 13:30. [2.] He despised him, shook off the dust of his feet against him, in contempt of him and his gospel. Nay, [3.] He became an enemy to him; spurned at him, as wrestlers do at their adversaries, whom they would overthrow. Note, It is no new thing for those that were Christ's seeming friends to prove his real enemies. Those who pretended to magnify him magnify themselves against him, and thereby prove themselves guilty, not only of the basest ingratitude, but the basest treachery and perfidiousness.

II. He gives them a reason why he told them beforehand of the treachery of Judas (Joh 13:19): "Now I tell you before it come, before Judas has begun to put his wicked plot in execution, that when it is come to pass you may, instead of stumbling at it, be confirmed in your belief that I am he, he that should come." 1. By his clear and certain foresight of things to come, of which in this, as in other instances, he gave incontestable proof, he proved himself to be the true God, before whom all things are naked and open. Christ foretold that Judas would betray him when there was no ground to suspect such a thing, and so proved himself the eternal Word, which is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The prophecies of the New Testament concerning the apostasy of the latter times (which we have, 2 Th. 2; 1 Tim. 4, and in the Apocalypse) being evidently accomplished is a proof that those writings were divinely inspired, and confirms our faith in the whole canon of scripture. 2. By this application of the types and prophecies of the Old Testament to himself, he proved himself to be the true Messiah, to whom all the prophets bore witness. Thus it was written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and he suffered just as it was written, Luk 24:25, Luk 24:26; Joh 8:28.

III. He gives a word of encouragement to his apostles, and all his ministers whom he employs in his service (Joh 13:20): He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me. The purport of these words is the same with what we have in other scriptures, but it is not easy to make out their coherence here. Christ had told his disciples that they must humble and abase themselves. "Now," saith he, "though there may be those that will despise you for your condescension, yet there will be those that will do you honour, and shall be honoured for so doing." Those who know themselves dignified by Christ's commission may be content to be vilified in the world's opinion. Or, he intended to silence the scruples of those who, because there was a traitor among the apostles, would be shy of receiving any of them; for, if one of them was false to his Master, to whom would any of them be true? Ex uno disce omnes - They are all alike. No, as Christ will think never the worse of them for Judas's crime, so he will stand by them, and own them, and will raise up such as shall receive them. Those that had received Judas when he was a preacher, and perhaps were converted and edified by his preaching, were never the worse, nor should reflect upon it with any regret, though he afterwards proved a traitor; for he was one whom Christ sent. We cannot know what men are, much less what they will be, but those who appear to be sent of Christ we must receive, till the contrary appear. Though some, by entertaining strangers, have entertained robbers unawares, yet we must still be hospitable, for thereby some have entertained angels. The abuses put upon our charity, though ordered with ever so much discretion, will neither justify our uncharitableness, nor lose us the reward of our charity. 1. We are here encouraged to receive ministers as sent of Christ: "He that receiveth whomsoever I send, though weak and poor, and subject to like passions as others (for as the law, so the gospel, makes men priests that have infirmity), yet if he deliver my message, and be regularly called and appointed to do so, and as an officer give himself to the word and prayer, he that entertains him shall be owned as a friend of mine." Christ was now leaving the world, but he would leave an order of men to be his agents, to deliver his word, and those who receive this, in the light and love of it, receive him. To believe the doctrine of Christ, and obey his law, and accept the salvation offered upon the terms proposed; this is receiving those whom Christ sends, and it is receiving Christ Jesus the Lord himself. 2. We are here encouraged to receive Christ as sent of God: He that thus receiveth me, that receiveth Christ in his ministers, receiveth the Father also, for they come upon his errand likewise, baptizing in the name of the Father, as well as of the Son. Or, in general, He that receiveth me as his prince and Saviour receiveth him that sent me as his portion and felicity. Christ was sent of God, and in embracing his religion we embrace the only true religion.

IV. Christ more particularly notifies to them the plot which one of their number was now hatching against him (Joh 13:21): When Jesus had thus said in general, to prepare them for a more particular discovery, he was troubled in spirit, and showed it by some gesture or sign, and he testified, he solemnly declared it (cum animo testandi - with the solemnity of a witness on oath), "One of you shall betray me; one of you my apostles and constant followers." None indeed could be said to betray him but those in whom he reposed a confidence, and who were the witnesses of his retirements. This did not determine Judas to the sin by any fatal necessity; for, though the event did follow according to the prediction, yet not from the prediction. Christ is not the author of sin; yet as to this heinous sin of Judas, 1. Christ foresaw it; for even that which is secret and future, and hidden from the eyes of all living, naked and open before the eyes of Christ. He knows what is in men better than they do themselves (Kg2 8:12), and therefore sees what will be done by them. I knew that thou wouldest deal very treacherously, Isa 48:8. 2. He foretold it, not only for the sake of the rest of the disciples, but for the sake of Judas himself, that he might take warning, and recover himself out of the snare of the devil. Traitors proceed not in their plots when they find they are discovered; surely Judas, when he finds that his Master knows his design, will retreat in time; if not, it will aggravate his condemnation. 3. He spoke of it with a manifest concern; he was troubled in spirit when he mentioned it. He had often spoken of his own sufferings and death, without any such trouble of spirit as he here manifested when he spoke of the ingratitude and treachery of Judas. This touched him in a tender part. Note, The falls and miscarriages of the disciples of Christ are a great trouble of spirit to their Master; the sins of Christians are the grief of Christ. "What! One of you betray me? You that have received from me such distinguishing favours; you that I had reason to think would be firm to me, that have professed such a respect for me; what iniquity have you found in me that one of you should betray me?" This went to his heart, as the undutifulness of children grieves those who have nourished and brought them up, Isa 1:2. See Psa 95:10; Isa 63:10.

V. The disciples quickly take the alarm. They knew their Master would neither deceive them nor jest with them; and therefore looked one upon another, with a manifest concern, doubting of whom he spake. 1. By looking one upon another they evinced the trouble they were in upon this notice given them; it struck such a horror upon them that they knew not well which way to look, nor what to say. They saw their Master troubled, and therefore they were troubled. This was at a feast where they were cheerfully entertained; but hence we must be taught to rejoice with trembling, and as though we rejoiced not. When David wept for his son's rebellion, all his followers wept with him (Sa2 15:30); so Christ's disciples here. Note, That which grieves Christ is, and should be, a grief to all that are his, particularly the scandalous miscarriages of those that are called by his name: Who is offended, and I burn not? 2. Hereby they endeavoured to discover the traitor. They looked wistfully in one another's face, to see who blushed, or, by some disorder in the countenance, manifested guilt in the heart, upon this notice; but, while those who were faithful had their consciences so clear that they could lift up their faces without spot, he that was false had his conscience so seared that he was not ashamed, neither could he blush, and so no discovery could be made in this way. Christ thus perplexed his disciples for a time, and put them into confusion, that he might humble them, and prove them, might excite in them a jealousy of themselves, and an indignation at the baseness of Judas. It is good for us sometimes to be put to a gaze, to be put to a pause.

VI. The disciples were solicitous to get their Master to explain himself, and to tell them particularly whom he meant; for nothing but this can put them out of their present pain, for each of them thought he had as much reason to suspect himself as any of his brethren; now,

1. Of all the disciples John was most fit to ask, because he was the favourite, and sat next his Master (Joh 13:23): There was leaning on Jesus's bosom one of the disciples whom Jesus loved. It appears that this was John, by comparing Joh 21:20, Joh 21:24. Observe, (1.) The particular kindness which Jesus had for him; he was known by this periphrasis, that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved. He loved them all (Joh 13:1), but John was particularly dear to him. His name signifies gracious. Daniel, who was honoured with the revelations of the Old Testament, as John of the New, was a man greatly beloved, Dan 9:23. Note, Among the disciples of Christ some are dearer to him than others. (2.) His place and posture at this time: He was leaning on Jesus's bosom. Some say that it was the fashion in those countries to sit at meat in a leaning posture, so that the second lay in the bosom of the first, and so on, which does not seem probable to me, for in such a posture as this they could neither eat nor drink conveniently; but, whether this was the case or not, John now leaned on Christ's bosom, and it seems to be an extraordinary expression of endearment used at this time. Note, There are some of Christ's disciples whom he lays in his bosom, who have more free and intimate communion with him than others. The Father loved the Son, and laid him in his bosom (Joh 1:18), and believers are in like manner one with Christ, Joh 17:21. This honour all the saints shall have shortly in the bosom of Abraham. Those who lay themselves at Christ's feet, he will lay in his bosom. (3.) Yet he conceals his name, because he himself was the penman of the story. He put this instead of his name, to show that he was pleased with it; it is his title of honour, that he was the disciple whom Jesus loved, as in David's and Solomon's court there was one that was the king's friend; yet he does not put his name down, to show that he was not proud of it, nor would seem to boast of it. Paul in a like case saith, I knew a man in Christ.

2. Of all the disciples Peter was most forward to know, Joh 13:24. Peter, sitting at some distance, beckoned to John, by some sign or other, to ask. Peter was generally the leading man, most apt to put himself forth; and, where men's natural tempers lead them to be thus bold in answering and asking, if kept under the laws of humility and wisdom, they make men very serviceable. God gives his gifts variously; but that the forward men in the church may not think too well of themselves, nor the modest be discouraged, it must be noted that it was not Peter, but John, that was the beloved disciple. Peter was desirous to know, not only that he might be sure it was not he, but that, knowing who it was, they might withdraw from him, and guard against him, and, if possible, prevent his design. It were a desirable thing, we should think, to know who in the church will deceive us; yet let this suffice - Christ knows, though we do not. The reason why Peter did not himself ask was because John had a much fairer opportunity, by the advantage of his seat at table, to whisper the question into the ear of Christ, and to receive a like private answer. It is good to improve our interest in those that are near to Christ, and to engage their prayers for us. Do we know any that we have reason to think lie in Christ's bosom? Let us beg of them to speak a good word for us.

3. The question was asked accordingly (Joh 13:25): He then, lying at the breast of Jesus, and so having the convenience of whispering with him, saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Now here John shows, (1.) A regard to his fellow-disciple, and to the motion he made. Though Peter had not the honour he had at this time, yet he did not therefore disdain to take the hint and intimation he gave him. Note, Those who lie in Christ's bosom may often learn from those who lie at his feet something that will be profitable for them, and be reminded of that which they did not of themselves think of. John was willing to gratify Peter herein, having so fair an opportunity for it. As every one hath received the gift, so let him minister the same for a common good, Rom 12:6. (2.) A reverence of his Master. Though he whispered this in Christ's ear, yet he called him Lord; the familiarity he was admitted to did not at all lessen his respect for his Master. It becomes us to use a reverence in expression, and to observe a decorum even in our secret devotions, which no eye is a witness to, as well as in public assemblies. The more intimate communion gracious souls have with Christ, the more sensible they are of his worthiness and their own unworthiness, as Gen 18:27.

4. Christ gave a speedy answer to this question, but whispered it in John's ear; for it appears (Joh 13:29) that the rest were still ignorant of the matter. He it is to whom I shall give a sop, psōmion - a morsel, a crust, when I have dipped it in the sauce. And when he had dipped the sop, John strictly observing his motion, he gave it to Judas; and Judas took it readily enough, not suspecting the design of it, but glad of a savoury bit, to make up his mouth with. (1.) Christ notified the traitor by a sign. He could have told John by name who he was (The adversary and enemy is that wicked Judas, he is the traitor, and none but he); but thus he would exercise the observation of John, and intimate what need his ministers have of a spirit of discerning; for the false brethren we are to stand upon our guard against are not made known to us by words, but by signs; they are to be known to us by their fruits, by their spirits; it requires great diligence and care to form a right judgment upon them. (2.) That sign was a sop which Christ gave him, a very proper sign, because it was the fulfilling of the scripture (Joh 13:18) that the traitor should be one that ate bread with him, that was at this time a fellow-commoner with him. It had likewise a significancy in it, and teaches us, [1.] That Christ sometimes gives sops to traitors; worldly riches, honours, and pleasures are sops (if I may so speak), which Providence sometimes gives into the hands of wicked men. Judas perhaps thought himself a favourite because he had the sop, like Benjamin at Joseph's table, a mess by himself; thus the prosperity of fools, like a stupifying sop, helps to destroy them. [2.] That we must not be outrageous against those whom we know to be very malicious against us. Christ carved to Judas as kindly as to any at the table, though he knew he was then plotting his death. If thine enemy hunger, feed him; this is to do as Christ does.

VII. Judas himself, instead of being convinced hereby of his wickedness, was the more confirmed in it, and the warning given him was to him a savour of death unto death; for it follows,

1. The devil hereupon took possession of him (Joh 13:27): After the sop, Satan entered into him: not to make him melancholy, nor drive him distracted, which was the effect of his possessing some; not to hurry him into the fire, nor into the water; happy had it been for him if that had been the worst of it, or if with the swine he had been choked in the sea; but Satan entered into him to possess him with a prevailing prejudice against Christ and his doctrine, and a contempt of him, as one whose life was of small value, to excite in him a covetous desire of the wages of unrighteousness and a resolution to stick at nothing for the obtaining of them. But,

(1.) Was not Satan in him before? How then is it said that now Satan entered into him? Judas was all along a devil (Joh 6:70), a son of perdition, but now Satan gained a more full possession of him, had a more abundant entrance into him. His purpose to betray his Master was now ripened into a fixed resolution; now he returned with seven other spirits more wicked than himself, Luk 11:26. Note, [1.] Though the devil is in every wicked man that does his works (Eph 2:2), yet sometimes he enters more manifestly and more powerfully than at other times, when he puts them upon some enormous wickedness, which humanity and natural conscience startle at. [2.] Betrayers of Christ have much of the devil in them. Christ speaks of the sin of Judas as greater than that of any of his persecutors.

(2.) How came Satan to enter into him after the sop? Perhaps he was presently aware that it was the discovery of him, and it made him desperate in his resolutions. Many are made worse by the gifts of Christ's bounty, and are confirmed in their impenitency by that which should have led them to repentance. The coals of fire heaped upon their heads, instead of melting them, harden them.

2. Christ hereupon dismissed him, and delivered him up to his own heart's lusts: Then said Jesus unto him, What thou doest, do quickly. This is not to be understood as either advising him to his wickedness or warranting him in it; but either, (1.) As abandoning him to the conduct and power of Satan. Christ knew that Satan had entered into him, and had peaceable possession; and now he gives him up as hopeless. The various methods Christ had used for his conviction were ineffectual; and therefore, "What thou doest thou wilt do quickly; if thou art resolved to ruin thyself, go on, and take what comes." Note, When the evil spirit is willingly admitted, the good Spirit justly withdraws. Or, (2.) As challenging him to do his worst: "Thou art plotting against me, put thy plot in execution and welcome, the sooner the better, I do not fear thee, I am ready for thee." Note, our Lord Jesus was very forward to suffer and die for us, and was impatient of delay in the perfecting of his undertaking. Christ speaks of Judas's betraying him as a thing he was now doing, though he was only purposing it. Those who are contriving and designing mischief are, in God's account, doing mischief.

3. Those that were at table understood not what he meant, because they did not hear what he whispered to John (Joh 13:28, Joh 13:29): No man at table, neither the disciples nor any other of the guests, except John, knew for what intent he spoke this to him. (1.) They did not suspect that Christ said it to Judas as a traitor, because it did not enter into their heads that Judas was such a one, or would prove so. Note, It is an excusable dulness in the disciples of Christ not to be quick-sighted in their censures. Most are ready enough to say, when they hear harsh things spoken in general, Now such a one is meant, and now such a one; but Christ's disciples were so well taught to love one another that they could not easily learn to suspect one another; charity thinks no evil. (2.) They therefore took it for granted that he said it to him as a trustee, or treasurer of the household, giving him order for the laying out of some money. Their surmises in this case discover to us for what uses and purposes our Lord Jesus commonly directed payments out of that little stock he had, and so teach us how to honour the Lord with our substance. They concluded something was to be laid out, either, [1.] In works of piety: Buy those things that we have need of against the feast. Though he borrowed a room to eat the passover in, yet he bought in provision for it. That is to be reckoned well bestowed which is laid out upon those things we have need of for the maintenance of God's ordinances among us; and we have the less reason to grudge that expense now because our gospel-worship is far from being so chargeable as the legal worship was. [2.] Or in works of charity: That he should give something to the poor. By this it appears, First, That our Lord Jesus, though he lived upon alms himself (Luk 8:3), yet gave alms to the poor, a little out of a little. Though he might very well be excused, not only because he was poor himself, but because he did so much good in other ways, curing so many gratis; yet, to set us an example, he gave, for the relief of the poor, out of that which he had for the subsistence of his family; see Eph 4:28. Secondly, That the time of a religious feast was thought a proper time for works of charity. When he celebrated the passover he ordered something for the poor. When we experience God's bounty to us, this should make us bountiful to the poor.

4. Judas hereupon sets himself vigorously to pursue his design against him: He went away. Notice is taken,

(1.) Of his speedy departure: He went out presently, and quitted the house, [1.] For fear of being more plainly discovered to the company, for, if he were, he expected they would all fall upon him, and be the death of him, or at least of his project. [2.] He went out as one weary of Christ's company and the society of his apostles. Christ needed not to expel him, he expelled himself. Note, Withdrawing from the communion of the faithful is commonly the first overt-act of a backslider, and the beginning of an apostasy. [3.] He went out to prosecute his design, to look for those with whom he was to make his bargain, and to settle the agreement with them. Now that Satan had got into him he hurried him on with precipitation, lest he should see his error and repent of it.

(2.) Of the time of his departure: It was night. [1.] Though it was night, an unseasonable time for business, yet, Satan having entered into him, he made no difficulty of the coldness and darkness of the night. This should shame us out of our slothfulness and cowardice in the service of Christ, that the devil's servants are so earnest and venturous in his service. [2.] Because it was night, and this gave him advantage of privacy and concealment. He was not willing to be seen treating with the chief priests, and therefore chose the dark night as the fittest time for such works of darkness. Those whose deeds are evil love darkness rather than light. See Job 24:13, etc.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh_13:18-30

I speak not of you all

A last appeal

I.

A SOLEMN ANNOUNCEMENT.

1. The reason of it.

(1) To indicate Christs knowledge of the human heart, and to show that He had not been mistaken in Judas (Joh_13:18). Had it not been made it would have appeared as though Christ were not omniscient.

(2) To direct the disciples minds to an impressive fulfilment of Scripture (Joh_13:18).

(3) To confirm the faith of the disciples in Himself (Joh_13:19).

(4) To arrest, and if yet possible rescue, the soul of Judas.

2. The certainty of it (Joh_13:21). Amen, amen. Had any other made the announcement it would have been rejected with scorn.

3. The effect of it.

(1) It filled the Saviour with horror (Joh_13:21), just as He had been perturbed at Lazaruss grave (Joh_11:33).

(2) It plunged the disciples into consternation and dismay (Joh_13:22).

II. AN ANXIOUS QUESTION (Joh_13:25).

1. Moved by Peter, with characteristic impetuosity, who thought perhaps that John was in the secret, but he was equally ignorant.

2. Proposed by John

(1) With affection--leaning back till his head rested on Jesuss breast.

(2) With reverence--Lord.

(3) With pity for Christ, who should suffer, and the disciple who should inflict so sad a fate.

