7Unmasking the Betrayer  (John 13:18–30)

“I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast;” or else, that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night. (13:18–30)

The word “traitor” is an ugly word in any language. There are few people more despised than those who betray their country, cause, or trust. Nations have generally reserved the severest punishment—often the death penalty—for those who commit acts of treason.

History has known many notorious traitors. During the Peloponnesian War, the Athenian general Alcibiades, nephew of the famous Greek statesman Pericles and a boyhood friend of Socrates, betrayed Athens’s plans to the city’s bitter rival, Sparta. As a result, the Athenians were defeated in battle by the Spartans. The Athenian soldier and historian Xenophon, a disciple of Socrates, also turned traitor and fought for Sparta against his native city. King Leonidas of Sparta and his vastly outnumbered force held the pass of Thermopylae against the Persians until a traitor showed the Persians a way to outflank them. Attacked from the rear, Leonidas and his men bravely fought to the last man in one of history’s most famous last stands.

During the American Revolution, Simon Girty, a deserter from the Continental Army, led raiding parties of Native Americans against the colonists. Girty was much feared for his brutality, so much so that he was dubbed the “Great Renegade.” But the most infamous traitor of the Revolutionary War (and indeed in all of American history) was Benedict Arnold. Annoyed at being passed over for promotion and seeking money to fund his extravagant lifestyle, Arnold offered to surrender the key fort at West Point to the British. When British Major John André, the liaison between Arnold and British General Sir Henry Clinton, was captured carrying incriminating papers, Arnold’s plot was exposed. He deserted to the British, and fought against his own countrymen. He died in exile in England, scorned by Americans and British alike.

The French general Henri Pétain was hailed as the savior of Verdun in World War I. But after France fell to the Germans in World War II, he became the head of the Vichy government, which collaborated with the Nazis. Vidkun Quisling, whose name has become a synonym for “traitor,” headed the puppet regime established by the Nazis in Norway. The English traitor William Joyce (“Lord Haw Haw”), and the American traitors Iva Ikuko Toguri D’Aquino (“Tokyo Rose”) and Mildred Elizabeth Gillars (“Axis Sally”) lent their voices to Nazi and Japanese propaganda broadcasts.

The Bible also records its share of traitors, including Absalom, who sought to usurp the throne of his father, David (2 Sam. 15:10–13); Ahithophel, David’s erstwhile counselor who joined Absalom’s rebellion (2 Sam. 15:31); Sheba, who led a revolt of the northern tribes soon after Absalom’s revolt was crushed (2 Sam. 20:1–2); Jeroboam, whose rebellion against Solomon resulted in the division of Israel into two kingdoms, Israel and Judah (1 Kings 11:26ff.); Baasha, who murdered Jeroboam’s son Nadab and reigned in his place (1 Kings 15:25–28); Zimri, who killed Baasha’s son Elah and took his place (1 Kings 16:8–20); Athaliah, Israel’s only queen, who seized power after the death of her son, King Ahaziah (2 Kings 11:1–16); the servants of Joash, who conspired against him and killed him (2 Kings 12:20–21); the unnamed conspirators who assassinated King Amaziah (2 Kings 14:18–20); Shallum, whose conspiracy ended the brief reign of King Zechariah (2 Kings 15:8–10); Menahem, who similarly murdered and replaced Shallum (2 Kings 15:14); Pekah, who overthrew and murdered Menahem’s son Pekahiah (2 Kings 15:23–25); Hoshea, who killed Pekah and became the last king of the northern kingdom (2 Kings 15:30); Amon’s servants, who conspired against him and murdered him (2 Kings 21:23); and Bigthan and Teresh, whose plot against King Ahasuerus was uncovered by Mordecai (Est. 2:21–23).

But the most notorious traitor—both in the Bible and in all of human history—was Judas Iscariot. Judas had the incredible privilege of being one of the twelve closest followers of the Lord Jesus Christ during His earthly ministry. Yet inconceivably, after more than three years of living constantly with the incomparably perfect Jesus, observing the miracles He performed, and hearing His teaching, Judas betrayed Him to His death. The dark, tragic story of Judas reveals the depths of evil to which the human heart is capable of sinking, even in the very best of circumstances.

The early church universally detested and scorned Judas. For instance, his name appears last in every New Testament list of the apostles, except for the one in Acts 1—where it does not appear at all. In addition, whenever the gospel writers mention Judas, they always identify him as the traitor who betrayed Jesus (cf. Matt. 10:4; 26:25, 48; 27:3; Mark 3:19; 14:44; Luke 6:16; John 6:71; 12:4; 18:2).

