Jesus predicts His betrayal

Pastor Carol Grace ♦ June 11, 2010 ♦ Leave a comment

John 13:18-30

18″I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'[b] 19″I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” 21After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” 22His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon. 27As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.”What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him, 28but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.

Seldom do any of us know what is going to happen before it occurs. We are generally not privileged to have foresight, but instead are burdened with 20/20 hindsight. Sometimes, because of Jesus’ divinity, we think He was omniscient because He was fully man and fully God. Besides bringing salvation to fallen man, Jesus came to show us God, to show us God’s heart, and to teach us how to live our lives before God and with man. Jesus gave us the example of praying always and it was through prayer that Jesus learned who would betray Him. How terrible it would be to sit at a table with someone who had been your friend, knowing that you would soon be betrayed by that same friend.

What can we learn from the above scriptures?

Jesus knew His time was short, and He spent the last night with His disciples, His friends.
Jesus tells His disciples of future events so that when His predictions come true His followers would finally realize who He is
Believers would accept His disciples because they were sent by Jesus, and they would accept Jesus because He was sent by God.

May we follow Jesus’ example always by keeping our friends close and by learning God’s heart through prayer.