(4) With humility and self-examination--as if he dreaded it should be himself; and yet surely

(5) With conscious innocence--though Judas had the effrontery to ask, Is it I?

III. AN EXPLICIT ANSWER (verse 26).

1. Clearly given.

2. Defiantly accepted.

3. Strangely misunderstood (verse 28). Lessons

1. Christ in His Church a searcher of hearts.

2. The possibility of sitting at Christs table without being a true disciple, of enjoying religious ordinances without possessing grace, of falling from Christ so far as to lift the heel against Him.

3. Apostasies, though they do not affect Christs position in the Church, are occasions of pain.

4. John-like spirits are most likely to obtain from Christ revelations of His grace and truth.

5. Christ loves those who hate Him; but he who will not be won by that love must eventually fall into the devils grasp. (T. Whitelaw, D. D.)

A four-fold theme for thought

I. A SOLEMN TRUTH (Joh_13:18)--I know whom I have chosen. Christ knows His disciples--the true and false--their works and their hearts--all they have been, are, and shall be. He knew what was in man. Then

1. He does not require of us what will out measure our faculties. He loves us too much, and is too just for this.

2. The services that are not rendered Him from the heart are of no value in His sight. Formality and insincerity are worse than worthless.

3. Every one that names His name should depart from evil.

II. A LAMENTABLE FACT. He that eateth bread, etc. Judas was guilty of

1. The basest ingratitude.

2. The grossest avarice.

3. The most daring impiety. Such a fact as this shows

(1) Possibility that should lead us all to the most rigorous heart scrutiny. Here we see that a man may be in close contact with Christ and yet have no spiritual connection with Him.

(2) That Christ coerces no man into His service. He leaves each to act for himself.

III. A BENEFICENT WARNING (Joh_13:19).

1. Against a probable danger to the other disciples. Had the conduct of Judas broken suddenly on them, they might have received a moral shock which would have imperilled their faith.

2. For the purpose of fortifying their faith in the Messiah by the very means of the betrayal as foreannounced.

IV. A GLORIOUS ASSURANCE (Joh_13:20). This shows that His faithful disciples were

1. Identified with Him. The treatment they receive is regarded as being rendered to Him.

2. As He was identified with the Father

(1) By official work.

(2) By vital sympathy. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The history of Judas in relation to the Divine dealings

The history of Judas is but the record of a human life. He was a man like ourselves, subject therefore to temptation and struggle, and one with the freedom and responsibility which belong to us all. This will save us from fatalism, and in the face of many dark problems here is our safe starting point. Learn that

I. MEN MAY FRUSTRATE CHRISTS PURPOSES CONCERNING THEM. Christ gave Judas responsible work and a noble calling, and educated him for it all. But the training was worse than useless, the privileges were abused, and the sacred trust betrayed. Yet Christ would have had delight in Judass wellbeing and success. But all was frustrated, and the bitter lament over Jerusalem had its reference to Judas. We all share this terrible power, and could we see how we have used it we should live much nearer to Him for the rest of our lives.

II. THE MERCY OR GOD WHICH WOULD SAVE US MAY RUIN US. Judas had gifts: Christ employed them. His very position brought its dangers: Christ trusted him. Not indeed without warning him (Joh_6:70-71). And as the besetting sin was yielded to, and the downward course became more and more marked, where was Judas so likely to be kept from evil as in Christs company. Accordingly he was retained at his post and was still trusted. Yet the mercy which would have saved ruined him. For, turning from the source of Goodness, he said, Evil, be thou my good. Each of us may apply this principle.

III. MANS SIN IS OVERRULED TO DISPLAY THE DIVINE GOODNESS. Thomas doubted: We obtain an additional proof of Christs resurrection. Judas betrayed: Jesus died. It did not require a Judas to save the world, or the hatred of the Sanhedrim to fulfil Gods promises. Yet the sin of the world runs up into typical acts, and in a profoundly representative sense the sin of Judas was ours. This sin was overruled for Gods glory and mans good. And through it all Judas was free, as is every sinner, as proved from common consent, conscience, and such words as can, ought, etc. Christ too is free and maketh the wrath of man to praise Him.

IV. THE BEARING OF ALL THIS ON THE PRESENCE OF JUDAS IN THE CHURCH. Men may know not that they are there: but Christ knows them. Each service in the upper room repeated. John is there, and it may be Judas, so is Christ. If so the love that spares is the love that would save. How must Christ have looked on Judas, yet he went out madly from that saving Presence. And I saw there was a way to hell from the gate of heaven. Two apostles sinned grossly. Judas went out from the presence of Christ to meet the night; Peter, broken-hearted, to meet the dawn. Which will you follow? (G. T. Keeble.)

The sin and folly of the crime of Judas

Once, I think, there was great joy in a certain house in Kerioth, because there a child had just been born. I think this joy broke out in the name given to the child. Call him Praise, that is, Judah. But the parents were not prophets; and years after this, Jesus said of him, It had been good for that man if he had not been born! This saying darkly intimates that the sin of Judas was unparalleled. Esau for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. But Judas sold Christ! For a man to sell his soul for some passing paltry profit is enough to make him infamous. But Judas sold Christ! John Bunyan tells us that long after he loved Christ he was tempted for the space of a year to sell and part with the blessed Christ for the things of this life. The tempter, he says, would intermix in such sort with all I did, that I could not eat my food, nor stoop to pick up a pin, nor chop a stick, without hearing this whisper--Sell Christ--sell Him for this--sell Him for that. Sell Him! sell Him! But Judas actually sold Christ. You may have had some moment of spiritual delirium, when some one sinful gratification seemed to be so irresistible that your heart swore that you would have it, come what might; but Gods hand snatched you back just in time, and His Spirit showed the truth in its light, and made you resolve not to buy bliss that was only for a moment, at the cost of bliss everlasting. The temptation was fearful; for it was to part with your portion in Christ. But the sin of Judas was that he sold Christ Himself. Sometimes men treat Christ with profanity, partly because they are steeped in ignorance; and all the while they are sinning the Intercessors plea for them is Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do. Judas knew what he did. He had heard Christ say, Before Abraham was, I am; I and My Father are one. He had witnessed His grand manifestations as King of the air, of the water, of the dead, of spirits; and yet Judas sold Christ! What did he sell Him for? The old German story reports that the astrologer Faustus sold his soul to the evil one for twenty-four years of earthly happiness. What was the bargain in this case? The auctioneer had tempting lists to show; what was it that tempted Judas? He sold his Lord for thirty somethings. What things? Thirty years of right over all the earth, with all the trees of the forests, all the fowls of the mountains, and the cattle upon a thousand hills? For thirty armies, or thirty fleets? Thirty stars? Thirty centuries of power to reign majestically on hells burning throne? No, for thirty shillings, i.e., £3 10s. (C. Stanford, D. D.)

I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled.

Why did Christ choose Judas

Christ chose him for what he was, and what he might have been, not for what he became. Christ chooses men not for their attainments, but for their possibilities. Do you suppose Christ chooses men for their ability or their character? He chooses them that He may give them character and inspire new capacities within them. He chooses twelve men, and one was a traitor; the average of treachery in human life is usually higher than that. Moreover, the election of Christ does not fetter the free will of a man. In a certain high and almost inscrutable sense it is true that it all happens that it may be fulfilled; for though the bad man may seem an accident he is not, but in some way fits into a Divine order. The wild wind roars through the troubled heaven, but somewhere there is a sail to catch it, so that all its fierceness is yoked to fairest uses, and transformed into a mysterious helpfulness. There are no accidents in the Divine order; the harvest of today is the fruitful child of the storm weather of a century ago; it was all that it might be fulfilled. But whatever may be the ultimate issue of events, the will of man works freely within their circumference. Christ has chosen every living soul, and called him; yet few there are that shall be saved. You are as free to work evil in an apostleship as in a fishermans boat. Nay more, if this man was so cursed and burdened with evil aptitudes, was it not an act of Divinest mercy to call to him an apostleship? There are some men who never would be Christians at all unless they were Christian ministers. They need the constraint of solemn responsibilities; the only chance of saving them is to set them to save others. And, looked at in this light of human experience, how Divine was that discernment which chose Judas, and gave him this unique opportunity of making his calling and election sure beneath the very eyes of Jesus! For the evils which destroyed Judas had not ripened in him when Jesus called him. He came in the untainted freshness of faith, perhaps in the unbroken energy of youth. He had more than ordinary capacity, for at once he became the organiser of the little society, its steward, its financier, the custodian of its means. To paint him therefore in the light of the after event, as most painters have done, disfigured with the leer of low cunning, scowling with the meanness of baffled craft and delayed cupidity, is altogether false. He who paints Judas must put into his face the dying light of what was once noble enthusiasm--the shadowed eagerness of what was once heroic faith. He must paint a face full of the anguish of remembrance, the traces of perished nobility, the tragedy of overthrown ideals. In a word, we must remember Christ called him, and not in vain; Christ loved him, and not without cause; and howsoever dreadful the end may be, there was once a bright, a brilliant, and a beautiful beginning. (W. J.Dawson.)

He that eateth bread with Me, is equivalent to a professed friend, an intimate acquaintance--a familial friend, as the psalmist has it in the place referred to. To lift up the heel, according to some is a figure borrowed from the practice of wrestlers in lifting up the foot, for the purpose of overthrowing an antagonist. The more probable account is, that the figure is that of a vicious horse or ox, receiving food from the hand of its owner, and yet lifting up the heel to give him a stroke which may be fatal to him. The meaning of the whole expression seems to be, a highly favoured associate is prepared secretly to inflict on me a very severe injury. (J. Brown, D. D.)

Ingratitude

In considering this prophecy show

I. IN WHOM IT MAY BE SAID TO BE FULFILLED.

1. The Atheist.

2. The infidel.

3. The hypocrite.

4. The apostate.

II. WHAT WE MAY LEARN FROM ITS ACCOMPLISHMENT.

1. That Christianity must be true.

2. That the falls of its professors afford no just argument against it.

3. That no man can tell what evil he may perpetrate, if Satan be permitted to assault him.

4. That Gods conduct towards us is the very reverse of ours towards Him. (C. Simeon, M. A.)

The successive steps by which the traitor reached the climax of his guilt

The devil had already put it into his heart to betray the Lord (Joh_13:2).Wounded pride (Mat_26:14), Satanic influence (Luk_22:3), and the love of money--these were the great evils that lay at the root of his conduct. And yet, who can tell what struggles he must have gone through ere he brought himself to carry his resolution into effect? (C. Ross.)

Warnings as to the conduct of the traitor

1. And, first of all, do we not see here what a hateful, detestable thing hypocrisy, treachery is in the sight of God. Oh see, only see, the Lord of Glory troubled in spirit as He approaches the painful subject. And let us remember, that hypocrisy is equally offensive to Him still.

2. Further, do we not see here that sin--that hardness of heart is a gradual, a progressive thing? Judas did not reach the climax of his guilt by a single leap, but step by step.

3. But still further, may we not learn from this narrative, that though the hypocrite and the hardened sinner may for a long time escape detection, yet at last he shall be disclosed. The Lord may indeed, in His long suffering, allow him to pass unknown, just to give him space and opportunity for repentance.

4. Finally, let the Lords true-hearted ones seek Johns place--leaning on the Masters bosom. What a contrast between John and Judas--John leaning on Jesus breast, Judas proposing in his heart to betray Him! (C. Ross.)

Jesus … was troubled in spirit and testified

I. CHRIST IN SADNESS (verse 21). This was the distress

1. Of intense holiness in the presence of sin. The more holiness, the more sensitiveness to sin. Sometimes the optic nerve becomes so sensitive that a sunbeam will produce the greatest pain; and the auricular nerve so tender that the softest sound yields agony. And in some diseases a breath of air will throw the whole writhing frame into anguish. And so Judas sent a quiver through all the nerves of Christs pure soul.

2. Of the highest benevolence in the presence of a lost soul. The more love a being has, the more he feels the sufferings of others. Christs love was immeasurable, and He knew what a lost soul meant. We wonder not then that He was troubled as a lost soul stood before Him.

II. THE DISCIPLES IN ANXIETY (verse 22). Matthew and Mark tell us that they were exceeding sorrowful, and asked each, Is it I? The question implies two things.

1. Self-suspicion. Had they been certain of their incapability they would not have made such an appeal. None of them was confident of His impeccability. This self-suspicion is well founded in all souls, and is a help to our spiritual progress and safety. Let him that thinketh he standeth.

2. A desire to know the worst. Cowards close their, eyes on the worst, and delude themselves with the idea that all is right. It is to the spiritual interest of every man to know the worst here and now, for here and now it can be rectified. Search me, O God! and know my heart, etc.

III. THE TRAITOR UNMASKED.

1. The means of his detection (verse 26).

2. His domination by Satan (verse 27). Before we read that Satan had put the wicked deed into his heart; now he took possession of his soul.

3. His defiance by Christ, What thou doest, etc. I defy thee to do thy worst. Do it and have done with it.

4. His lamentable doom (verse 20). (D. Thomas, D. D.)

The Saviours trouble

These verses describe the last scene between our Lord and Judas before the betrayal. They never met again, excepting in the garden. Within a short time both the Holy Master and the treacherous servant were dead. They will never meet again till the trumpet sounds. What an awful meeting will that be! Let us mark

I. WHAT TROUBLE OUR LORD WENT THROUGH FOR THE SAKE OF OUR SOULS.

1. Our Masters troubles are far beyond the conception of most people. The cross was only the completion of His sorrows (Isa_53:3).

2. But this trouble was an exceptional one--that of seeing an apostle becoming an apostate. Nothing is so hard to bear as ingratitude. Sharper than a serpents tooth is a thankless child. Absaloms rebellion was Davids heaviest trouble, and Judass Christs.

3. Passages like these should make us see

(1) The amazing love of Christ to sinners. How many cups of sorrow He drained to the dregs in working out our salvation, beside the mighty cup of bearing our sins!

(2) How little reason we have for complaining when friends fail us and men disappoint us.

(3) The perfect suitableness of Christ to be our Saviour. He can sympathize with us. He has suffered Himself, and can feel for those who are ill-used and forsaken.

II. THE POWER AND MALIGNITY OF OUR GREAT ENEMY, THE DEVIL. First he suggests: then he commands. First he knocks at the door and asks permission to come in: then, once admitted, he takes complete possession, and rules the whole inward man like a tyrant. Let us take heed that we are not ignorant of his devices (2Co_2:11). He is still going to and fro in the earth, seeking whom he may devour. Our only safety lies in resisting him at the first. Strong as he is, he has no power to do us harm, if we cry to the stronger One and use the means which He has appointed Jam_4:7). Once let a man begin tampering with the devil, and he never knows how far he may fall.

III. THE EXTREME HARDNESS WHICH COMES OVER THE HEART OF A BACKSLIDING PROFESSOR OF RELIGION. One might have thought that the sight of our Lords trouble, and the solemn warning, One of you shall betray Me, would have stirred the conscience of this unhappy man, or the words, That thou doest, do quickly. But like one whose conscience was dead and buried, goes out to do his wicked work, and parts with his Lord forever. The extent to which we may harden ourselves by resisting light and knowledge is one of the most fearful facts in our nature. We may become past feeling, like those whose limbs are mortified before they die. We may lose entirely all sense of fear, or shame, or remorse. (Bp. Ryle.)

The sufferings of the soul of Jesus

What a spectacle! He who is inseparably united to the source of life and felicity, in sorrow; He who is the unfailing fountain of consolation to His children on earth, and of joy to the redeemed in heaven, in trouble and distress! We in vain look for external causes of this woe. Entering upon His last conflicts, He cries, Now is My soul troubled. These inward sufferings of our Redeemer were no less necessary than His external woes; the anguish of His soul was as requisite as the tortures of His cross.

1. Sin had defiled our souls as well as our bodies: nay, the soul had been the first source of disobedience; in it the throne of sin and Satan was erected, while the body was used only as its instrument. When Jesus, therefore, appeared as surety to expiate for our offences, it was needful that the agonies of His soul should unite with the pains of His body, in order to pay down a full ransom for us.

2. Besides, one great end of His incarnation and death was, that He might set before us a perfect pattern of holy conduct, a complete example of every virtue; so that in every circumstance we might cast our eyes upon Him, and learn our duty. But this great end could never have been accomplished, had our Redeemer experienced no sorrows of the soul, had He been a stranger to inward troubles.

3. And, finally, had only the body of Jesus suffered, we should have been deprived of a large portion of that consolation and support which is now afforded us by remembering the events of His life. Every afflicted Christian has been comforted by recollecting, that we have not a High Priest who cannot be touched with a feeling of our infirmities, but one who was in all points tempted as we are, and who will therefore sympathize with us in all our sorrows. The inward sorrows of men are, it is true, often criminal. Christs sorrows were ever holy: for in their source they were pure; in their degree, they did not transcend the measure which reason and religion required; and their effect never was to suspend His communion with His Father, to make Him pause in His laborious beneficence, or recoil from those sufferings which He was to undergo for our salvation. Under this trouble of spirit, Jesus has recourse to prayer. And how exalted is this testimony to the sublimity of the Redeemers character, and the benefits of His mediatorial work: I have glorified My name. In the incarnation of Immanuel, the wisdom and the faithfulness, and the love of God, had already been illustriously displayed. Yes, in these and in other modes the honour of the Divine name had been promoted by the Redeemer. But the voice from heaven added, I will glorify it again, more remarkably by Thy death and the great effects of Thy sacrifice. And has not this been fully verified? Had we time to display the Divine glory, as manifested in the Cross, the Resurrection, the Ascension of Jesus; in the gift of the Holy Spirit; in the conversion of the Gentiles; you would instantly acknowledge that this declaration has been accomplished.

Look upwards, and see how there especially in the Cross the name of God is glorified.

1. The Divine perfections are there displayed in a degree infinitely greater than they are elsewhere manifested. You admire the goodness which shines in nature and providence; but what is this to that love which induced the Father to give the Son of His bosom to undergo such agonies for your salvation? You shudder at that justice and holiness which are announced in the Scriptures, which are heard in the thunders and glitter in the lightnings on Sinai; but they are more manifested in the tremendous sacrifice of Immanuel.

2. It is there that those perfections, which appeared irreconcilable, beautifully and completely harmonize. Holiness is exalted, while grace triumphs.

The rights of the Divine government are unimpaired, while the sinner is saved.

1. Careless and impenitent man, this subject should alarm thee! The woes which Jesus endured were suffered for the guilty. Refuse the gospel method of salvation, and thou sacrilegiously attemptest to rob God of His glory manifested in it. But wilt thou succeed?

2. Believer, in the anguish of Jesus, see the foundation of thy joy! He suffered that thou mightest triumph.

3. Communicants, approach the holy table. Contemplate the glories of God in the crucified Saviour. Retrace the mercy of your Redeemer. (H. Kollock, D. D.)

The practical uses of Christs troubles

Away with the argument of philosophers who say that a wise man is not liable to be troubled. Let the soul of the Christian be troubled with fear lest others perish, with sorrow when others perish, with desire that others may not perish, with joy when others are saved from perishing, with fear lest we ourselves perish, with sorrow because we are absent from Christ. And let us not despair when we are troubled by the prospect of death, for Christ was troubled by it. Thus He cheers infirm members in His Body--the Church--by the voluntary example of His own infirmity; thus He encourages Christians, if they find themselves troubled by the defection of friends or the prospect of death. (Bp. Wordsworth.)