Little is known of Judas’s life before he became an apostle. His father was Simon Iscariot (John 6:71; 13:2, 26). Their surname derives from two Hebrew words meaning “man of Kerioth.” That suggests that Judas was from the village of Kerioth, either the one in Moab (Jer. 48:24, 41), or more likely the one in Judea, south of Hebron (Josh. 15:25). Thus Judas would have been the only one of the Twelve who was not a Galilean, though there is no evidence that the other apostles excluded or looked down on him as a result. Nevertheless, being an outsider no doubt made it easier for Judas to justify his treachery in his own mind. It also made it easier for him to hide his hypocrisy, since the other eleven would have known little about him or his background. Nevertheless, the other disciples trusted Judas implicitly, even making him their treasurer (John 12:6; 13:29). None of them even suspected Judas when Jesus announced in the upper room, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me” (John 13:21).

The Bible does not reveal when and where Judas first met Jesus.

He may have been among the Judeans who flocked to hear John the Baptist (Matt. 3:1–5) bear witness to Christ. Or he may first have met the Lord at the beginning of His ministry when “Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing” (John 3:22). When the Lord first called Judas to follow Him is likewise not recorded in Scripture. With the other eleven, he was named an apostle by Jesus after the Lord had spent a night in prayer (Luke 6:12–16). At that point (if he had not already done so), Judas left his former occupation and became a full-time follower of Christ. He even stayed with Him when many other false disciples abandoned Him (John 6:66–71). But though Judas closely accompanied Jesus, he never gave Him his soul.

Since Judas was obviously not attracted to Christ on a spiritual level, why did he follow Him? On the one hand Judas, like many of his fellow Jews, fervently hoped that Jesus would overthrow the Romans and restore Israel’s political sovereignty. But Judas was also motivated by greed, the desire for power, and worldly ambition. As one of the inner circle of Jesus’ followers, he no doubt hoped for an important position in the restored kingdom (as did the other disciples at first; cf. Matt. 20:20–24). Judas was not interested in the kingdom for salvation’s sake, but for what he hoped to get out of it; namely, wealth, power, and prestige.

As time went on, Judas became increasingly disillusioned. Jesus showed no signs of becoming the conquering political and military messiah he fervently hoped for. In fact, Christ had rebuffed the people’s attempt to make Him king (John 6:14–15). The Lord stressed the spiritual dimension of the kingdom, while Judas eagerly anticipated an earthly, political, and economic one. But he hid his growing disenchantment behind a façade of hypocrisy.

Just a few days before the Last Supper, however, an incident occurred that apparently was the last straw for Judas. At a dinner in Bethany, given in Jesus’ honor, Mary the sister of Martha and Lazarus anointed Jesus with a large amount of expensive perfume. Shocked and outraged, Judas protested indignantly, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” (John 12:5). Judas, of course, cared nothing for the poor; he “said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it” (v. 6). Losing out on the opportunity to embezzle from that vast sum of money (three hundred denarii amounted to a full year’s wages for an average laborer) infuriated Judas. But so convincing was his outward display of pious hypocrisy that the rest of the disciples joined in his protest (Matt. 26:8–9).

Judas’s simmering discontent then boiling over, he immediately after this incident “went to the chief priests and said, ‘What are you willing to give me to betray Him to you?’ And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. From then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus” (Matt. 26:14–16). That came down to telling the leaders where He would be at night away from the crowds. Judas could no longer contain his bitterness and disillusionment, which spilled forth in secret treachery.

But Judas’s treachery would not remain hidden for long, because Jesus would expose it. The setting the Lord chose for unmasking His betrayer was His last meal with the disciples on the night before His death. Jesus had taught them the importance of humble service through His example of washing their feet (John 13:1–17). Then He concluded the lesson by proclaiming, “If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” (v. 17). Now, in verses 18 to 30, the dialogue turns to the betrayer. Jesus contrasts the eleven eternally blessed loyal disciples with the eternally miserable traitor, Judas. The passage may be divided into four sections: the treachery anticipated (by the Old Testament), the treason announced (by Christ), the Twelve astonished (by the news), and the traitor addressed (by the Lord).