Judas, John, and Peter

I. THE TREACHERY OF JUDAS OR SEPARATION FROM CHRIST. We speak of close corporations and sacred fellowships, but there are none so close, so sacred, as to shut out intruders. Curiously assorted guests sit down side by side at the same feast. The Son of Man did not exclude a traitor.

1. This treachery occasioned our Lord poignant sorrow.

2. Our Lord in love and mercy interposed between the traitor and his doom.

3. The interposition being ineffectual the traitor leaves Christ, Satan captures him, and he disappears in darkness.

II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF JOHN; OR, KEPT IN THE LOVE OF CHRIST. It cannot be an accident that these accounts of John and Judas are left here side by side. We are to look here upon this picture, and on that. The treachery of Judas going out into the night to serve his master is best understood when set over against the blessedness of John leaning on the breast and hearing the wisdom of his Master. Extremes meet. But John has no monopoly of his Masters love. It was offered to Judas and rejected. If the presence of a traitor into the glorious company of the apostles troubled the spirit of Christ, why should not his going forth be a relief? It was like the vanishing of a cloud. It was also prophetic, for at last the spirit of selfishness and evil and darkness shall be utterly and forever cast forth from the Church of God. When Judas is gone John may enter fully into the Divine joy and life.

III. THE DENIAL OF PETER: OR, TRUSTING TO OUR LOVE FOR CHRIST. The fall of such a man is inevitable. He has miscalculated his strength, and mistaken the true and only source from which comes the abiding love that makes one willing to leave all things. He thinks love a possession of his own, something that originates with and in himself. This delusion is so fatal, so sure to bring failure and disappointment, that, at all costs it must be dispelled. Peter was really believing in himself, in his own constancy and determination. The worthlessness of such a faith was very soon to be demonstrated. For that faith in himself he was to substitute a faith in One who was able to keep him. (Monday Club.)

The apostacy of Judas

This was the last of a series of fatal victories which Judas Iscariot won over the different means and checks which God had mercifully provided. From that time it seemed as if God would no more strive with him, either by His Providence of love or by the suggestions of His Spirit within. Let him alone. There was no more check to his iniquity, and he proceeded rapidly in that downward course which was to issue in his irremediable destruction. Consider that series of the means of grace which Judas had resisted before he triumphed over this.

I. JUDAS HAD BEEN ACQUAINTED WITH ALL THE REMARKABLE MIRACLES THAT JESUS CHRIST HAD WROUGHT TO MANIFEST THE TRUTH OF HIS MISSION.

II. WHAT INSTRUCTION HAD JUDAS RECEIVED FROM HIS MASTER?

III. THIS INSTRUCTION WAS SUSTAINED BY AN EXAMPLE OF UNPARALLELED LOVELINESS.

IV. HE WAS FAVOURED WITH CONSTANT TOKENS OF KINDNESS.

V. Being brought in connection with Jesus Christ must necessarily have induced him to EMPLOY HIMSELF FREQUENTLY IN THE VARIOUS RELIGIOUS EXERCISES THAT WOULD PROMOTE HIS CHRISTIAN TEMPER AND CHARACTER.

VI. HE WAS CONTINUALLY ASSOCIATING WITH THE BEST PEOPLE UPON EARTH.

VII. HE SAW THE REMARKABLE CHANGE PERFECTED BY THE MEANS OF GRACE AND RENDERED EFFECTUAL BY GRACE ITSELF--the joy and gratitude of the Syro-Phoenician woman whose strength of faith brought her great blessings, the change in the heart of the publican, the penitence of Mary Magdalene.

VIII. HE WAS THE SUBJECT OF THE FEET WASHING. IX. As the context tells us (cf. Luk_22:1-71)

, HE WAS CALLED TO THE TABLE OF THE LORD AT THE FIRST INSTITUTION OF THE SUPPER. Thus all the most powerful means that imagination could devise failed in repressing the sin of Judas when once it had obtained the mastery. Conclusion: Perhaps when we are noticing the strength of sin in him, which overcame all the most powerful means of grace, there may be some who are ready to suppose that Judas was one selected above all others to manifest the power of depravity. Who is it that is thus prompt to condemn Judas? Who is the person that is not as singular an instance of depravity? Are not you now under the power of a reigning sin, you that thus condemn this wretched man? Therefore thou art inexcusable, etc. Who are you that can say truly that you have never manifested such obduracy? I ask you to determine the question as before God whether you have not resisted and triumphed over means of grace as mighty as he overcame. Consider, then

1. That you are an inexcusable sinner.

2. That you need a Saviour and One has been provided.

3. Do not neglect to avail yourself of this provision by repentance and faith. (Baptist Noel.)

Jesus and the traitor

Consider these words

I. AS PREDICTING THE SIN OF JUDAS, which shows

1. That Christ suffered as no other human being ever suffered. Great as are the sorrows of men, they are generally unforeseen; more than half their weight therefore is removed. We are supported by hope even on the brink of misery: Jesus foresaw all His woes, and He knew them to be unavoidable.

2. That all hearts are open to the Son of God. It was not long since Judas had agreed with the chief priests. He was sure not to have betrayed himself; and the same secrecy was equally needful to his accomplices. Yet how vain all their precautions! The traitor hears his own purpose first exposed by the very Being whom he would betray! How then can you hope to impose on Christ and shun the eye of God? Can any hide himself in secret places that I shall not see him?

3. That the most wicked actions of men unintentionally promote Gods secret purposes of grace. He who foretold this crime could have prevented it. But the act foreseen was permitted and overruled for good. Shall we murmur, then, even at the most mysterious dispensation (Rom_8:28)?

II. AS DESCRIBING THE AGGRAVATIONS OF THAT SIN.

1. It was the sin of treachery--a sin of that kind which is held in abhorrence even by fallen man. Nor is the case at all mended by urging that Judas was moved by self-interest and not by malice. The plea only adds detestable meanness to his character, where passion and revenge might have furnished (what men would call) a prouder excuse. And who is the traitor? Has he no name but Judas? Alas! his name is Legion, for he is many.

2. It was treachery against the best of friends--Me! Is not the same Christ our Friend? Yet multitudes still prefer the silver to Christ.

3. It was the treachery of a highly privileged and confidential servant. One of you! For three years had the Pharisees been seeking for such an accomplice: but the multitude would not, the officers could not. These persecutors never dreamed of asking one of the apostles--who would? when, to their great astonishment, he offers of his own accord! Take heed lest there be in any of you such an evil heart of unbelief.

III. AS EXEMPLIFYING THE FEELINGS OF A HOLY MIND IN THE CONTEMPLATION OF SIN. Jesus was troubled in spirit. Not because mortified by an unexpected discovery. He had known that these things would take place at least as long ago as when David penned the fifty-fifth Psalm (Joh_13:12-14). Nor because this treachery made His own fate certain; it could not be more so than His eternal purpose had already made it. No; He was troubled

1. At the present dishonour done to God and the gospel. It was a triumph to Satan, who thus bruised His heel; to all the ungodly--Ah, so would we have it! It is not passion or jealousy which calls forth from true

Christians the reproof of sin. It is trouble of heart because God is dishonoured. Encourage this feeling.

2. At the approaching ruin of a sinner. He saw before him a soul which (before even His own death should be accomplished) would be gone to its place. He still feels the same trouble for thee, O sinner! whosoever thou art. His holy children also feel the same cause for mourning--none but devils and sinners rejoice. (J. Jowett, M. A.)

Horror of treachery natural

Even in Pagan story the name of Ephialtes enjoyed a bad preeminence, and could not be mentioned without horror, whom no love of his country, no admiration of heroic valour, not the dear pledges of his friends, nor the threatened tyranny of a degrading foe, could withhold from such a deed of shame; but Persian gold, more sacred to that base mind than all of these, bribed him to guide the enemy over the mountain path, and surprise that devoted Spartan band. Sad indeed that in Christian annals it should have its more than parallel. (C. J. Brown, M. A.)

One of you shall betray Me

I. YOU WHOM I HAVE LOVED SO TENDERLY.

II. YOU WHOM I HAVE TAUGHT SO PATIENTLY.

III. YOU WHOM I HAVE SERVED SO FAITHFULLY. (S. S. Tinges.)

The conspicuousness of apostates

In the long line of the portraits of the Doges in the palace at Venice, one space is empty, and the semblance of a black curtain remains as a melancholy record of glory forfeited. Found guilty of treason, Marine Falieri was beheaded, and his image, as far as possible, blotted from remembrance. As we regarded the singular memorial we thought of Judas and Demas, and then, as we heard in spirit the Masters warning, One of you shall betray Me, we asked within our soul the solemn question, Lord, is it I? Everyones eye rests longer on the one dark vacancy than upon any one of the fine portraits of the merchant monarchs; and so the apostates of the Church are far more frequently the theme of the worlds talk than the thousands of good men and true who adorn the doctrine of God our Saviour in all things. Hence the more need of care on the part of those of us whose portraits are publicly exhibited as saints, lest we should one day be painted out of the Churchs gallery, and our persons only remembered as having been detestable hypocrites. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

Now there was leaning on Jesus bosom

Christs special affection for St. John

You naturally ask, was there anything noticeable or distinguishing in the character of this much-favoured disciple? We answer, Christs love is free. It must be so, for it is everlasting--it precedes the existence of its objects; and further, it must be so, for itsobjects are guilty and evil--they have nothing in them to attract, they have everything to repel. Christs love has its cause, or reason, in Himself. Even our love is in some respects free. It cannot be bought; it cannot be forced; we cannot reason ourselves into it. But while love is thus in its nature free, yet, in examining the objects of it, we find that they possess some real or supposed qualities, which are the ground of this peculiar esteem. In our blindness we often fancy qualities which do not really exist; and so, on more intimate acquaintance, we are often disappointed. But the Lord cannot be thus mistaken; and so, when we find one distinguished from his companions as the disciple whom Jesus loved, we infer that, through grace, He must have possessed some qualities which the others had not, or not in the same degree. What was it, then, in John, on whom the Lords complacency rested? It was not any peculiarly high talent, for in this Paul was superior. It was not any peculiar aptitude for business and the conduct of affairs, for in this Peter seems to have excelled. It was for the qualities of the heart, rather than the head, that John was distinguished; and the secret of the Lords peculiar delight in him is perhaps found in this: I love them that love Me, and they who seek Me early shall find Me. John was a man of warmer, fervid temperament, as appears from the Lord calling him and his brother Boanages (sons of thunder); and this ardent heart was given wholly and abidingly to Christ. He came young to Christ, as appears from the long period that he outlived his Master. He came also early; for he was one of the two who, in consequence of John Baptists words, followed Jesus to His dwelling, and became His disciples. His deep, fervent love, unconsciously breaks forth in many ways. His love to Christ, as well as Christs to him, appears in his place at the table--the nearest to Jesus. His love made him follow his Master to the judgment hall; made him linger at the cross when the others were gone; made him foremost in the race to the tomb, and first to believe the story told by the forsaken but orderly grave clothes. It was his love, quick sighted, that made him the first to recognize his Beloved on the shores of Tiberias, in the grey twilight of the dawning day. It was admiring love that made him close his gospel with the glowing words (Joh_21:25). It was panting, longing love that made him close his Apocalypse with the fervid prayer (Rev_22:20). Johns very faults show his love to Christ … But further, John had a deeper, truer insight than the others into the Divine glory of Christs person, and the spiritual nature of His work. The others begin with His earthly lineage and birth, and occupy themselves chiefly with His manhood. John begins with the eternal Godhead. The others dwell on the works of benevolence and power which crowded Christs laborious days. John takes little note of these, but dwells rather on the glory of the grace and truth, and gathers up the words of life and power. John seems to have been among men what Mary was among women--he sat at Christs feet, and heard His words. Hence his gospel is different from the others. While the other evangelists speak chiefly of Christs dealings with the bodies of men, John dwells more on His dealings with mens souls. The Lord must have felt that John knew Him better, and appreciated Him more fully, than the others. We can conceive that, when Christ performed any act of higher import, or uttered any word of deeper meaning, His eye would unconsciously turn to John, and would be ever sure to meet Johns loving, gleaming eye! (John Milne.)

Titled believers; the disciple whom Jesus loved

This was Johns most notable title. As a servant of the Queen, having distinguished himself in the service of Her Majesty, becomes the lord of such and such a town, and he takes the name of the place as a name of honour, so John drops his own birth-given name, as it were, and takes this title instead of it--that disciple whom Jesus loved. He wears it as a Knight of the Garter, or of the Golden Fleece, wears the mark of his sovereigns esteem. (C. H.Spurgeon.)

A title that was better than a name

Lord Brooks was so proud of his friendship with Sir Philip Sidney, that he chose for his epitaph, Here lies Sir Philip Sidneys friend.

Nearness to Jesus

I. Let us first, then, inquire HOW ARE WE TO ATTAIN THIS NEARNESS TO JESUS?

1. In the first place, by coming to Him. We are, naturally, at a distance from Him.

2. This nearness implies real sympathy of mind. What a sacred bond is sympathy! what a fountain of delight, of comfort, and of strength! In order that there may be sympathy, there must be three things--mutual knowledge one of another--harmony of moral taste--and aiming at the same end. The refined cannot sympathize with the polluted, the gentle cannot sympathize with the cruel hearted. He that delights in sin, on the other hand, cannot sympathize with him who seeks to advance in holiness, and to bring all around him to enjoy communion with God and Jesus.

3. Nearness to Jesus implies that we persevere in following Him. Nearness to Him does not depend upon one act.

4. The next idea is, that nearness to Jesus implies felt fellowship--real communion. Oh! it is not a dream. We have, I trust, very many of us, experienced it as a distinct and separate thing from the work of imagination. Felt fellowship--he who has experienced that is near to Jesus.

5. Pass on to notice the next thing implied in nearness to Jesus--love to Him. Love is the power that annihilates the distance between us.

6. Then it implies, also, that we have intercourse with His people--communion with His disciples.

II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THIS CONDITION.

1. In the first place, it is an honour--the highest honour--to come near to the Lord Jesus Christ, to be acquainted with Him, to walk with Him, to have fellowship with Him. That is the highest distinction that can be conferred upon man, for it implies that a man is raised to a kind of equality with the Supreme Being, that has condescended to become brother and saviour. The honour of being introduced to Jesus will last, and fill the mind with rest and tranquility.

2. We say, in the second place, it is a blessed privilege to be near to Jesus, because it assures us of His eternal love to us. The text says, there was leaning on Jesus bosom one of the disciples whom Jesus loved. It was John himself that wrote it, and he knew the fact that Jesus loved him. The way then to be assured of the love of Jesus is to live near to Him.

3. Nearness to Jesus, in the third place, secures glorious shelter and protection from the evils which are in the world. Keep near to thy Saviour, nestle, as it were, in the bosom of His promises; let His feathers cover thee, and His wings be over thee; go to Him in times of danger and trial.

4. Then there is another glorious privilege--the power that is transferred from Jesus to those who are near to Him. When we are near to Jesus, there is a current of sanctified influence passing, until those hearts of yours, once the abode of pollution, become as spotless temples. The soul that was in the thraldom of sin is released, and becomes cleansed and sanctified, and shall stand clean in the presence of the eternal God. This is not done at once, but by a continued influence which assimilates the soul to Jesus in purity, holiness, love, and heavenly mindedness, and makes it a type of Jesus.

5. Then there is another privilege--that there is a constant manifestation of fresh glory made to the mind in the Lord Jesus Christ. What an unworthy idea some people have of Jesus. It is only that of a beautiful image, as it were, drawn on canvas. But, to the believer, Jesus always manifests some new beauty in His face--some new glory in His nature.

6. You have another striking advantage of being near to Jesus--that of growing and increasing in your usefulness in the service of Jesus. There is a moral element of fitness required for the service of Jesus.

7. Then there is another great privilege and blessing--the mind and heart are weaned from earth in proportion as we live near to Jesus. We become conscious of being only strangers on the earth, of belonging to another world, as citizens of a more enduring city. (T. Thomas.)

The sacred breast

Attention should be called to the different words (different in the original as well as in the English) used in the text to denote that part of our Lords most Sacred Person: bosom in Joh_13:23, breast in Joh_13:25. Strictly speaking, the latter word alone denotes part of the person; the bosom is that part of the dress which covers the breast. Ancient dresses consisted of two pieces, a tight-fitting inner garment, and a shawl or outer wrapper thrown over it. And this shawl was so arranged as to fall in a large full fold over the breast, this full fold constituting the bosom or lap of the dress. This bosom or lap was sometimes used as a purse, to contain money or valuables; which explains that expression of our Lord, Good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over, shall men give into your bosom (Luk_6:38). And when a parent or nurse carried a young child, the child would more or less repose in this fold of the dress, which would be drawn over its head. The subject having been thus opened, we will speak to you first of the Bosom in which our Lord Himself lay from all eternity; secondly, of the moral attitude of His faithful and beloved ones, who lean on His Bosom, or lie on His Breast; and lastly, of the glorified Breast of the risen and ascended Saviour.

I. And, first, of THE BOSOM IN WHICH HE HIMSELF LAY FROM ALL ETERNITY, before the mountains were brought forth, or ever the earth and the world were made. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, He hath declared Him Joh_1:18). The earthly image chosen to convey the heavenly truth is drawn from the parental relationship upon earth, and from the loving services which human parents do for their children in the earliest and most dependent stage of existence. They fold them in their bosom; they carry them in their arms; according to that word of Moses (Num_11:12). This doctrine lights up Christian theology with bright and consolatory lights. First, the God of Christian men, as distinct from the God of the Deist and Unitarian, is not to be thought of as ever having dwelt apart or in solitude. And then, secondly, this doctrine of our Lords eternal generation gives us such an assurance as we could not otherwise have of the tenderness and strength of Gods love to ourselves. He who gave up for us, and who giveth to us, the Son of His love, to be unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (1Co_1:30), what may we not expect Him to do for us, to give to us; how can we suppose that He will withhold from us any good thing? O Lord and Heavenly Father, may we open our hearts to this fatherly love of Thine, in faith, in confidence, in filial love reciprocating it!

II. THE MORAL ATTITUDE OF THOSE FAITHFUL AND BELOVED ONES WHO LEAN ON HIS BOSOM OR LIE ON HIS BREAST. It is said especially of St. John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved (Joh_20:2; Joh_21:7; Joh_21:20). The expression has reference, as is well known, to the arrangement of the guests at an ancient supper. They did not sit round the table in our modern fashion, but reclined on broad couches, leaning on the left elbow, and helping themselves with the right hand. Each couch usually accommodated three guests, and the central place on it was the most distinguished. It was a privileged position, you will say, not granted even to all the Apostles; and therefore, in applying the passage, nothing can be founded upon it as to the spiritual privileges of ordinary Christians. But I find a Messianic prophecy of Isaiah, which surely enlarges the purview of this privilege, showing it to be a privilege designed for all, sad more especially for the weaker members of Christs flock. He shall gather the lambs with His arm, and carry them in His bosom, and shall gently lead those that are with young (Isa_40:11). Yes; He shall carry them in His bosom. He Himself, we have seen, was carried from all eternity in the bosom of the Father. And our attitude and relation towards Him is to be that which He Himself bears to the Father. But now let us develop in particulars the moral attitude which it behoves us to have towards the Saviour, as pictorially represented in those words, leaning on Jesus bosom, lying on Jesus breast.

(1) And first, he who leans on Jesus bosom in a spiritual sense has a trustful repose in Him. Activity indeed must characterize the Christian life; and there is a blessedness and a healthfulness in work for God; but it must be a calm activity, without solicitude, without wearing anxiety, an activity which, while it works, knows also how to lean, and lie still, and to say, the Lord will provide. Be careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God, etc. (Php_4:6-7). To taste this peace, at least in a measure, is to lean on Jesus bosom, to lie on His breast.

(2) Secondly; he who leans on Jesus bosom in a spiritual sense has an assurance of the Saviours nearness to him and love for him--a love which will cling to him to the end. Oh for an assurance, independent of the senses--the assurance of faith--that Christ is near to us at all times, more especially in public prayer, where two or three are gathered together in His name, and in the Sacred Supper, in which He makes every faithful recipient a partaker of His body and blood!

(3) Thirdly; he who leans on Jesus bosom in a spiritual sense cultivates St. Johns type of character, a quiet contemplativeness, in which he may hear the whispers made by the Divine Master to the soul. The present is an age of activity, of material progress, of rapid movement. Under these circumstances it becomes more than ever necessary, as an antidote to the spirit of the times, that devotional retirement should be insisted upon as a condition of all healthy spiritual life. Let things drop ever and anon, even when the strain of work and worry is most severe, and lean back as it were on the bosom of thy Lord, and look up into His face, and seek from Him the guidance or the help or the comfort which thou needest, and, if thou doest this faithfully, thou shalt not fail to hear the whispers of His voice within. But how can those whispers be heard in the rapid whirl of business, in the tumult of affairs, without an inward silence and a hush in the soul?

III. We are to speak, lastly, of THE GLORIFIED BREAST OF THE RISEN AND EXALTED SAVIOUR. In that magnificent vision of the glorified Son of Man at the opening of the Revelation. Being turned, I saw seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about at the breasts (so it is in the Revised Version) with a golden girdle. Three points are observable in this part of the grand vision, which throughout is full of deep and edifying significance.

(1) He appears girded; and to the angel of the Church of Ephesus He describes Himself as walking in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks (Rev_2:1). The girding and the walking are both expressive of the ceaseless activity of the exalted Saviour, an activity which shows itself not only in His intercession, but in His close inspections of the Churches as to their spiritual condition and progress.

(2) He appears girded at the breasts, not at the loins; the golden cincture is swathed around Him high up the person, below the armpits. This is explained by what Josephus tells us about the girdle of the high priest, and the part of the person on which it was fastened. This girding at the breast, then, being the sacerdotal way of wearing the girdle, and obviously a more dignified, reposeful, and majestic way than merely tying it tight round the loins, as was done when men addressed themselves to secular and common work, indicates that He who wears the girdle thus is the great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, there to appear in the presence of God for us, and to give effect to His sacrifice by pleading it on our behalf in the heavenly sanctuary. But if by the position of the girdle the high priestly character of the wearer is indicated, why is it not also indicated by the materials, which here are all gold, whereas the curious or (embroidered) girdle of the ephod, though it had gold in it, yet was made also of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen? This is to indicate the kingly character of Christ united with the priestly, He being not only a priest, but a priest upon His throne, a priest exalted to universal government.

(3) But what shall we say of this remarkable feature of the vision, that the Saviour appears in it with the breast of a woman, not of a man? That there is a profound and beautiful significance in this trait, whatever be its significance, I make no manner of question. He was the Seed of the woman, not of the man, and, as being descended only from a mother, might be expected to show all that tender side of human character which woman more especially exemplifies. He has the breast of a woman, that is, the heart of a woman, in susceptibility to the sufferings of His people, and in sympathy with them, when they are called upon to suffer. (E. M.Golburn, D. D.)

Leaning on Jesus bosom

I. THE SIGNIFICANCY OF THIS ACT. Even with John the outward posture was only the symbol of the spiritual. It implies

1. Reconciliation to Christ. We are by nature estranged from God and Christ. Hence we stand guilty and condemned. But, impelled by wondrous love, Jesus has taken our place and borne our penalty. Now God can be just and the justifier of all who believe in Him. Those who have been thus reconciled lean on Jesus bosom, and those only. Suppose a child to have disobeyed its mothers commands and cherished a rebellious spirit. Will that child with conscious guilt and angry feelings nestle on the mothers breast? But let temper subside and penitence arise, then it will hasten to the mothers knee, let the mothers forgiveness kiss away tears, and throw its arms round the mothers neck and lean on her bosom.

2. Confidence in Him. He is worthy of this, for He is infinitely wise, strong, good, and ought to be thoroughly trusted. But He is not. But those who lean on His bosom have no fear, and find everything they need.

3. Love for Him. He is worthy of our best affection. Do we not naturally admire beauty? He is altogether lovely. Are we not always affected by loving kindness? He has loved as with a love surpassing every other. Hatred separates, love unites. Those who love Christ are ever near His side.

4. Communion with Him--not merely saying prayers--but heart intercourse with Him everywhere. Silence leads to estrangement, exchange of confidences to love. So when there is little communion with Christ there is little love; but the soul whose fellowship with Him is constant will lay his head where John lay his.

II. THE BLESSEDNESS OF THIS POSITION. Here is

1. Perfect safety. We are all exposed to danger as regards both body and soul. Most men are concerned about the safety of their bodies and money--then surely they should be about that of their souls. But where shall

(1) The unpardoned sinner, or

(2) the backsliding saint find safety save here? There is therefore now no condemnation, etc. If God be for us, who can be against us.

2. Spiritual instruction. We are enfeebled by ignorance. Some of us think we know much about business, science, art, etc.; but we know little about God and Divine things. Where shall we look? The learned of our day only bewilder us, but we shall get all we want from the best Teacher, who is Himself the embodiment of truth; and those who trust Him most will be the best instructed, even as John learnt most of the betrayal.

3. Moral improvement. We are greatly influenced by our associates. Those who dwell in courts acquire a peculiar dignity, and those who live near Christ become Christ-like.

4. Rest and peace. There is a fearful amount of unrest in the world arising from a guilty conscience, loss of friends, wealth, etc.; but in Christ Jesus the peace of God will keep our hearts and minds. (J. Morgan.)

Lying on Jesus breast

I. THE STATE OF MIND AND HEART, ON EITHER SIDE, OF WHICH THIS ATTITUDE WAS THE EXPRESSION.

1. On the side of the disciple, it told

(1) Of a holy, unsuspecting, childlike trust, reliance on the Lord. Doubtless John was tried with many a painful foreboding for the future. Had anyone asked, Knowest thou that the Lord will take away thy Master from thy head? methinks he had been ready to answer, Yea, I know it; hold thou thy peace. Too well he knows it. But just the more he will lean his head tonight on that Masters bosom and cast his care on this mighty, gracious One.

(2) Of intense affection. It is heart drawing to heart in the hour of deep grief!

(3) The two feelings, the reliance and the love were inseparably connected. It was a loving reliance; and it was a confiding affection. The faith wrought by love; and the love, casting out fear, emboldened the faith.

2. It told of corresponding feelings on the side of the Master.

(1) Confidence, trust, reposed by Christ in the disciple? Jesus suffers him to lean his head upon His bosom. Ah! this is not to be the traitor. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear Him, and He will show them His covenant.

(2) Intense affection. Not that Christ loved John with any higher love of benevolence than He did the other disciples. Plainly it is satisfaction, delight, complacency, in John that is spoken of in the appellation, and which came out divinely in the permission to lean his head upon His bosom.

II. OUR TEXT ADMITS OF BEING TURNED TO EXTENSIVE USE, far beyond the ease of John. One disciple only could lean as did John, but we may now find that this is a privilege, accessible in the essence of it, even to as many as shall truly aspire after it.

1. The soul of this attitude, as on the disciples side lay in trust in Jesus. Then have we the attitude still. The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God. Many years ago I was visiting a dying boy. He lay weary on his pillow, near his end. I scarce hoped to make him understand me--he was not six years of age. But thinking I might make an attempt, after short prayer, I said to him, Charlie, you are resting your head on the pillow; try and rest on Jesus, as you are resting on the pillow. Next day his father told me that, on going up to the little crib several hours after my visit, and without making any reference to it, he said to him, Are you resting on Jesus, dear? He immediately answered, Soft pillow. It was his only reply. Ah, that is it, unsuspecting reliance, soft pillow--He lying on Jesus breast!

(2) And have we not the love also, still. My beloved is mine, and I am his--faith and love hand in hand. I will seek Him whom my soul loveth.

2. The leaning of disciples still is by His welcoming also, just as of old--reciprocating their feelings towards Him in a blessed corresponding confidence, and complacency in them. He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, etc. Perhaps, in a more special manner at the Lords Supper, may the lying on the breast be known and realized. Yet this is not a privilege confined to any one ordinance or season. Assuredly the bosom, the heart, of Jesus is large enough to receive every weary head that is but truly offered to lean on it. I heard the voice of Jesus say, etc. (G. J. Brown, D. D.)

Can we now lean on Jesus bosom

What is it, at this day, to do this?

I. TO BRING OUR HEARTS INTO LIVING FEELING, CONTACT WITH THE HEART OF CHRIST. We speak of the breast of man, as being filled with noble or revengeful feelings; of a generous or an unfeeling bosom, because the heart has its seat in the breast; and as that, in the physical system, is the centre of animal life, the ever-welling up and distributing fountain of the vital currents, so when we would speak of the moral centre, the well spring of moral emotions, we use the term heart, and say, his heart is right or wrong, generous or closed, renewed or unsanctified; hence, to lean upon the breast, the outer casement of the heart, is equivalent to saying, that the person leans upon the love and sympathy of that individual. Christs love emanates from His heart, and hence he who rests upon His love rests upon His breast. The feeling of confidence in human affection is one of the most delicious emotions of which we are capable. In leaning upon the heart of Jesus, the Christian can have this confidence, to a degree impossible among men. His heart is an organ of infinite love.

II. TO LEAN UPON THE PLACE WHENCE HIS SYMPATHIES FLOW. There are daily trials, in which we seek not only succour but sympathy. None ever felt so deeply for the sorrows and sufferings of the world as Jesus, and now that He has ascended into heaven, He is still touched with the feeling of our infirmities. And if we lean on Jesus bosom, we shall always have His sympathies.

III. TO GET AN INTELLIGENT UNDERSTANDING OF THE DOCTRINE OF CHRIST. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. A man may be a learned theologian without leaning upon Jesus bosom; but no one can savingly understand Divine truth who does not bring his head in contact with Jesus heart. There is a great difference between an intellectual, and an experimental, knowledge of Bible doctrines. The poor widow, the bed-ridden patient, often has a richer knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus; than the learned minister or the boasting professor. All real knowledge of Jesus must come from Christs heart, and through our heart.

IV. TO LEAN UPON THE PLACE WHENCE FLOWED HIS PRECIOUS BLOOD. It was from the spear-riven heart of Christ, that there gushed out blood and water; and in leaning upon Jesus breast, therefore, we get close to the fountain opened for sin and all uncleanness. If we would feel the preciousness of that blood, we must lean upon the heart whence it flowed, and there learn the vastness of the love which gave it, the greatness of the sacrifice it involved, and the unspeakable richness of the grace it purchased. Conclusion: The bosom of Christ is a privileged place in times of

1. Adversity. The world may treat us coldly, friends may withdraw from us, riches may depart, but, if we can lean on Jesus bosom, we care not.

2. Sickness.

3. Sorrow.

4. Death. (Bp. Stevens.)

One of His disciples whom Jesus loved

The beloved disciple

I. JOHNS CHARACTER.

1. Early piety.

2. The most remarkable trait, love, which was constantly evinced in his attendance on our Lord. He leaned on his Masters bosom in their hours of social enjoyment--And in death they were not divided. He remained with Him till he saw Him expire. We must follow him to the cross.

II. HOW DID HE ARRIVE AT THIS? He explains this, We love Him. Yes; there he learned the lessons of love on Jesus bosom.

III. HOW DID HE EXEMPLIFY AFTER HIS MASTERS DECEASE? Read his Epistles. He led others to it (chap 1). Zeal for God and love for man; a burning fervour for Gods cause and mans happiness--What we have seen and heard we testify unto you. Love.

IV. THE PARTICULAR DISTINCTIONS AND FAVOURS CONFERRED ON HIM BY CHRIST. Leans on His breast; Mount of Transfiguration; garden; and He consigns His holy virgin mother to his care; lived long; closed the canon of Scripture; was raised to glory. (T. Summerfield, M. A.)

A specially loved disciple is

I. NEAR TO JESUS.

II. INTIMATE WITH JESUS.

III. HONOURED BY MEN.

IV. HELPFUL TO MEN. (S. S. Times.)

Why Jesus roved John

We learn from the text the rightness of personal preferences--certain minds being more akin to other minds than others--but also that in the highest hearts this affinity will be determined by spiritual resemblances, not mere accidental agreeabilities, accomplishments, politenesses, or pleasant manners. Again, I imagine that the union had nothing to do with mental superiority; that might have been more admirable. John was lovable. Not talent, as in Pauls ease, nor eloquence, nor amiability, drew Christs spirit to him, but that large heart, which enabled him to believe because he felt, and hence to reveal that God is love. It is very remarkable, however, that his love was a trained love. Once John was more zealous than affectionate. But he began by loving the human friend, by tending the mother as a son, by attachment to his brother James; and so through particular personal attachments he was trained to take in and comprehend the larger Divine love. I should say, then, that he was most lovable, because, having loved in their varied relationships men whom he had seen, he was able to love God whom he had not seen. He is most dear to the heart of Christ, who loves most, because he has most of God in him; and that love comes through missing none of the preparatory steps of affection given us as primer lessons. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Who is it?

Familiarity with Christ

Personal Christianity is an intimate connection with Christ. To be a true Christian is to be more familiar with Christ than with father, mother, etc. This familiarity involves

I. THE MOIST AMAZING CONDESCENSION. Little magnates of earth deem it a great condescension to allow the humble and lowly to speak to them even at a distance. But here is the Author and Proprietor of the universe, the infinitely holy as well as the transcendently great, permitting this poor, frail, sinful man to lean on His bosom. Let this condescension

1. Inspire us with adoring gratitude.

2. Consume that pride which prompts man to keep the poor at a distance.

II. THE SUBLIMEST PRIVILEGE. To be so closely allied to Christ as this is to be in the safest and most honourable position. What an honour to recline on the bosom of the King of kings.

III. THE PROFOUNDEST REVERENCE. John addresses Christ as Lord. Familiarity with men, the proverb says, breeds contempt. We know it often breeds discontent. So imperfect are the best of men, that, as a rule, the more we know of them the less reverence we have. Not so with Christ. (D. Thomas, D. D.)

He it is to whom I shall give a sop.--Literally, the morsel. No incident of Oriental meals is more celebrated in Western narrative than the giving of the morsel, or sop, to a table neighbour, as a mark of favour. It is said that the Shah of Persia, when in London some years ago, could not break himself entirely of the habit, but insisted on passing some morsels to the fine ladies near him, to the danger of their fine dresses; giving rise to the witticism which described the saving for the cat of the morsels left after the meal, by the French sentence, Nous allons les garder pour le chat--We are going to save them for the Shah (cat). But scarcely a traveller, and certainly no resident, in the East can escape this Oriental courtesy at meals. Since the dishes are generally either stews or cooked almost to pieces, the fingers can easily tear off a morsel. This is dipped in the sauce, thus becoming the sop, and is thrust directly, into the favoured ones mouth. If the mouthful is large, the sauce or gravy is apt to run down the receivers beard. The present writer has often received the sop at an Oriental meal, and cannot say that, considering the other customs, there is anything uncleanly or repulsive in it. A common mode, however, both of helping ones self and giving the sop to ones neighbour, is to take two pieces of bread, and take up the morsel between them, the pieces of bread serving as spoon, or knife and fork. The sop must, according to all Oriental rules, be considered as a mark of favour; and in Jesus giving it to Judas, we must, unless we look farther below the surface than we have any light, see only love and goodwill. The giving of the sop, or morsel, seems to be an old Greek custom, as well as an Oriental one; but the citations to sustain that position may be seen collected in Websters Greek Testament. They are too numerous and voluminous to repeat here. The custom goes back to the time of Socrates, if not to that of Homer. (S. S. Times.)

He gave it to Judas.--Christ was now standing at the door of the heart of His apostle. He was holding out to him the opportunity of repentance. Judas, however, was unwilling to open that door at the call of Christ, though he opened it to Satan, and so Satan entered into him. The devil had stood knocking at his heart by the his yielding temptation of money; and to the temptation unbarred the door of the sinners heart, and made him an easy prey to the great tempter. (W. Denton, M. A.)

The dramatic interest of the act

There is perhaps a reason why this giving of a sop has an effect on our minds not unlike the knocking on the gate in Macbeth, which succeeds the murder of Duncan. No words are spoken in either case. In this instance the effect is more startling, because the sign precedes rather than follows the crime. It produces a feeling of peculiar awfulness and solemnity. It is the casting of a die. We are made to feel, as De Quincey says of the device of the great poet, that the human and Divine nature of love and mercy, spread through the hearts of all creatures, and seldom utterly withdrawn from man, is entirely gone, and that this fiendish nature has taken its place. By this sign and token we know that Satan has entered. It was not the Lord rejecting Judas, but Judas rejecting the Lord. (Monday Club.)

The final step

Remorse may disturb the slumbers of a man who is dabbling with his first experiences of wrong; and when the pleasure has been tasted and is gone, and nothing is left of the crime but the ruin which it has wrought, then, too, the furies take their seats upon the midnight pillow. But the meridian of evil is, for the most part, left unvexed; and when a man has chosen his road, he is left alone to follow it to the end. (J. A.Froude.)

Christianity not responsible for the words or deeds of its professors

We must distinguish Christian thoughts from the thoughts of Christians, and Christian deeds from the deeds of Christians; in short, we must discriminate between Christianity and Christians, because Christians are human and Christianity is Divine. It is, in fact, because of this very distinction that Christianity often suffers in the minds of those who note the unworthiness of Christians. Every fall of a Christian is an indication of the elevation of Christianity; and every indication of that elevation is a reason for our endeavour to reach it. To say that a man does not practice what he preaches is no necessary condemnation of his preaching, however much it condemns his practice. A drunkard has the right to preach temperance from the standpoint of intemperance. A slave to tobacco is not necessarily insincere because he advises abstinence from his masterful habit. I can easier teach twenty what were good to be done, than be one of the twenty to follow mine own teaching, says Portia; but while that may reflect on the twenty, it is no reflection on the teaching. And so, when a Christian is derelict, that dereliction is not a fruit of his Christianity, but of his want of it. The defection of Christians cannot legitimately condemn the Church and Christianity; because Christianity and the Church first condemned the defection. Yet when a Church member or a minister turns out to be a defaulter, a blasphemer, an adulterer, the world often points its finger of scorn at the Christian profession, as if the culprit had learned the principles of deception from the pulpit, or had been instructed in defilement from the Sunday school chair or desk. A shallower argument against the Christian profession than this it would be difficult to conceive. It is really the blaming of Christianity for another instance of the neglect of Christianity; it is charging a high ideal with the consequences of a low practice; it is criminating virtue because of the existence of vice; it is reproaching truth with the fact of falsehood. It is as if we were to reflect upon Jesus by pointing at Judas. The simple question at issue is, Is the Christian standard high or low, good or evil? If it be high, live for it--no matter who falls; if it be good, practice it--no matter who fails. If it be in itself low and evil, say so squarely. (H. C. Trumbull, D. D.)