THE TREACHERY ANTICIPATED

“I do not speak of all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but it is that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’” (13:18)

Jesus wanted to make sure that the rest of the disciples understood when the betrayal and arrest took place that He was not a surprise victim of Judas’s treachery. They might wonder why He chose Judas, and how He could have so completely misjudged his character. Therefore the Lord clarified His earlier declaration that the disciples were spiritually clean (13:10). However He did not speak of all of them; in His omniscience (cf. 2:24–25) “He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, ‘Not all of you are clean’” (v. 11)—only the ones whom He had chosen (cf. 15:16).

Jesus was not caught off guard; “He was not the deceived and helpless Victim of unsuspected treachery, but One sent by God to effect God’s purpose going forward calmly and unafraid, to do what God had planned for Him to do” (Leon Morris, The Gospel According to John, The New International Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979], 623). The Lord deliberately chose Judas so that the Scripture may be fulfilled (cf. 17:12). The Scripture the Lord specifically cited as being fulfilled in Judas’s betrayal, “He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me” (or in modern vernacular, “kicked Me when I was down”) is Psalm 41:9. David lamented his betrayal by a close, trusted companion (one who had shared a meal with him; a symbol of intimate fellowship), possibly Ahithophel (2 Sam. 15:31), as rabbinic sources suggest. Another psalm that may refer to David’s betrayal during the dark days of Absalom’s revolt is Psalm 55. In verses 12–14 David wrote,

In both psalms David’s experience points forward to Messiah’s betrayal. Zechariah 11:12–13 also predicts Judas’s betrayal—even giving the exact amount of money he would receive and what he would do with it afterward (cf. Matt. 27:3–10):

Thus long before Judas was born, his duplicity was foreseen and designed into God’s eternal plan.

But Judas’s role in the divine plan was not something apart from his own desire; he was no robot, programmed to betray Jesus against his will. Judas freely chose to do what he did, and was fully accountable for his actions. The same tension between divine sovereignty and human choice is evident in Judas’s becoming a disciple. He chose to follow Christ, yet he became a follower of Christ only because Christ chose him (cf. John 15:16)—though not, of course, to salvation. Judas’s betrayal was predetermined, but that in no way contradicts the truth that he acted of his own volition. Jesus affirmed both truths when He said in Luke 22:22, “For indeed, the Son of Man is going as it has been determined [God’s sovereignty]; but woe to that man by whom He is betrayed [Judas’s responsibility]!”The sovereign God, “who works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph. 1:11), used the evil plans of Judas’s wicked heart to bring about the good of redemption (cf. Gen. 50:20; Ps. 76:10).

Judas had every opportunity to turn from his sin. Much of Christ’s teaching applied directly to him, such as the parables of the unjust steward (Luke 16:1–13) and the wedding garment (Matt. 22:11–14); and Jesus’ preaching against the love of money (Matt. 6:19–34), greed (Luke 16:13), and pride (Matt. 23:1–12). Judas also heard the Lord’s candid declaration to the Twelve, “Did I Myself not choose you, the twelve, and yet one of you is a devil?” (John 6:70), and His warning of the fearful judgment that awaited His betrayer: “Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born” (Matt. 26:24). And he had just heard Jesus declare that not all the disciples were spiritually cleansed (v. 10). But all of that left Judas unmoved. He resolutely hardened his heart and refused to repent.

THE TREASON ANNOUNCED

“From now on I am telling you before it comes to pass, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” When Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” (13:19–21)

As noted in the previous point, Jesus wanted to make sure that Judas’s betrayal would not shake the other disciples’ faith in Him. By telling them about it before it came to pass, He assured that in the future they could look back and know that He knew everything that was going to happen. Thus when the betrayal did occur, the disciples, though scattered and fearful, would recognize His omniscient foreknowledge (cf. 2:25) and believe in His deity. As He had done before in John’s gospel (e.g., 8:24, 28, 58), Jesus took for Himself the divine name of God from Exodus 3:13–14, I am (the word He does not appear in the Greek text).

At first glance, Jesus’ statement, Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me (cf. Matt. 10:40; Mark 9:37; Luke 10:16) appears to be disconnected from the context. Yet upon further reflection the connection becomes evident. The disciples (the eleven) would be shocked by Jesus’ prediction that one of them would betray Him. They might think that having a traitor in their midst would destroy their credibility as a group and end their mission. Further, if the Lord was betrayed to His death, their hope for the immediate establishment of the earthly messianic kingdom would die with Him.