The timid encouraged to communion

Look in upon that humble chamber in Jerusalem. Whom do you see eating of the bread of life, and drinking of the cup of salvation? Are they not all men of like passions with ourselves? There are James and John, who, in their hasty zeal, would fain have called down fire from heaven to destroy the Samaritans. And there is Thomas--doubting Thomas. There, too, is Peter, who only a few hours afterward would curse and swear and cowardly deny his Lord. There, again, the Master is seen passing the bread and the cup to Andrew, and Philip, and Matthew, and Bartholomew, and the other James, who reverently drank, but who, when dangers and death encompassed Him about, forsook Him and fled. And look once more. There, too, is Judas! The Saviour does not even pass him by. Now, I ask, what right has anyone to declare that the Lords Supper is something so sacred and awful, that none but perfectly good people must venture to receive it, when our Saviour Himself admitted such characters as these to the table which His goodness had spread? What reason is there in the plea which is so often urged by people that they are afraid to commune, because they have done so many wrong things in times past, or because they are apprehensive lest they may be led into evil in the future? Are they mere uncharitable and vindictive by nature than James and John? Have they more serious and perplexing doubts than Thomas? Do they run a greater risk of apostacy than Peter? or of treason than Judas? Others acknowledge, if you press them very closely upon the subject, that they slay away from the Lords table because of insincere communicants. But how clearly does the traitors presence prove that no personal unworthiness on the part of others can excuse us from the performance of our duty. (J. N. Norton, D. D.)

For some of them thought

I. The statement that he had the bag shows THE POSITION JUDAS OCCUPIED AMONG THE APOSTLES. He was no mean and inferior person. He was so far from being suspected, that he had the charge of the common store of money. Bullinger even thinks that he must have been a man remarkable for wisdom, prudence, economy, and faithfulness.

II. The supposition of some that Jesus told Judas to buy the things needed against the feast shows clearly that OUR LORD DID NOT WORK MIRACLES IN ORDER TO PROCURE THE NECESSARIES required by Himself and His disciples. Christians must buy and sell like other people, and must manage their money affairs with prudence and economy. It also shows how little the disciples realized that their Masters death was close at hand.

III. The supposition of others that Jesus told Judas to give something to the poor shows plainly what WAS OUR LORDS CUSTOM IN THE MATTER OF ALMSGIVING. He sanctified and adorned the practice of caring for the poor by His own example. This passage and Gal_2:10 deserve careful consideration. It may be doubted whether the English Poor Law has not tended to shut up English almsgiving far more than is right before God. Conclusion:

1. Let us mark the snares which attend the possession and fingering of money. The man who has care of the money in our Lords little company of followers is the very man who makes shipwreck of his soul forever through the love of money. Give me neither poverty nor riches should be a Christians frequent prayer.

2. The possession of money is evidently not in itself sinful and wicked. The Romish mendicant friars, and others who make a self-imposed poverty, are under a complete delusion. It is not the having, but the misusing, money which is sinful. (Bp. Ryle.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

EXPLANATORY AND CRITICAL NOTES

Joh_13:18. I speak not of you all.—Christ knew the heart of Judas; and He still gave him space for repentance (see Joh_6:71). I know whom, etc.—See Joh_15:16. But that the Scripture, etc.—The choice here refers to the choice of the twelve disciples as His apostles. In the present sinful state of the world this Scripture will continue to be fulfilled; and the Son of man, who “experienced every human pain,” did not escape the pang caused by the treachery of a friend (Mat_26:50), as His typical representative in the theocracy did not (Psa_41:9). “There is an ellipsis after ‘but,’ which is most simply filled up by some such phrase as ‘all this was done’ that the Scripture, etc.” (Watkins).

Joh_13:19. I tell you from henceforth, etc.—The disciples must be shown that this happened in consonance with the prevision of His Father and of Himself. Thus all those events about to happen, the betrayal among others, which seemed at first to be the frustration of their hopes, would only prove more conclusively, when seen from the point of view of the Resurrection and Pentecost, that Jesus was what He claimed to be, the Son of God, the Messiah, the King of Israel.

Joh_13:20. Verily, verily, etc.—See Mat_10:40. But it is interesting to notice how at the moment when He was being betrayed into the hand of sinners, to drink the cup of humiliation to the dregs, He identifies Himself with the Father.

Joh_13:21. Troubled in spirit.—See Joh_11:33; Joh_12:27. “The regimen τῷ πνεύματι, in spirit, shows that this trouble had its dwelling in a higher region than that of even the noblest natural sensibility. Here, as at Joh_11:33-38, it was a shock of a religious nature, a kind of horror felt by His pure heart at the sight of this Satanic crime, and at the approach of its invisible author” (Godet).

Joh_13:23. Leaning on Jesus’ bosom, etc.—The guest reclined on the left arm, leaving the right free; the back of the head of the guest on the right reached the bosom, and perhaps lay in the fold of the robe of the guest on his left. This was John, the writer of the Gospel. Peter’s position is not clear: some think he reclined to the left of the Saviour, others that Judas occupied this position. Peter must clearly have been farther off, perhaps to the right of John.

Joh_13:25. Lying on Jesus’ bosom, etc.—Rather perhaps leaning back, as he would naturally do in speaking to Jesus.

Joh_13:26. He it is to whom I shall give a sop, etc.—I.e. a morsel, a piece of bread broken off, and dipped in a dish common to all, or to several, of the guests. The custom is still common in the East, especially among the Bedawin tribes. But the writer has met with it in a Syrian city.

Joh_13:27. And after the sop, etc.—It was the moment of decision. Instead of turning to Christ in penitence Judas opened every avenue for the entrance of the evil one. That thou doest, etc.—There was no longer place among the apostles of Christ for one who had given himself over to become an emissary of the spirit of evil.

Joh_13:29. Against the feast.—This seems to indicate that the meal in progress, or just ended, was not the passover supper. It was the Mazzoth meal, and was partaken of on the evening at the beginning of the 14th Nisan. Poor.—Joh_12:5; Gal_2:10.

Joh_13:30. It was night.—From the commemorative and sacramental rite that ushered in a new and blessed era of life and light for men, Judas, dark in soul, went forth into the night, and into a deeper darkness still.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Joh_13:18-30

The traitor discovered.—The incidents recorded here took place during the progress of the Lord’s Supper at its first institution. Although St. John does not give a narrative of the institution of the ordinance like the other Evangelists (just as he does not tell of the institution of baptism, although he implies it [see pp. 98, 99]), because it was well known in the Churches, and in writing his Gospel he had a special object in view, yet he undoubtedly implies it. Jesus had given the disciples a final token of His ministering love in acting the part of servant and washing their feet. He was with them around the supper table, had indeed begun the institution of the ordinance (which was to be done in remembrance of Him, and thus to show forth His death until His coming again), when He spoke these solemn words: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, that one of you shall betray Me.” And when the amazed and doubting disciples were debating among themselves as to who should do this awful deed, Jesus, by a sign given at the request of Peter and John, signalised Judas Iscariot as the traitor.

I. The divine omniscience of Jesus.—

1. “He knew what was in man” (Joh_2:25), and He had long known that among His disciples lurked this dark and crafty spirit (Joh_6:64), suffered for some inscrutable reason to mingle in the ranks of His followers.

2. Christ had borne long and patiently with Judas, with his grasping covetousness, his petty peculations (Joh_12:6), his dark plots, giving him space for repentance. He had been privileged to see Christ’s mighty works, he had listened to His words of power, even at this moment had an extraordinary proof of Christ’s self-sacrificing love been shown to him as to the other disciples, and a partial participation in the holy feast, which the Lord was instituting, had been accorded to him. Would he, could he, remain untouched, unmoved by this wondrous love?

3. In vain. As David, type of the Messiah, was betrayed by false Ahithophel, so Judas, who had eaten with Christ, not alone during the three years’ ministry, of spiritual as well as temporal food, but had even now eaten of the “broken” bread, was by a base act to betray his Lord. Now, for the disciples’ sake, the mask must be torn off, and the traitor must appear. Why? Jesus had said to the disciples, “Ye are clean, but not all”; and He must reassure them by casting out this “leaven of wickedness” (1Co_5:7). Judas must not be permitted to do his awful deed in secret, and remain as spy and thief among the little band when Jesus had gone. Thus, in order to cheer their hearts with the knowledge that they were His chosen (Joh_13:18), to strengthen their faith in His divine wisdom and prescience, and their confidence as His ambassadors, He took steps to unveil His betrayer (Joh_13:21-22). The disciples were not to be left to imagine that because one of their number had proved untrue the grand office formerly conferred on them and the work entrusted to them were to be withdrawn (Mat_10:7-20).

4. Therefore, in view of the impenitence and hardness of this dark soul, the revelation of his treachery must be made, though it brought horror to and troubled even Christ’s spirit. The very proximity of Judas, hardened, resolved in his sin, produced that antagonism in the heart of Jesus which arises between holiness and Satanic wickedness—that conflict which arises between light and darkness.

5. And whether we consider or not that the thought of what the act of Judas would bring in its train—those terrible sufferings from which, as the incarnate Son, Jesus shrank—might tend to trouble the Saviour, there was at all events the thought of the traitor’s doom to do so. To see a soul that has been privileged to dwell for a time on the heights of spiritual communion plunging ever more deeply downward into the pit of perdition is a sight to make men and angels weep. And it can be readily understood how it would trouble Him, who came to save, to have to speak those words that proclaimed the traitor’s presence among the disciples.

II. The revelation of the traitor.—

1. Not only was the Saviour troubled, so too were His disciples. They doubted of whom He spake, and one by one in sorrowful tones asked Jesus, “Lord, is it I?” (Mar_14:19).

2. They doubted and were sorrowful, because they knew, as all true men know, the weakness of their own hearts. Then it was a terrible thought that among them there was one, perhaps one whom they trusted and looked up to, who was a skulking traitor; and the shame of it also brought sorrow into their hearts.

3. Amid this doubting, sorrowful throng sat the cause of all this trouble—cold, watchful, calculating apparently: ready to brazen the matter out until the end, and thinking, perhaps, that although the Lord saw through him the disciples might not, and that he might therefore retain his treasurership and gain his thirty pieces of silver as well.

4. But that could not be. For the sake of the disciples he must depart, and also that the trouble might pass from the spirit of the Master, so that His closing counsels to His followers might not be checked in their flow by the dark presence of Jud_1:5. The revelation was made quietly, however, and in such an unobtrusive manner that the most part of the disciples perhaps did not know until the event (Luk_22:48). The guests were reclining in the Eastern fashion of the time at the table. The writer of this Gospel reclined next to Jesus, with his left arm on “the bosom of Jesus’ robe.” To that disciple Peter signalled that he should inquire who it was of whom Jesus spake. And to John Jesus whispered that it was he to whom He should give a morsel of bread dipped in the dish, which would likely contain a sauce composed of fruit of various kinds. In the East it is a mark of special attention on the part of a host to do this.

6. It was the last appeal to Judas, a special act of kindness, a mute entreaty that he would permit the final catastrophe to come about in some other way. But the appeal was vain. “Master, Rabbi, is it I?” said Judas. No word of anger escaped the lips of Jesus. His words, “Thou hast said,” tremble with the feelings of trouble and sorrow.

7. And after the sop the final, irrevocable step was taken. Jesus did not upbraid, did not threaten, did not call down, as the traitor perhaps feared, the divine wrath. “Therefore Judas would carry out the business. ‘Satan entered into him.’ ” He gave himself wholly over to the evil influence. He had chosen the evil, and must abide in his choice. He is therefore dismissed for his awful work by the Master. Judas has resolved; then let him carry out his resolve, quickly if he would, for Christ’s time, His “hour,” is at hand.

III. A benighted soul.—

1. There is something terribly significant in the remark of the Evangelist, “He then having … and it was night” (Joh_13:30), compared with our Lord’s words in St. Matthew’s Gospel, “Woe unto that man,” etc. (Mat_26:24), and those of Peter, “This ministry and apostleship, from which Judas by transgression fell,” etc. (Act_1:25). “It was night—night around him, night before him, night behind him, night within him, night above him, night over all; the hour of darkness had come, and for him all stars of grace divine had set” (Arndt).

2. Various attempts have been made to determine the motive of Judas’ action, and even to rehabilitate his character. The most widely entertained idea of his deeper motive is, that he thought by his action to force our Lord to declare Himself King and Messiah, and that he had no fear of evil consequences, knowing as he did the power of Jesus. Could He not call the legions of heaven to His defence?

3. There may be much truth in this suggestion. It is on a line with the Satanic argument, that it is permissible to do evil that good may come. It is also on a line with the avarice of Judas—if Christ became king, it would mean gold, gold, gold—and with that terrible remorse he afterward displayed in the casting away of his dearly acquired thirty pieces of silver, and his heart-rending cry, “I have sinned in that I betrayed,” etc. (Mat_27:4).

4. As it is not for men to attempt to fix exactly the traitor’s doom, neither is it the part of any to seek to minimise the crime of Judas, or to endeavour to declare his late remorse true repentance. The way to the suicide’s grave does not run through the hopeful valley of genuine contrition (2Co_7:9-10), but most frequently through the dark and barren ravine of hopeless remorse.

5. None of the disciples but he who narrates the scene most fully, and perhaps Peter, knew the purpose for which Judas went forth. Some thought he had gone to make purchases for the feast; others, who imagined that there was time enough for that in the morning, were of opinion that he had been ordered to give alms to the poor. But one thing is certain—he took the bag with him. Avarice was his bane: he had gained his world, and lost——? He went out, and sorrow and trouble for the time departed with him. Then the heavenly light shone forth, and springs of divine comfort and grace were then opened which still flow on with blessing for all mankind.

Joh_13:22; Joh_13:25. Self-examination.—The sin of Judas is regarded as something especially heinous. But in this respect it is like every sin against the Holy Ghost. And there can be no doubt that the true way in which to regard it is to do as the disciples did, and ask, “Lord, is it I?” The disciples had learned their own weakness. They did not say, as Hazael to the prophet, “Is thy servant a dog, that he should do this great thing?” They remembered that Hazael did that very thing which he so indignantly disclaimed any intention of doing. We must imitate the disciples.

I. We must remember the weakness of human nature.—

1. Even the impulsive and self-confident Peter appears for the moment to have remembered this, and become self-distrustful. He, too, was among those who doubted and were inwardly acting on the maxim, “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall” (1Co_10:12).

2. Do not say, None now can do as Judas did. Let it be remembered that those who strike at and betray the disciple of Christ, in the disciple strike at and betray the Master.

3. That sin which seems to have been a root-sin of Judas’ character—avarice, “the love of money, which is a root of all evil,” or an intense love of pleasure, which is equally bad—leads to crimes dark and terrible. A man, e.g., is in a position of trust: in his integrity thousands place their confidence; into his hands are confided the interests of widows and orphans; but after squandering their money in riotous living, sinking it in schemes which are gigantic swindles, whilst all the time wearing a pretence of honesty, perhaps even of piety, he at last basely betrays them, and makes off with the bag—the treasury—or what is left of it. Is not his crime a Judas-crime? Given circumstances, opportunity, temptations, would not many, unless sustained by grace, readily fall into similar crimes? Is it not the part of wisdom to act like the disciples, and each ask, “Is it I?” (Mar_14:19).

II. This inquiry, self-examination, should be made frequently and earnestly.—

1. We are loud in our indignation at the recital of crimes committed, especially when they touch ourselves. And it is right to be indignant, to be at war, with unrighteousness.

2. Yet let men beware lest when condemning others they forget the dreadful possibility seen in Judas. He was a disciple of Christ, had heard Christ’s words, had been entrusted with office and apostleship with the other eleven, went out with them doubtless when they were sent to preach, etc. (Mat_10:1 et seq.); yet from all this “Judas by transgression fell.”

3. Therefore this should teach professed followers of Christ the duty of watchfulness and prayer, of self-examination, not alone at communion seasons, or special periods of feast or fast, but at all times (Eph_6:18).

III. We must take our case to the Lord.—

1. This is what the disciples did—it is what Peter and John did specially—and the doubting of one of them at least was stilled. The Lord will not withhold the truth from us. And then we have His word ever as the mirror by which the features of our Christian character may be tested.

2. It was this Judas, like the Jews, contemned. Of him Christ also might ask, “Who hath believed our report?” “Contempt of the divine word,” said Luther, “is the extremest and most terrible penalty in the world; for on the contemning of God’s word all great and terrible punishment will certainly follow.… If I desired to curse any one and wish him much evil, I should wish that he would contemn God’s word. For upon this would follow inward and outward misfortune.… What will come after that we shall readily see and know.” And that is every evil way and work.

3. Therefore it is well for us to try ourselves by His word (Heb_4:12), and to come before Him “whose eyes are as a flame of fire,” who knows us even afar off, who will reveal us to ourselves, who will lead us to those fountains of cleansing and healing which He hath opened for all, and who will help us to overcome the evil and be His faithful disciples.

HOMILETIC NOTES

Joh_13:21-30. Four opinions have been held as to the exact time at which this incideat occurred.—

1. That the announcement of the betrayer and his departure were before both the breaking and giving of the bread and the cup, as the narratives of St. Matthew and St. Mark suggest (Mat_26:21-26; Mar_14:18-22).

2. That they were after the breaking and giving of the bread and the cup, as the narrative of St. Luke implies.

3. That the more general intimations of the traitor were made at an early stage of the meal. The meal then proceeded; after the bread and the cup there was the sign which Judas understood, and in consequence of which he left the supper party.

4. That the more general intimations preceded the breaking of the bread, of which Judas partook. The more special and private preceded the drinking of the cup when supper was ended, so that of the cup Judas did not partake. It appears to me that the last-mentioned opinion is untenable. The account of St. John will not allow us to suppose such a dividing of the words of Christ. The third of the views is possible. Many, indeed, insert the consecration of the bread and wine between the twenty-second and twenty-third verses of the chapter in the Fourth Gospel—that is, after Jesus had testified, and before He had given the sop. But I must regard this order as intrinsically improbable. Surely when the shadow was resting on the soul, when, so to say, the Lord was in the middle of His final dealing with Judas, this was not the moment at which we can suppose the institution of a new mode of communion and bond of love. Between the first and the second of the opinions referred to, on the whole—not denying that there are probabilities on the other side also—I incline to the first. There is not much force in the argument founded on the charge when the cup was passed, “Drink ye all of it”—an expression, it is urged, which “leads us to suppose that the same persons, the twelve, were present.” Not necessarily so; the all in the charge might have been equivalent to the “all ye shall be offended,” which included only the eleven. And weighing the record of St. Luke with those of the other two Synoptists and of St. John, there is this to be said: St. Luke is content with a vague and general summing up of the Lord’s words about the traitor; the other Synoptists are more definite and particular; whilst St. John gives at considerable length the speech of Jesus and the heart-searching of the apostles. I accept the guidance of the more circumstantial histories. Two are explicit as to time. In the Fourth Gospel we are reminded that the supper was proceeding when Judas was declared, the stage of dipping the morsels of flesh in the sauce having not yet passed. One such morsel thus dipped was the token, immediately followed by departure. But the cup was not blessed until a later stage, until the supper was ended. If this view be correct, we must suppose that the departure of the traitor took place after Mat_26:25, and that Joh_13:26, “as they were eating Jesus took bread and blessed it,” refers to a resumption of the supper after the interruption caused by his leaving the apartment.—Dr. Marshall Lang.

ILLUSTRATIONS

Joh_13:18 Judas an example of the slighting of opportunity.—The heathen world is ignorant of a Judas, and could not produce such a character. Such a monster matures only in the radiant sphere of Christianity. It was Judas’ misfortune that he was born under the most propitious star. He entered into too close contact with the Saviour not to become either entirely His or wholly Satan’s. There was a time when, with reference to Judas, “the candle of God shone upon his head, and when the secret of God was upon his tabernacle.” Once he was not wanting in susceptibility for impressions of the most devotional kind, and his soul was capable of every noble elevation of feeling. The appearing of the “fairest of the children of men” in the glory of His marvellous deeds attracted him, though less excited by Him in His character of Saviour and the Friend of sinners. He swore fealty to the banner of Jesus with youthful enthusiasm, though with an unbroken will; and the Searcher of hearts, perceiving the promising talents of the young man, who was really zealous for the cause of God in a certain degree, confidingly admitted him into the circle of His nearest and most intimate disciples. This favour would never have been granted to Judas if he had attached himself to the Saviour simply from interested motives. At the moment when he offered his services to the latter he was no hypocrite, at least not consciously so. And when he afterwards prayed, studied the word of God, and even preached it with the other disciples, it was doubtless done for a time with a degree of inward truthfulness; it was only in the sequel that he resorted to intentional deception and dissimulation. The Lord appointed him to the office of receiver and almoner in His little circle, and assuredly did so for no other reason than that He perceived he was fittest for that vocation. Many have profanely supposed that the Lord committed the purse to him in order to tempt him, but such a thought is wholly to be rejected. On the contrary, that circumstance affords us an additional confirmation of the fact that Judas, at the commencement of his discipleship, possessed the full confidence of His Master, although it could not have been hidden from the latter that the disciple was still deficient in a thorough knowledge of himself, and especially in contrition of heart, to which a participation in salvation is inseparably attached. Amidst the superabundance of pious sentiments an evil root remained within, which was the love of the world, and especially of its gold and empty honour. And, in fact, Judas deceived himself when he ascribed his admission amongst the disciples of Jesus to much deeper and holier motives than the longing for the realisation of those earthly and enchanting ideas which his lively imagination depicted to him as connected with that kingdom which the Lord had appeared to establish, as, on attaching himself to the cause of the great Nazarene, he fully supposed he was following the attraction of a higher and nobler excitement; so his fellow-disciples believed it no lees of him. The latent wound did not escape the Saviour’s eye; but the mischief was not incurable, and Christ had appeared in order that, as the divine Physician, He might heal the sick and bind up the wounded.—F. W. Krummacher, “Suffering Saviour” (T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh).

Joh_13:22. Sorrow for the backsliding leading to self-examination.—With great frankness Peter speaks of the disgrace which Judas had brought on himself and on them all. With holy earnestness he reminds them of the divine judgment which had been passed on the unhappy one, and shows how even this sorrowful history, which had brought deep shame to Christ’s disciples, must in the end minister to the glory of the holy and true God. For His justice and truth are thereby manifested, and the fearful end of the traitor, already announced by the mouth of David in the Psalms, is here remarkably and literally fulfilled. Thus Judas stands as a warning example for all time of the deceitfulness of sin and the righteous judgment of God. So terribly can a faithless spirit plunge from the height of a blessed calling, scatter all its gifts and powers, and come to ruin. Thus sorrowfully have many trifled with their high destiny in this world and the next so that others have taken their crowns. Can the terrible reward of sin be more clearly seen than in the case of Judas? He passed as Jesus’ disciple, and became His betrayer. He should have held the office of a bishop, and he inherited the Field of Blood. He should have preached the risen Christ, and he died a suicide. He should have received the Holy Ghost, and he went to perdition. “The wages of sin,” etc. And yet with all the earnestness and decision with which Peter spoke of Judas’ sin and end, the tone of tender forbearance and gentle sorrow for this unhappy brother is discernible. There are none of those harsh judgments which often find place among ourselves in such circumstances. Peter permits God to judge. There is nothing here of that proud self-exemption with which Christians sometimes look down on an unhappy self-murderer. “I thank God I am not like this man.” But a holy sadness for the lost brother breathes through the apostle’s words. Gently does he speak of his treachery: “He was guide to them that took Jesus.” Gently is his fate spoken of: “He is gone to his own place,” to that place which the Lord, the Searcher of hearts, will allot him beyond, according to his righteousness. So, my brethren, let us think of those and speak of those who go hence over dark ways, with brotherly love, holy sympathy, and pious humility, and in every such case remember the word of Nathan to David: “Thou art the man!” Also in thee there is something of this depravity, and it is to the praise of God’s grace that thou hast kept thyself from falling into the abyss—Translated from Karl Gerok on Acts 2.

Joh_13:25. Judas a warning example.—O Judas, Judas! happy would it have been wert thou the only one of thy kind! But the name of thy brethren, even in the present day, is “Legion.” They were not, indeed, at any time thy like-minded apostles; but, like thee, they once inhaled the pure air of the gospel, and were shone upon, like thee, by the rays of the eternal Morning Star. They were baptised like thee; they grew up, nourished by the views of divine truth; and on the day of their confirmation devoted themselves, more or less sincerely, in the most solemn manner, to the Lord and His cause. But, unfaithful to their sacred vows, they revolted with the inmost tendency of their hearts to the god of this world; and instead of the kingdom of divine light and peace, the idea of another presented itself to their minds, in which the flesh should have its unrestrained and complete gratification. This object they pursued; but the Holy One upon the throne of David, in the power of religion, interposed in the way to its attainment. He requires the crucifixion of the flesh with its affections and lusts, unconditional submission to the divine commands, and unceasing endeavours after godliness. He protects property, sanctifies the marriage state, introduces order into families, condemns revolt, perjury, deceit, uncleanness, intemperance, and every offence against the moral government of the world, as the supporter and advocate of which He appears. And they who would gladly elevate their lusts to be the world’ law, feel more or less in their consciences the weight of His requirements as the sting of their condemnation, and, without confessing it, are inwardly constrained, even against themselves, to justify the warnings and teachings of Christ’s religion as absolute and irrefutable truth. But this fills them with bitterness, and enkindles in them the infernal spark of enmity against the Gospel, and against the Lord as its author. Thus they become enemies of God, and join in Satan’s colossal attempt to war against the power and majesty of God in the Christian religion, and to bury the whole world of religious and moral sentiments in the gigantic grave of an atheistic materialism, which denies the existence of a future state. They prepare for Jesus the cross of an enthusiast; for His Gospel the sarcophagus of what they profanely call antiquated ideas; for His whole Church the stairs of Pilate, on which, in their view, it descends from the scene of reality into a kingdom of shadows; and thus renew the treachery of Judas to his Lord for the wretched reward of an expected state of things, in which, in a short time, every consciousness of a superior fate for mankind would perish by the poisonous nutriment of a base and transitory lust.—F. W. Krummacher.

Joh_13:25. Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.—Our first lesson will be found in the fact that when our Lord said to His disciples, “One of you shall betray Me,” every one of them began to say, “Is it I?” Instead of being shocked even to indignation, each of the disciples put it to himself as a possibility: “It may be I, Lord; is it I?” This is the right spirit in which to hold all our privileges. We should regard it as a possibility that the strongest may fail, and even the oldest may betray his trust. “Let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” Do you suppose that there was but one betrayal of the Lord once for all, and that the infamous crime can never be repeated? “I tell you, nay!” There are predictions yet to be realised: “There shall be false teachers among you, who privily shall bring in damnable heresies, even denying the Lord that bought them.” “Lord, is it I?” It shall surely be more tolerable for Judas Iscariot in the day of judgment than for that man! Living in the light of Gospel day, professing to have received the Holy Ghost, ordained as a minister of the cross, holding office in the Christian Church, is it impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the world to come, if they shall fall away to renew them again unto repentance, seeing that they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame? “Lord, is it I?” “In the last days perilous times shall come; men shall be traitors.” “Lord, is it I?” Governing our life by this self-misgiving spirit, not thinking all men sinful but ourselves, we shall be saved from the boastfulness which is practical blasphemy, and our energy shall be kept from fanaticism by the chastening influence of self-doubt.—Dr. Joseph Parker.

Joh_13:30. The sad mystery of the son of perdition.—Imagination reverts to the period of childhood; think of him as the fair boy, whose presence gladdens the house of Simon of Kerioth. He has received the name Judas, “the confessor,” or “the praise of God.” Who could have anticipated, watching the romp of the bright-eyed child, that over him, long years afterwards, the incarnate Truth would say, “Better that he had never been born”? Oh, sad mystery and pain of love! How often repeated! How many the parents doomed to sob over the misery of manhood or womanhood! “Would God our child had never been born, or that we had laid him long since in the narrow grave!”—Dr. Marshall Lang.

The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.

Section 2. (Joh 13:18-38.)

The enemy’s work but adding glory to the humbled Son of man.

The shadow of what He has just said deepens upon His soul. Of those with Him now, in the intimacy to which His love has admitted them, there is yet one to whom that love itself can add but deeper perdition. The enemy is there and at work, where divine love has brought Him, upon a path descending now to the utter darkness only to be relieved by the consciousness that it is indeed love’s errand that He is upon, and of the recompense that awaits it, -a "joy set before Him" for which "He endured the Cross, despising the shame."

As Seed of the woman, the conflict with Satan was part or His necessary work. By man whom he had overcome the adversary was to be overcome, and God vindicated in His latest creation-work. But the conditions of the conflict were far otherwise than at the beginning. Man, conquered in his strength, was to conquer in his weakness, cleaving, in the character which belongs to the creature and is his safeguard to maintain, to the might of God. Thus with the "heel" of His perfect Humanity He trod down the adversary; that heel bruised even to death in doing this. It was now the hour in which His assailant in the wilderness, then baffled and withdrawing for a season, would return as prince of this world with the power of the world behind him: and already had he found one of the chosen twelve, for the paltriest of bribes, willing to betray his Master. From the buffeting of the storm so arising the rest must scatter from Him or be overthrown: to His very face another would deny Him; He must be stripped of what comfort the faithfulness of His few intimates could secure Him; one partial but sweet exception being shown us in this Gospel and in no other. But all is allowed for His fullest triumph. He is to be uniquely perfect, in a unique place, God Himself leaving Him, until the time in which, the demands of righteousness being fully met, He will be able to appear in His behalf.

1. With the sense then of what is before Him, He foretells the defection of Judas. This yet only accomplishes the Scripture. It was written: "He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me." His heel! the most contemptuous rejection possible: was it not such to sell the Lord of glory for the price of a slave? It was as if he would inflict upon Christ the serpent’s predicted doom! But it was all foreseen and announced, and He afresh announces it, that faith might be strengthened in the rest by that which would naturally most severely try them. By His choice of them alone they were secured; and He who had prayed for Peter, that his faith might not fail, was even now watching over the weak faith of the rest.

Then He raises them up to fullest identification with Himself: "Verily, verily, I say unto you. He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me: and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me." This is yet in the ears of Judas; which are dulling, however, into the hardened insensibility which only sin can produce. We are next called, for our instruction, to contemplate this tremendous spectacle, -to tread, as it were, the very antechamber of hell itself.

2. The Lord’s soul is troubled: He is not roused to anger, as we might well expect to find. He is the One who has said and sworn, "As I live, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth;" and the tears wept over Jerusalem seem ready to flow over once more. In all that passes between the Lord and Judas in these last scenes, another and more powerful feeling keeps back the anger which the baseness of his awful traffic in the blood of his Master would naturally arouse: -the appalling sight of one over whom were gathering, as it were, beforehand the lurid shadows of the pit. What must it have been for Him to have to say, "One of you shall deliver Me up"? The other disciples seem scarcely to have imagined the possibility of real treachery on the part of one of their own number; for after Judas is distinctly pointed out, and the Lord dismisses him with the significant words, "What thou doest, do quickly," not one of them thinks for what purpose he is gone out. They think perhaps of some unintentional disclosure, or at most of some break-down in weakness under too great a pressure; but a deliberate betrayal how can they imagine on the part of one who has been in His company? We recall naturally the words of the apostle afterwards, -the very one to whom the secret was communicated here, -as if they might account for the strange inability to comprehend what had been declared so plainly, -"He that sinneth hath not seen Him neither known Him." True it is, Judas had never known the glory in the face of Jesus. What he had known we will not speculate upon; it needs not. So near, yet so far off; capable of casting out demons in Christ’s name, yet one to whom, on His side, Christ must say,I never knew you, -this is the plain and awful conjunction, challenging all hearts.

"After the sop, Satan:" there is another terrible conjunction. The token of love becomes in its rejection that which hands over the unhappy man to the adversary of Christ. That morsel from the dish was, we may be sure, no mere sign for another, no semblance of a friendship that no more existed. On the side of Him who gave it, it was true, where all was true -the token of love that even yet would fain be received as that, and that could warm even a lifeless soul to life. If, still rejected, it should be death instead of life, this is but the necessary transformation which sin indulged produces in the most precious gifts of God. Love with its own wonder-working brings out of death life; in the nature of things, the opposite will produce the opposite. It is the one law, by which like produces like.

And we have, in beautiful contrast here, the sweet assurance of how love welcomes where it is welcomed. The unnamed beloved disciple brought into the same view with Judas, -though we may elsewhere have his name revealed, -seems here to have given us a blank cheque, to which any other that desires may have leave -if he fulfil the conditions -to put in his name. Most certainly, here we find one whose love presses for recognition, and will never fail to answer to faith’s utmost claim upon Him. "Drink," He says, "Yea, drink abundantly, O beloved!" How John has drunk in, his first epistle will bear witness for him. He is the apostle of love; -love that he has learned where one and all must learn it. "Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us." "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins." "Herein is love perfected with us, that we should have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is so are we in this world." Thus John draws his arguments from where we all may draw them; but he has so abundantly drunk in, that the whole furniture of his epistle seems but the product of the assimilation of the words of Christ. Especially is this true of these last words before His being delivered up. But John’s style, the aspect in which he sees things, is just what we find in the Gospel. All through you see his receptive character, -the man who leaned on the breast of Jesus; and thus he is the apostle of the divine nature and the life eternal; life, light, righteousness, love, -these are the themes of which he is never weary of speaking. And this is what so attracts the heart in John, -it is the heart of Christ that attracts us. Ah, it is this heart that seeks still vessels into which it may pour its fulness. And what we can appropriate we are still welcome to. Which is only to say, we are still welcome to lie on His bosom, as the beloved disciple did, and learn where he learned.

3. Out the traitor goes into the night, -a terrible night! but the heart of Jesus is relieved by his absence. He proceeds to enlarge upon the results of His Cross. The Son of man is to be glorified in it: is it not His glory today? God too, in every attribute, is glorified in Him. Where do we see God’s righteousness as in the Cross? Where has His love been manifest as there? A sinner taken to heaven by its means is made the righteousness of God in Him! the riches of the glory of His grace are told out to eternal ages. Sin, which might seem to have brought everything into question, has been by its means made the occasion of His brightest, fullest, most marvellous revelation!

If God then has been so glorified in Him, He will respond by glorifying turn Him who has done this. He is taken up to the right hand of God and sits upon the Father’s throne. This is possible to Himself alone, and is so given, but the results for man are unspeakably great: a Man is in the nearest place to God that can be: God and man one in His Person! He does not follow this out here: in its fulness it waits for the interpreting Spirit.

But this involved for the disciples His going away. As He had said to the Jews so now He says to them, He is going where they cannot come. They are not now to be with Him, going out and coming in, as through the blessed time just at an end; let them cling all the more to one another as His representatives, -representatives thus of His love to each and all. The duty of love would thus be as a new commandment with the new light of His life laid down for them shining upon it. So would men also recognize them as His disciples, -as having practically learned a lesson so divinely set.

4. Peter full of love which the Lord’s words have inflamed, but with no just estimate of himself, bursts out with the question, why cannot he follow Him now? If it were death that was before Him, he would follow Him through that, -was ready to lay down his life for Him. How little we think often in our well-meant zeal, of how much self-confidence may inhere in it and what it needs to follow the footsteps of Him who yet has left us an example to be followed! Peter was to be gratified in his desire when Christ should have prepared the way; and when he himself had learned by all the bitterness of failure his own incompetency. But how severe a teacher experience is! and how much might we escape of such necessity, if only we would learn from Scripture, -"profitable for correction and instruction in righteousness!" How good is God, to supply us with such a teacher! How we fill our path with sorrow by not submitting to it!

F. W. Grant, The Numerical Bible (4th ed., 1903) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

13:18 I am not saying these things to all of you: The subject of Judas’s betrayal enters the story for the third time (13:2, 11). The matter weighed heavily on Jesus (13:21). • I know the ones I have chosen: The statement does not imply that Jesus chose only the eleven and that Judas was an outcast. Jesus chose Judas and gave him every opportunity to believe. He realized that Judas had embraced the darkness rather than the light (6:70). • The one who eats my food has turned against me (literally has lifted his heel against me): Eating together was a cultural symbol of personal intimacy, which made Judas’s betrayal all the more treacherous.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Joh 13:18. Λέγω, I speak of) when I speak of you as happy [Joh 13:17].—ἐγώ) I the Lord; although ye know not, especially each of you [cannot know] concerning the rest.—ἐπʼ ἐμέ, above [Engl. Vers. ‘against’] Me) So far is he from washing the feet of his brethren.—τὴν πτέρναν, the heel) This word is in happy consonance with the washing of the feet; and with the ancient custom of reclining [when of course the foot and heel would be lifted up] for the act of eating bread. Comp. עקב, Gen 3:15, “It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.”

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh_13:18-19. Οὐ περὶ πάντ. ὑμῶν λέγω] Namely, this that ye μακάριοι ἐστε, κ.τ.λ. Est inter vos, qui non erit beatus neque faciet ea, Augustine. Unnecessarily and inappropriately, Tholuck refers back to Joh_13:10.

ἐγώ] I for my part, opposed to the divine determination (ἀλλʼ ἵνα, κ.τ.λ.), according to which, however, the selection of apostles must take place in such a way that the traitor entered into the number of the chosen. In a very arbitrary manner Tholuck gives the pregnant meaning to ἐξελεξ.: whom I peculiarly have chosen.

οἶδα] I know of what character they are, so that I do not therefore deceive myself, if I do not say of you all, etc.

ἀλλʼ] is ordinarily taken as the antithesis of οὐ περὶ π. ὑμ. λ., and is supplemented by τοῦτο γέγονεν (namely, that I cannot affirm, Joh_13:17, of you all); whilst others connect it with ὁ τρώγων, κ.τ.λ., and ἵνα ἡ γρ. κλ. is taken as an intermediate sentence (Semler, Kuinoel; admitted also by Lücke). The former view has no justification in the context, which suggests a τοῦτο γέγονεν just as little as in 1Co_2:9; the latter does not correspond to the importance which this very sentence of purpose has in the connection. The only supplement in accordance with the text is (comp. Joh_9:3, Joh_1:8): ἐξελεξάμην αὐτούς: But I made the choice in obedience to the divine destiny, in accordance with which the Scripture (that which stands written, comp. Joh_19:37; Mar_12:10; Luk_14:21) could not but be fulfilled, etc. Comp. Joh_6:70-71. The passage, freely cited from the original, is Psa_41:13, where the theocratic sufferer (who is unknown; not David, whom the superscription names) utters a saying which, according to divine determination, was to find its Messianic historical fulfilment in the treason of Judas.