But the Lord, dropping this statement into the middle of references to Judas, reassured the eleven apostles that Judas’s treachery would not nullify their commission; He was still going to send them as His representatives in the world. The very title that Christ gave them (Luke 6:13) emphasizes that truth; the Greek word translated “apostle” (apostolos) refers to one sent out having the full authority of the person who sent him, much like an ambassador today. But though the apostles had a unique, nontransferable authority (cf. Eph. 2:20), all believers represent Jesus Christ in the world. As Paul reminded the Corinthians, “We are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were making an appeal through us;” begging sinners “on behalf of Christ [to] be reconciled to God” (2 Cor. 5:20; cf. Eph. 6:20). As citizens of heaven (Phil. 3:20), believers represent their King to a world of lost sinners, among whom they live “as aliens and strangers” (1 Peter 2:11).

Having prepared the disciples by reassuring them that they would continue to be His representatives, Jesus became troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” Troubled translates a form of the verb tarasso, a strong word used figuratively to speak of severe mental or spiritual turmoil. It describes the disciples’ terror at seeing the Lord walking on the water (Matt. 14:26), Zacharias’s fear when the angel Gabriel appeared to him in the temple (Luke 1:12), the disciples’ fear when Jesus appeared to them after the resurrection (Luke 24:38), the deep anguish of Jesus’ soul at Lazarus’s tomb (John 11:33), and His distress at the prospect of facing the cross (John 12:27).

Several things troubled the Lord; His unrequited love for Judas, Judas’s ingratitude for all the kindness He had shown him, the malevolent presence of Satan, who would shortly possess Judas (v. 27), the fearful fate that awaited Judas in hell, and the knowledge that the betrayal would lead Him to the cross, with its sin-bearing (2 Cor. 5:21) and separation from the Father (Matt. 27:46). “In the present passage, Jesus’ emotions are shown to be in a state of turmoil, his whole inner self convulsing at the thought of one of his closest followers betraying him to his enemies” (Andreas J. Köstenberger, John, Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker, 2004], 413). Such would be the terrible consequences of the betrayal Jesus now openly declared.

THE TWELVE ASTONISHED

The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” He, leaning back thus on Jesus’ bosom, said to Him, “Lord, who is it?” (13:22–25)

Stunned by Jesus announcement, the disciples (with the exception of Judas, of course) were thrown into confusion, as D. A. Carson suggests:

Obviously, since they were alone in the room with Jesus (cf. Matt. 26:20; Mark 14:17–20; Luke 22:11, 14–15), they knew that one of their number—one of those with whom they had lived and ministered for more than three years, one of those whose feet Jesus had washed, one of those chosen to be His ambassadors—would do the unthinkable and betray Him. But which one? It is a tribute to the effectiveness of Judas’s hypocrisy, (and to Jesus kindly treating him no differently from the other eleven disciples) that no one suspected him. Instead of immediately accusing Judas, the disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking. Mark records that “they began to be grieved and to say to Him one by one, ‘Surely not I?’” (Mark 14:19)—even “Judas, who was betraying Him, said, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” (Matt. 26:25), thus maintaining his deceitful hypocrisy to the end. Luke adds that “they began to discuss among themselves which one of them it might be who was going to do this thing” (Luke 22:23). One can only wonder what Judas said.

Since the disciples had no clue as to who the betrayer might be, demonstrating the competence of Judas’s hypocrisy Peter at length took the initiative to find out. But rather than ask the Lord directly, he turned to the disciple who was reclining on Jesus’ bosom (lying next to Him at the supper table) whom Jesus loved. That beloved disciple was John, who never names himself in his gospel. His deep love for Jesus stands in stark contrast to Judas’s intense hatred. (For evidence that the beloved disciple was the apostle John, see John 1–11, The MacArthur New Testament Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 2006], 6–7.) Assuming John knew who the betrayer was, Simon Peter gestured to him to attract his attention and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” But John did not know either, so he leaned back thus on Jesus’ bosom and whispered to Him, “Lord, who is it?”

THE TRAITOR ADDRESSED

Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” So when He had dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. After the morsel, Satan then entered into him. Therefore Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.” Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast;” or else, that he should give something to the poor. So after receiving the morsel he went out immediately; and it was night. (13:26–30)

Evidently Jesus spoke so softly that only John heard when He answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him” (see the discussion of vv. 28–29 below). The morsel was a piece of unleavened bread, which was dipped into a mixture of bitter herbs, vinegar, water, salt, crushed dates, figs, and raisins. To be given the morsel by the host was to be singled out for special honor. Jesus thus made a gesture of honor toward Judas, showing kindness right up to the bitter end (cf. Rom. 2:4). But he was so far gone into his apostasy that even after the Lord dipped the morsel … and gave it to Judas the wretched traitor’s heart remained implacably hardened. Judas spurned Christ’s final gesture of love to him, just as he had all the previous ones for three years.

At that moment the day of salvation (cf. 2 Cor. 6:2) ended for Judas; hell arrived as Satan then entered into him. (The Devil evidently gained direct control over Judas on two occasions: just before the betrayal was arranged [Luke 22:3], and now as it was about to be carried out.) Divine mercy gave way to divine judgment and Judas was in essence handed over to Satan (cf. 1 Cor. 5:5; 1 Tim. 1:20). He had spurned Christ’s love for the last time, and his eternal doom was sealed. F. F. Bruce writes,

Once Judas had irrevocably crossed that line, Jesus dismissed him, telling him, “What you do, do quickly” (cf. Matt. 26:50). Jesus controlled every detail of His death, proving the truth of His declaration, “No one has taken it away from Me, but I lay it down on My own initiative. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This commandment I received from My Father” (John 10:18). Christ was about to institute the Lord’s Supper and He was not going to have it marred by Judas’s (and Satan’s) presence. As noted above, evidently only John heard Jesus say how He would point out His betrayer (and even he might not have realized that the betrayal was imminent). Hence no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to Judas. They could only speculate that because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast;” or else, that he should give something to the poor (which was traditionally done at Passover).

After receiving the morsel and hearing Jesus’ words of dismissal, Judas went out immediately. Now that he had been exposed as the betrayer, he knew that he had to act quickly before the whole plot collapsed. He evidently went straight to the Sanhedrin and told them that the “opportune time” (Mark 14:11) when they could arrest Jesus “apart from the crowd” (Luke 22:6) had finally come. Judas knew that after the meal Jesus, “as was His custom” (Luke 22:39), would head for the Mount of Olives. He knew the exact location of Gethsemane, “for Jesus had often met there with His disciples” (John 18:2). John’s footnote that it was night is more than the reminiscence of an eyewitness; it has a deeper significance. Not only had darkness descended over Jerusalem but also over Judas’s heart. He was now completely under the sway of the power of darkness (cf. Luke 22:53; Acts 26:18; 2 Cor. 6:14–15; Eph. 6:12; Col. 1:13). The next time Judas appears in the narrative is at the head (Luke 22:47) of those coming to arrest Jesus (John 18:3–5).

Several lessons emerge from the tragic story of Judas’s betrayal.

First, Judas is history’s greatest example of lost opportunity and wasted privilege. He heard Jesus teach day in and day out. Further, he had the opportunity to personally interact with Him. He witnessed firsthand the miracles Jesus performed that proved He was God in human flesh. Yet Judas refused Christ’s invitation to exchange the oppressive burden of sin for the easy yoke of submission to Him (Matt. 11:28–30).

Second, Judas is the foremost illustration of the danger of loving money (1 Tim. 6:10). Money meant more to him than eternal salvation.

Third, Judas typifies the vileness of spiritual betrayal. In every age there have been Judases, who professed to follow Christ but turned against Him. Judas’s life is also a sobering reminder of the need for self-examination (2 Cor. 13:5).

Fourth, Judas was living proof of Christ’s patience, mercy, and loving-kindness. Even when he arrived with the mob to arrest Him, Jesus still addressed Judas as “friend” (Matt. 26:50).

Fifth, the example of Judas shows that the Devil will always be at work among God’s people. Jesus illustrated that truth in the parable of the wheat and the tares (Matt. 13:24–30, 36–43).

Sixth, Judas proves the deadliness of hypocrisy. He was a fruitless branch, cast into the eternal fire of hell (John 15:6).

Finally, Judas demonstrated that there is nothing sinful men can do to thwart the sovereign will of God. Out of the seeming tragedy of the cross came the triumph of redemption; Satan’s apparent victory was in reality his ultimate defeat (Heb. 2:14; 1 John 3:8; cf. Gen. 3:15). God used Judas’s treachery for His own glory (cf. Gen. 50:20).

When Judas sold Jesus to His enemies he was in effect selling his own soul to the Devil. In the words of the poet,