ὁ τρώγ. μετʼ ἐμοῦ τ. ἄρτ.] Deviating from the original (אוֹכֵל לַחְמִי), and from the LXX., yet without substantial alteration of the sense (intimacy of table-companionship, which, according to Hellenic views also, aggravated the detestable character of the crime; see Pflugk, ad Eur. Hec. 793), and involuntarily suggesting itself, since Judas actually ate with Jesus (τρώγ., Joh_6:56-58).

ἐπῇρεν] has lifted up. Note the preterite; Judas, so near to an act of treason, is like him who has already lifted up his heel, in order to administer a kick to another. To explain the figure from the tripping of the foot in wrestling (πτερνίζειν), in the sense of overreaching, is less appropriate both to the words and to the facts (Jesus was not overreached).

Joh_13:19. ἀπʼ ἄρτι] not now, but as always in the N. T. (Joh_1:51, Joh_14:7; Mat_23:39; Mat_26:29; Mat_26:64; Rev_14:13): from this time forward. Previously, He has not yet definitely disclosed it.

πιστεύσητε, κ.τ.λ.] Ye believe that I am He (the Messiah), and that no other is to be expected; see on Joh_8:24. How easily might the disciples have come to vacillate in their faith through the success of the treason of Judas, if He had not foreseen and foretold it as lying in the connection of the divine destiny! Comp. Joh_14:29. But by means of this predictive declaration, what might have become ground of doubt becomes ground for faith.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Joh 13:18 . This blessedness, He knew, could not attach to all of them: οὐ περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν ὑμῶν λέγω , “I speak not of you all,” I do not expect all of you to fulfil the condition of blessedness, ἐγὼ οἶδα οὓς ἐξελεξάμην , “I for my part (in contrast to the disciples who were in ignorance) know the men whom I have chosen as Apostles,” and am therefore not taken by surprise by the treachery of one of them. For the choice of Judas see Joh 6:70 , where the same word ἐξελεξάμην is used. ἀλλʼ ἵνα … The simplest construction is: “but I chose Judas in order that,” etc. This may not, however, involve that Jesus consciously chose Judas for this purpose. That is not said, and can scarcely be conceived. The Scripture which waited for fulfilment is Psa 40:9 , ὁ ἐσθίων ἄρτους μου ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν . Eating bread together is in all countries a sign, and in some a covenant or pledge of friendship. Cf. Kypke on ὁμοτράπεζος and Trumbull’s Blood Covenant , p. 313, and Oriental Life , p. 361. Here the fact of Judas’ eating bread with Jesus is introduced as aggravating his crime. “To lift the heel” is to kick, whether originally used of a horse or not; and expresses violence and contempt.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The betraying of Christ was not casual, or a thing that happened by chance, but the Father so ordained the cause of our salvation, to reconcile us unto himself in his Son, and the Son did willingly and voluntarily obey the Father.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

I speak not of you all--the "happy are ye," of Joh 13:17, being on no supposition applicable to Judas.

I know whom I have chosen--in the higher sense.

But that the scripture may be fulfilled--that is, one has been added to your number, by no accident or mistake, who is none of Mine, but just that he might fulfil his predicted destiny.

He that eateth bread with me--"did eat of my bread" (Psa 41:9), as one of My family; admitted to the nearest familiarity of discipleship and of social life.

hath lifted up his heel against me--turned upon Me, adding insult to injury. (Compare Heb 10:29). In the Psalm the immediate reference is to Ahithophel's treachery against David (2Sa. 17:1-23), one of those scenes in which the parallel of his story with that of His great Antitype is exceedingly striking. "The eating bread derives a fearful meaning from the participation in the sacramental supper, a meaning which must be applied for ever to all unworthy communicants, as well as to all betrayers of Christ who eat the bread of His Church" (STIER, with whom, and others, we agree in thinking that Judas partook of the Lord's Supper).

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 18. I speak not of you all] This is a continuation of that discourse which was left off at the tenth verse. The preceding verses may be read in a parenthesis.

I know whom I have chosen] I am not deceived in my choice; I perfectly foresaw every thing that has happened, or can happen. I have chosen Judas, not as a wicked man, nor that he should become such; but I plainly foresaw that he would abuse my bounty, give way to iniquity, deliver me into the hands of my enemies, and bring ruin upon himself.

That the scripture may be fulfilled] Or, thus the scripture is fulfilled. Christ applies to Judas what David had said of his rebellious son Absalom, Ps 41:9, who was one of the most express emblems of this traitor. See on Joh 12:38-39.

He that eateth bread with me] That is, he who was in habits of the utmost intimacy with me.

Hath lifted up his heel] An allusion to a restive, ill-natured horse, that sometimes kicks even the person who feeds and takes care of him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. I speak not of you all. He again declares that there is one among the disciples who, in reality, is the very reverse of a disciple; and he does so, partly for the sake of Judas, in order to render him the more inexcusable, and partly for the sake of the others, ‘That they may not be overpowered by the ruin of Judas. Not only does he encourage them still to persevere in their calling when Judas falls away; but as the happiness which he speaks of is not common to all, he exhorts them to desire it with so much the greater eagerness, and to adhere to it the more firmly.

I know whom I have chosen. This very circumstance — that they will persevere — he ascribes to their election; for the virtue of men, being frail, would tremble at every breeze, and would be laid down by the feeblest stroke, if the Lord did not uphold it by his hand. But as he governs those whom he has elected, all the engines which Satan can employ will not prevent them from persevering to the end with unshaken firmness. And not only does he ascribe to election their perseverance, but likewise the commencement of their piety. Whence does it arise that one man, rather than another, devotes himself to the word of God? It is, because he was elected. Again, whence does it arise that this man makes progress, and continues to lead a good and holy life, but because the purpose of God is unchangeable, to complete the work which was begun by his hand? In short, this is the source of the distinction between the children of God and unbelievers, that the former are drawn to salvation by the Spirit of adoption, while the latter are hurried to destruction by their flesh, which is under no restraint. Otherwise Christ might have said, “know what kind of person each of you will be;” but that they may not claim anything for themselves, but, on the contrary, may acknowledge that, by the grace of God alone, and not by their own virtue, they differ from Judas, he places before them that election by free grace on which they are founded. Let us, therefore, learn that every part of our salvation depends on election.

In another passage he includes Judas in the number of the elect.

Have not I chosen (or, elected) you twelve, and one of you is a devil? (John 6:70.)

But in that passage the mode of expression, though different, is not opposite, for there the word denotes a temporal election, by which God appoints us to any particular work; in the same manner as Saul, who was elected to be a king, and yet was a reprobate. But here Christ speaks of the eternal election, by which we become the children of God, and by which God predestinated us to life before the creation of the world. And, indeed, the reprobate are sometime, endued by God with the gifts of the Spirit, to execute the office with which he invests them. Thus, in Saul, we perceive, for a time, the splendor of royal virtues, and thus Judas also was distinguished by eminent gifts, and such as were adapted to an apostle of Christ. But this is widely different from the sanctification of the Holy Spirit, which the Lord bestows on none but his own children; for he renews them in understanding and heart, that they may be holy and unblameable in his sight. Besides, that sanctification has a deep root in them, which cannot be removed; because the adoption of God is without repentance. Meanwhile, let us regard it as a settled point, that it results from the election of God, when, having embraced by faith the doctrine of Christ, we also follow it during our life; and that this is the only cause of our happiness, by which we are distinguished from the reprobate; for they, being destitute of the grace of the Spirit, miserably perish, while we have Christ for our guardian, who guides us by his hand, and upholds us by his power.

Besides, Christ gives here a clear proof of his Divinity; first, when he declares that he does not judge after the manner of men; and, secondly, when he pronounces himself to be the Author of election. For when he says, I know, the knowledge, of which he speaks, belongs peculiarly to God; but the second proof — contained in the words, whom I have chosen — is far more powerful, for he testifies that they who were elected before the creation of the world were elected by himself. So remarkable a demonstration of his Divine power ought to affect us more deeply, than if the Scripture had called him God a hundred times.

That the Scripture may be fulfilled. It might have been thought improper that one should have been elected to so honorable a rank, who yet did not possess true piety; for it might readily have been objected, Why did not Christ elect one whom he intended to admit into the number of the Apostles? or rather Why did he appoint a man to be an Apostle, who, he well knew, would become so wicked? He explains that this must have happened, because it was foretold; or at least, that it was no new occurrence, for David had experienced the same thing. For some think that it is a prediction quoted, which properly applies to Christ; while others think that it is merely a comparison, that, as David was basely betrayed by a private enemy, so a similar condition awaits the children of God. According to the latter, the meaning would be: That one of my disciples wickedly betrays his Master, is not the first instance of treachery that has taken place in the world; but, on the contrary, we now experience what Scripture declares to have happened in ancient times.” But, as in David there was shadowed out what was afterwards to be seen more fully in Christ, I readily agree with the former expositors, who think that this was strictly the fulfillment of that which David, by the Spirit of prophecy, had foretold, (Psalm 41:9.) Besides, some are of opinion that the clause under consideration does not contain a complete sense, and needs to have the principal verb supplied. But if we read it continuously, That the Scripture may be fulfilled, he who eateth bread with me lifteth up his heel against me, there will be nothing wanting.

To lift up the heel is a metaphorical expression, and means, to attack a person in an unperceived manner, under the pretense of friendship, so as to gain an advantage over him, when he is not on his guard. Now what Christ suffered, who is our Head and our Pattern, we, who are his members, ought to endure patiently. And, indeed, it has usually happened in the Church in almost every age, that it has had no enemies more inveterate than the members of the Church; and, therefore, that believers may not have their minds disturbed by such atrocious wickedness, let them accustom themselves early to endure the attacks of traitors.

John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.

(18) I speak not of you all.—The thought of their blessedness brings back again the dark thought that there is one present who will not do these things, and who cannot therefore be blessed.

I know whom I have chosen.—Comp. Note on Joh_6:70. The pronoun is strongly emphatic. “I (for My part) know whom I have chosen.” (See next verse.)

But that the scripture may be fulfilled.—Comp. Note on Joh_12:38. There is an ellipsis after “but,” which is most simply filled up by some such phrase as “all this was done;” “but all this was done that the Scripture . . .” (Comp. Joh_19:36 and Mat_26:56.) Others would make the connection to be, “But I have chosen them that the Scripture . . .”

He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.—Comp. especially Note on the quotation in Joh_2:18, from Psalms 61. The present words are a free rendering of the Greek (LXX.) of Psa_41:9; but the LXX. follow the Hebrew more literally, and read, “hath made great his heel.” This is here interpreted to mean, “lifted up his heel,” which the Bible version of the Psalm gives, with the literal rendering magnified in the margin. The Prayer Book version follows the Vulgate in reading “hath laid great wait for Me.”

Our Lord’s quotation omits the earlier part of the verse, “Mine own familiar friend whom I trusted.” He knew whom He had chosen. “He knew what was in man, and did not trust Himself to them” (Joh_2:24-25).

It is by no means certain that we are justified in following the title of the Psalm, and ascribing it to David. It is not improbable that here, as in Psalms 69, we have the words of Jeremiah, and the special reference to the friend is unknown. If the Psalm was by David, then, as the king was the type of Christ, Ahithophel is doubtless the type of Judas. In any case the baseness of the treachery lay in the fact that the betrayer was one who did eat bread with the psalmist. He was, as our word expresses it, a “companion” (one who breaks bread with), but to this the Orientals attached a sacredness which even the Bedouin of the desert would honour. But there was one then professing to be His Apostle, eating bread with Him, and yet planning to betray Him.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. I speak not of you all] There is one who knows these things, and does not do them, and is the very reverse of blessed.

I know whom I have chosen] The first ‘I’ is emphatic: ‘I know the character of the Twelve whom I chose; the treachery of one has been foretold; it is no surprise to Me.’ Comp. Joh_6:70.

but that] This elliptical use of ‘but that’ (= ‘but this was done in order that’) is frequent in S. John: Joh_1:8; Joh_9:3; Joh_14:31; Joh_15:25; 1Jn_2:19. Here another way of filling up the ellipsis is possible; ‘But I chose them in order that.’

may be fulfilled] See on Joh_12:38. The quotation is taken, but with freedom, from the Hebrew of Psa_41:9; for ‘lifted up his heel’ both the Hebrew and the LXX. have ‘magnified his heel.’ (See on Joh_6:45.) The metaphor here is of one raising his foot before kicking, but the blow is not yet given. This was the attitude of Judas at this moment. It has been remarked that Christ omits the words ‘Mine own familiar friend whom I trusted:’ He had not trusted Judas, and had not been deceived, as the Psalmist had been: ‘He knew what was in man’ (Joh_2:25).

He that eateth bread with me] Or, He that eateth the bread with Me. The more probable reading gives, My bread for ‘the bread with Me.’ The variations from the LXX. are remarkable. (1) The word for ‘eat’ is changed from the common verb (ἐσθίω) used in Psa_41:10 to the much less common verb (τρώγω) used of eating Christ’s Flesh and the Bread from Heaven (Joh_6:54; Joh_6:56-58, where see notes), and nowhere else in the N.T., excepting Mat_24:38. (2) ‘Bread’ or ‘loaves’ (ἄρτους) has been altered to ‘the bread’ (τὸν ἄρτον). (3) ‘My’ has possibly been strengthened to ‘with Me:’ to eat bread with a man is more than to eat his bread, which a servant might do. These changes can scarcely be accidental, and seem to point to the fact that the treachery of Judas in violating the bond of hospitality, so universally held sacred in the East, was aggravated by his having partaken of the Eucharist. That Judas did partake of the Eucharist seems to follow from Luk_22:19-21, but the point is one about which there is much controversy.

S. John omits the institution of the Eucharist for the same reason that he omits so much,—because it was so well known to every instructed Christian; and for such he writes.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I speak not of you all. What he had before said on the one hand, "ye are not all clean", Joh 13:11, for one of them was not; and on the other hand, when he put an "if" upon, or seemed to doubt of their knowing and doing these things, Joh 13:17; or what he was about to say concerning his being betrayed, this he did not speak of them all:

I know whom I have chosen; not to apostleship, for they were all chosen to that, Judas as well as the rest, but to grace and glory, to everlasting salvation and happiness; of these he was well assured, that they were all clean, pure, and spotless, in the sight of God; were truly regenerated by the Spirit of God, and had an experimental and practical knowledge of the things he recommended by his example, and would be the happy persons he spake of;

but he observes, so it is, and will come to pass, that there is one of you which will betray me:

that the Scripture may be fulfilled: Psa 41:9, as it literally (b) was in Judas's betraying Christ. The passage is by many interpreted either of Ahithophel, or of some other counsellor of Absalom's, or of Absalom himself; and is applied to their conduct, with respect to David, at the time of their rebellion against him; and which is thought to be typical of the treatment Christ met with from an apostle of his: but we do not find that, at the time of that rebellion, David was sick, or had any disease upon him, from whence they might hope for his death; it does not seem, as though it could be literally understood of David at all, and of the behaviour of any of his servants; but most properly of David's son, the Messiah, Jesus, with whom everything in the psalm agrees; and particularly this verse, which so plainly describes Judas, and expresses his base ingratitude, hypocrisy, and malice: the former part of the text is not cited, "yea, mine own familiar friend", or "the man of my peace, in whom I trusted"; though it fully agrees with him, he being admitted to great familiarity with Christ, and lived peaceably with him; and who was intrusted by him with the bag, into which the money was put, which was ministered, either for the sustenance of him and his apostles, or for the use of the poor: but our Lord thought fit to cite no more of it than what follows, that being sufficiently descriptive of him; and especially at this present time, when he was at table with his Lord.

He that eateth bread with me, hath lift up his heel against me; he sat down with him at table frequently, and ate bread with him; and was doing so, when Satan put it into his heart to betray him; which is strongly expressed, by "lifting up" his "heel against him"; and sets forth the ingratitude, wickedness, and cruelty of him; who, like an unruly horse, that has thrown his rider, spurns at him, to destroy him; and also the insidious manner in which he did it; he supplanted, he tripped him, as wrestlers do, in order to cast him down to the ground, and then trample upon him, and triumph over him: he first "laid snares for him", as Jarchi explains the phrase used in the "psalm", and then "he magnified his heel", he behaved proudly and haughtily to him.

(b) See my Book of the Prophecies of the Messiah, &c. p. 168, &c.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

18 I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.

Ver. 18. I know whom I have chosen] Judas he had not chosen, but to the apostleship only. All this Judas hears, and is not moved at it; such a stupefying sin is hypocrisy. The Germans have a proverb, Quem Deus excaecaturus est, huic primum oculos claudit. (Bucholcer.) Whom God intends to destroy, of these he first blinds their eyes. And the Latins say, Deus quem destruit, dementat, God besots the man whom he means to destroy.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I speak not of you all - That is, in addressing you as clean, I do not mean to say that you all possess this character.

I know whom I have chosen - He here means evidently to say that he had not chosen them all, implying that Judas had not been chosen. As, however, this word is applied to Judas in one place Joh 6:70, “Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?” it must have a different meaning here from that which it has there. There it evidently refers to the apostleship. Jesus had chosen him to be an apostle, and had treated him as such. Here it refers to purity of heart, and Jesus implies that, though Judas had been chosen to the office of apostleship, yet he had not been chosen to purity of heart and life. The remaining eleven had been, and would be saved. It was not, however, the fault of Jesus that Judas was not saved, for he was admitted to the same teaching, the same familiarity, and the same office; but his execrable love of gold gained the ascendency, and rendered vain all the means used for his conversion.

But that the scripture ... - These things have occurred in order that the prophecies may receive their completion. It does not mean that Judas was compelled to this course in order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, but that this was foretold, and that by this the prophecy did receive a completion. “The scripture.” This is written in Psa 41:9. It is commonly understood of Ahithophel, and of the enemies of David who had been admitted to his friendship, and who had now proved ungrateful to him.

May be fulfilled - See the notes at Mat 1:22. It is difficult to tell whether this prophecy had a primary reference to Judas, or whether it be meant that it received a more complete fulfillment in his case than in the time of David. The cases were similar; the same words would describe both events, for there was an exhibition of similar ingratitude and baseness in both cases, so that the same words would fitly describe both events.

He that eateth bread with me - To eat with one was a proof of friendship. See 2Sa 9:11; Mat 9:11; Gen 43:32. This means that Judas had been admitted to all the privileges of friendship, and had partaken of the usual evidences of affection. It was this which greatly aggravated his offence. It was base ingratitude as well as murder.

Hath lifted up his heel - Suidas says that this figure is taken from those who are running in a race, when one attempts to trip the other up and make him fall. It was a base and ungrateful return for kindness to which the Lord Jesus referred, and it means that he who had been admitted to the intimacies of friendship had ungratefully and maliciously injured him. Some suppose the expression means to lay snares for one others, to kick or injure a man after he is cast down (Calvin on Psa 41:9). It is clear that it denotes great injury, and injury aggravated by the fact of professed friendship. It was not merely the common people, the open enemies, the Jewish nation that did it, but one who had received all the usual proofs of kindness. It was this which greatly aggravated our Saviour’s sufferings.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Shall lift up his heel against me. It is the sense of those words, (Psalm xl. 10.) hath supplanted me; and they were spoken of Judas’s sin in betraying Christ. (Witham) --- Jesus Christ applies in this place to the perfidy of Judas, that which David appears to have said on occasion of the perfidy of Achitophel, who was thus a figure of the perfidious Judas. (Bible de Vence)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

I am about to tell you what will make your ears tingle; but be of good comfort, what I shall now tell you doth not concern all of you, it concerneth but one man amongst you.

I know whom I have chosen to the work of the apostleship; so some interpret it, as Joh 6:70, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? But the generality of the best interpreters understand the choosing here mentioned, of a choosing to eternal life, and perseverance in the way of God as a means in order to it, as Eph 1:4; and so understood, here is a greater argument in this text to prove the Godhead of Christ, as the Author of eternal election: Though one of you be a devil, a traitor, yet I have chosen the rest of you to eternal life: and this is no more than was prophesied of me, and fulfilled in David as a type of me: the Scripture must have its accomplishment; that Scripture is now fulfilled in me.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

18. I speak not of you all—Approaching the hour of his passion, the thoughts of the Lord verge again and again toward his betrayer. Amid this discourse of consolation, counsel, and love, the one dark exception rises up before him.

Know whom I have chosen—He knew, of the entire twelve, the fidelity of most and the treason of one.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Vers. 18-30. 2. The exclusion of the faithless disciple. This paragraph draws the circle of his cleansed ones, of those who accept him as Master and Lord in the fullest sense, more closely (at) out him. But the proceeding is tragic in the extreme; one of the twelve chosen as apostles is a traitor in disguise. The foot-washing has been an awful insufficiency in his case. He must depart before the greatest depth of the Master"s love and truth can be revealed.

I speak net concerning you all. There is one who, though he knows these things, will not do them, is now indisposed to see any Divineness in the act and spirit of love which I am laying down as a fundamental law of my kingdom. I know whom (or, the individuals whom) I chose for apostles (in Joh 6 the same statement is made with less definiteness, "Have I not chosen you twelve, and one of you," etc.?) Judas among them but. It is difficult to follow this construction, and to decide on the antithesis to this disjunctive.

(1) We may add, this has happened (touto gegonen) i.e. this choice has been overruled, and so in its issues corresponded with the Divine purpose (ina) so that the Scripture might be fulfilled, He that eateth my bread or, bread with me, hath lifted his heel against me;

(2) we may take the ina plhrwyh as a parenthesis, and link the all with the quotation, "He that eateth," etc.; or

(3) we may, with Meyer, suppose that exelexamhn autouv , "I chose them," is mentally involved here: "I chose them, and Judas among them (ina), in order that the Scripture," etc. This connection would suggest a destiny and purpose which Christ knowingly corresponded with, harmonizing his plan with the Divine and prophetic program. Emphasis must be laid upon the eklegesyai . It refers to Christ"s choice of apostles, not to the eternal election to salvation. This interpretation corresponds more closely with the text, though it savors of a fatalism foreign to the Scripture. There is, however, a true sense in which the evil-disposed man is so placed that, if he will sin, he must sin along certain well-defined lines. The forty-first psalm, from which the quotation is made, is not strictly Messianic; it is descriptive of the ideal Sufferer, the holy but outraged man, whose melancholy condition is sure to be characterized by treachery among his familiar friends. Christ implies that, if he were to fulfill this portraiture, then this bitter dreg would be put into his cup; and so he humanly made this choice, i.e. he took steps which in their tenderness of love might have saved Judas from the worst, but which were really part of a Divine plan which would vindicate his own foresight and the method of Divine government. A full understanding of the formula in Matthew and John, ina h grafh plhrwy , will save us from putting into these words a hopeless fatalism. Notice that the LXX reads this passage differently, and is not so closely allied to the Hebrew: "He that eateth my leaves hath magnified against me his surreptitious despite, his tricky antagonism." Great beauty is given to the passage by the R.T. you instead of met emou , for it suggests the idea that Christ was the real Host of the twelve, the Father and Provider of his family. Christ must be regarded as the Father and Host of the entire group of guests, and the treacherous treatment of a host throughout the East is regarded as a sign of peculiar obduracy.

Vers. 18-20. The exception to this blessedness of the disciples.

The thought of their blessedness recalls the fact that there was one in their society with whom knowledge would not have this happy issue.

I THE TREACHERY OF JUDAS WAS AS YET ONLY MANIFEST TO CHRIST. "I speak not of you all.

1. Jesus knew the thoughts of Judas"s heart. There was no surprise, therefore, to Jesus in the treachery that was preparing the way for his death.

2. Judas was not an object of Christ"s saving choice. "I know those whom I have chosen." This cannot refer to discipleship for Judas was chosen to office just like the other apostles but to grace and salvation.

3. The prophetic confirmation of Christ"s words. the Scripture might be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me." Whether the reference is to David or Jeremiah, the words refer to the troubles inflicted on the righteous, by the treachery of a false friend.

4. Christ"s foresight of Judas"s treachery would

(1) in some degree relieve as well as anticipate the bitterness of disappointment;

(2) lead the disciples to trust in him the more implicitly. "Now I tell you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he." If he had not made this declaration, the disciples might have come to doubt whether his choice of Judas was consistent with his being the Messiah. It is here traced to the will of God.

II THE ENCOURAGEMENTS OF THE APOSTLESHIP. "He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth me; and he that receiveth me receiveth him that sent me.

1. The Master"s greatness is reflected in the mission of his servants. They are apostles from him, as he is an Apostle from the Father.

2. The treachery of Judas, though it might shake their confidence, could not annul the dignity of their apostolic office.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I speak not of you all - When I call you happy, I know one of you twelve whom I have chosen, will betray me; whereby that scripture will be fulfilled. Psalm xli, 9.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Another allusion to Judas:

v. 18. I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with Me hath lifted up his heel against Me.

v. 19. Now I tell you before it come, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He.

v. 20. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that receiveth whomsoever I send receiveth Me; and he that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.

All the words of kindly admonition, all the promises of future blessings, were directed only to the true disciples, only to those whose faith was firmly grounded in Jesus, their Master and Savior. And the Lord here expressly makes an exception in the case of one man. He knew very well whom He had chosen; He was altogether aware of the significance of His every action. But in their very midst was one in whom the words of the prophet would be fulfilled: He that eats with Me bread has lifted up against Me his heel, Psa 41:9. It would be a man that had been in the utmost intimacy with the Savior, one that had been accepted into the inner circle of the apostles and intimates of the Lord, that would become guilty of the most fiendish and devilish crime that could be imagined, namely, of spurning the Lord that bought him with His holy blood. But herein would the Scripture be fulfilled. In that very fact, in the heinous crime of one member of the table-round, they would find confirmation of the fact that nothing was hidden from their Master. Thus they would be induced and encouraged to believe and trust in Him all the more firmly. That should strengthen them in their belief that Jesus was truly the Messiah that had been promised to the world. And so far as the true disciples were concerned, they should be perfectly assured in regard to their apostleship. He tells them that His messengers must be received with the deference and honor due Him, and that in a similar way those that receive Him and believe on Him thereby receive the Father. Every service rendered to any true servant of the Gospel is entered into the accounts of God as one rendered to Himself, and will receive its reward of mercy accordingly, on the last day. See Mat 10:40; Luk 10:16. There is an encouraging admonition here for the Christians of all times.

Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

If the chusing spoken of here be understood of eternal election, a chusing to everlasting life, then it affords a strong argument to prove Christ to be God; thus; he that is the author of eternal election is God; but Christ is such; I know whom I have chosen. Consider Christ as God, so we are chosen by him: consider him as Mediator, and so we are chosen in him. If the chusing here be meant of chusing to the work of the apostleship, then our Saviour tells his disciples, that it need not seem strange to them, that he chose one to be an apostle, whom he knew would prove a traitor; for hereby that scripture prophecy, would be fulfilled: He that eateth bread with me, hath lifted up his heel against me Psa 41:9; which, though it was literally spoken of Achitophel’s treachery against David, yet was it prophetically spoken of Judas’s treachery against Christ; and the expression of lifting up the heel, is metaphorical, taken from a fed beast, that kicks against his master.

Learn hence, That Christ did, as his followers do, daily suffer, not only from open enemies, but from bosom and familiar friends. Lord! how many are there in the world, who by profession lift up their hand unto thee, who yet by treason and rebellion lift up their heel against thee!

William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. I speak not of you all. One is a traitor. He is not included in the beatitude just pronounced in the 17th verse.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

18. οὐ περὶ πάντων. There is one who knows, and does not do, and is the very reverse of blessed. I know the character of the Twelve whom I chose (Joh 6:70, Joh 15:16); the treachery of one is no surprise to Me. For the elliptical ἀλλ’ ἵνα, ‘but this was done in order that,’ so frequent in S. John, see on Joh 1:8. Here we may supply ἐλεξάμην: but I chose them in order that. Winer, p. 398.

ἡ γραφὴ πλ. see on Joh 2:22 and Joh 12:38. The quotation is taken, but with freedom, from the Hebrew of Psa 41:9: for ἐπῆρεν ἐπ’ ἐμὲ τ. πτέρναν αὐτοῦ both Hebrew and LXX. have ‘magnified his heel against me,’ ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπ’ ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν. The metaphor here is of one lifting up his foot before kicking, but the blow is not yet given. This was the attitude of Judas at this moment. Jesus omits ‘Mine own familiar friend whom I trusted.’ He had not trusted Judas, and had not been deceived as the Psalmist had been: ‘He knew what was in man’ (Joh 2:25). The variations from the LXX. are still more remarkable in the first clause. S. John quotes ὁ τρώγων μετ’ ἐμοῦ τὸν ἄρτον, the LXX. having ὁ ἐσθίων ἄρτους μου. We notice (1) τρώγειν, the verb used of eating Christ’s Flesh and the Bread from Heaven (Joh 6:54; Joh 6:56-58), and nowhere else in N.T. excepting Mat 24:38, instead of the much more common ἐσθίειν: (2) τὸν ἅρτον, the bread, instead of ἄρτους, bread or loaves: (3) μετ’ ἐμοῦ for μου, if the reading μετ’ ἐμοῦ be genuine, which is doubtful. To eat bread with a man is more than to eat his bread, which a servant might do. The variations can scarcely be accidental, and seem to point to the fact that the treachery of Judas in violating the bond of hospitality, so universally held sacred in the East, was aggravated by his having partaken of the Eucharist. That Judas did partake of the Eucharist seems to follow from Luk 22:19-21, but the point is one about which there is much controversy.

S. John omits the institution of the Eucharist for the same reason that he omits so much,—because it was so well known to every instructed Christian; and for such he writes.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18.] I say it not (viz. the ἐὰν ποιῆτε αὐτά) of you all: for there is one who can never be μακάριος. Our Lord repeats His ἀλλʼ οὐχὶ πάντες of ver. 10, and the sad recollection leads to His trouble in spirit, ver. 21.

ἐγὼ οἶδα] The ἐγώ is emphatic; and the reason of its emphasis is given in ver. 19.

Connexion: ‘It might be supposed that this treachery has come upon Me unawares; but it is not so: I (for my part) know whom I have selected (viz. the whole twelve, see ch. 6:70; not only the true ones (Stier), as in ch 15:16, said when Judas was not present): but this has been done by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, declared in the Scriptures.’

On the citation, see LXX. The words here are given freely, the LXX having ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν.

This is another instance of the direct and unhesitating application of the words of the Psalms by our Lord to Himself.

τὴν πτ.] “Congruit hic sermo imprimis ad lotionem pedum, et ad morem veterum discumbentium ad panem edendum.” Bengel.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

18. οὐ περὶ πάντων ὑμῶν λέγω. So He had said before (v. 10). The treachery of Judas (who had no share in the benediction of v. 17) did not come upon Jesus unawares (see on 6:64).

τίνας (אBCL) is to be preferred to the rec. οὕς (ADWΘ) before ἐξελεξάμην: “I know the kind of men whom I chose,” sc. when selecting the Twelve out of a larger company of disciples. See 6:70, where the same word ἐξελεξάμην is used; and cf. 15:16, 19.

ἀλλʼ ἵνα ἡ γραφὴ πληρωθῇ κτλ., may be a note added by the evangelist after his manner,1 but possibly he intends to place the phrase and the quotation in the mouth of Jesus Himself (cf. 17:12). If this be so, the sentence is elliptical, and we must understand the meaning to be: “I know whom I chose, but none the less this treachery will come, that the Scripture might be fulfilled” (cf. 9:3, 15:25 for a like ellipse). The treachery of Judas was foreordained in the eternal counsels of God; he was destined to deliver up Jesus to the Jews (see 6:71, 12:4).

The quotation is from the Hebrew (not the LXX) of Psa 41:9: “he that eateth my bread lifted up his heel against me.” To eat bread at the table of a superior was to offer a pledge of loyalty (2Sa 9:7, 14, 1Ki 18:19, 2Ki 25:29); and to betray one with whom bread had been eaten, one’s “messmate,” was a gross breach of the traditions of hospitality. “To lift up the heel” against any one is to offer him brutal violence. The Synoptists do not quote this Psalm in connexion with the treachery of Judas; but Jn. is especially prone to find fulfilment of prophecy in the incidents of the Passion.1

The LXX of this passage is: ὁ ἐσθίων ἄρτους μου ἐμεγάλυνεν ἐπʼ ἐμὲ πτερνισμόν. It is noteworthy that Jn. does not say ὁ ἐσθίων, but ὁ τρώγων, a less usual word which he employs four times (6:54, 56, 57, 58) for the “feeding” on Christ in the Eucharist (see note on 6:54). Here he almost goes out of his way to use it of the “eating” at the Last Supper.

For μου after τρώγων, אADWΓΔΘ give μετʼ ἐμοῦ, but μου is nearer the Hebrew and is better supported (BCL). The Coptic Q has the conflate rendering, “eats my bread with me.”

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

I have chosen [εξελεξαμην] . Aorist tense, I chose. Not elected to salvation, but chose as an apostle.

That the scripture, etc. [ινα] . Elliptical. We must supply this choice was made in order that, etc.

Eateth [τρωγων] . With the exception of Mt 24:38, the word occurs only in John. See on 6 54. Originally it means to gnaw or crunch; to chew raw vegetables or fruits, and hence often used of animals feeding, as Homer (" Odyssey, "6 90), of mules feeding. Of course it has lost its original sense in the New Testament, as it did to some extent in classical Greek, though, as applied to men, it more commonly referred to eating vegetables or fruit, as Aristophanes (" Peace," 1325) trwgein, to eat figs. The entire divorce in the New Testament from its primitive sense is shown in its application to the flesh of Christ (vi. 54). It is used by John only in connection with Christ.

Bread with me [μετ εμου τον αρτον] . Some editors read, mou ton arton, my bread.

Heel [πτερναν] . Only here in the New Testament. The metaphor is of one administering a kick. Thus Plutarch, describing the robber Sciron, who was accustomed "out of insolence and wantonness to stretch forth his feet to strangers, commanding them to wash them, and then, when they did it, with a kick to send them down the rock into the sea" (" Theseus "). Some have explained the metaphor by the tripping up of one's feet in wrestling; but, as Meyer justly says, "Jesus was not overreached." The quotation is from the Hebrew, not the Septuagint of Psa 41:9 (Sept. 40.). The Septuagint reads, "For the man of my peace in whom I hoped, who eateth my bread, magnified his cunning (pternismon, literally, tripping up) against me."

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Vv. 18, 19. “I do not say this of you all; I know those whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. 19. From henceforth I tell you before it comes to pass, that when it is come to pass, you may believe that I am he.”

The idea of the happiness of the disciples, who walk in the path of humility, calls forth in the heart of Jesus the feeling of a contrast; there is present a person who, indomitable in his pride, deprives himself of this happiness, and draws upon himself the opposite of the μακαριότης (Joh 13:17). ᾿Εξελεξάμην, I have chosen, is referred by Reuss to the election to salvation; in this sense the term would not be applicable to Judas. This would be a new proof of the predestinationism of John. But nothing more, on the contrary, appears in all these narratives than human responsibility and culpability. Am I mistaken in surmising that the reading τίνας (whom) relating to the character has, in the Alexandrian authorities, been substituted for the οὕς (those whom) of the T. R. under the influence of this false interpretation?

The election of which Jesus speaks refers to that of the Twelve, inclusive of Judas; comp. Joh 6:70. And to know signifies to discern, not, to approve, to love. The words: I know, serve to justify the preceding declaration: I do not say this of you all. If the for of 4 Mjj. is a gloss, it is a proper gloss. The in order that might be made to depend on the following verb has lifted: “In order that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he who eats has lifted.” Jesus would thus insert the Scripture citation in His own discourse. But it is more natural to suppose an ellipsis, by explaining, with Meyer : “I have nevertheless chosen him in order that,” or, what seems more simple, by supplying “This has happened, in order that,” comp. Joh 19:36; 1Jn 2:19; Mat 26:56. This last ellipsis more expressly carries back the responsibility of the choice of Judas to God, whom Jesus has obeyed, see on Joh 6:64. Psalms 41, from the tenth verse of which the quoted passage is borrowed, is only indirectly Messianic; its immediate subject is the afflicted righteous person; but this idea is perfectly realized only in the suffering Messiah.

Among the afflictions by which the righteous person is smitten, the Psalmist (David, according to the title; according to Hitzig, Jeremiah) puts in the first place the treachery of an intimate friend. In the mouth of David, this feature has reference to Ahithophel. “This last stroke,” Jesus means to say, “cannot fail to reach me also, in whom all the trials of the suffering righteous are united.” Such, in this context, is the sense of the formula: in order that it might be fulfilled. Weiss claims that John wishes to put these words of the Psalm into the mouth of the Messiah Himself. Not a word in John’s text justifies this assertion. If we compare Joh 18:9 with Joh 17:12 it will suffice to make us see how contrary it is is to the evangelist’s thought thus to press the idea of: in order that it might be fulfilled. Instead of the singular ἄρτον, bread, in conformity with the Hebrew, the LXX. have the plural ἄρτους, and, for all the rest of the passage, the translation of John is equally independent of that of the LXX. To lift up the heel, in order to strike, is the emblem of brutal hatred, and not, as some have thought, of cunning.

This expression is applied indeed to the present state of Judas, who has already prepared his treachery and is on the point of carrying it into execution. One may hesitate between the perfect ἐπῆρκεν and the aorist ἐπῆρεν . It is also difficult to decide between the two readings ἐμοῦ, of me and μετ᾿ ἐμοῦ, with me; the first may have been derived from the LXX.; the second, from the parallel passages, Mar 14:18; Luk 22:21 (Weiss). Thus foreseen and foretold by Jesus, this treachery, which otherwise might have been a cause of stumbling to His disciples, will afterwards be transformed into a support for their faith. This is what Jesus desires to bring out in Joh 13:19, and not, as Weiss thinks, to set forth the proof of His Messiahship which will result from the fulfillment of the prophecy; comp. the words: before it comes to pass, which, in this case, would lose their force. The ἀπ᾿ ἄρτι is opposed, not to the similar declarations which are still to follow respecting Judas (Weiss), but to the subsequent realization of the fact predicted.

Frédéric Louis Godet — Commentaries on Luke, John, Romans, and 1 Corinthians — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1870s–1890s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.