You’ve Got A Fiend In Me (John 13:16-38)


Do you have a tell?

A ‘tell’ is an action, physical or verbal, that gives away information about you:

In Frozen II, Anna recognizes that Elsa wears their mothers scarf when she’s worried.
In Kung Fu Panda, Oogway tells Po, “You eat when you’re upset.”

We mostly think of tells in card games, like poker. Hence the term, “poker face,” for those without a tell.

Judas Iscariot had a tell.

We saw it in chapter twelve. Jesus and the disciples were celebrating Lazarus’ return from the grave when this happened:

Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot… said, “Why was this fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it (v3-6).

His tell was to express outrage over resources that could have been converted to cash.

The Lord knew about Judas, but the eleven disciples never picked-up on his tell until after he betrayed Jesus for money.

There were two other notable betrayals in the New Testament:

Diotrephes appears to have been a church elder. The apostle John called him out, saying Diotrephes, “loves to have the preeminence among them [and] does not receive us” (Third John 1:9).

The apostle Paul had a traveling companion and fellow missionary named Demas. Paul’s final mention of him is, “Demas has deserted me because he loves the things of this life and has gone to Thessalonica” (Second Timothy 4:10).

Judas remains unique in the Brotherhood of Bible-betrayers. But there were, and will be, others.

I’ll organize my comments around two points: #1 Jesus Prepares You When He Is Betrayed, and #2 Jesus Protects You When He Is Betrayed.

#1 – Jesus Prepares You When He Is Betrayed (v16-30)

This is from a recent article in the Christian Post:

After announcing his divorce, Joshua Harris, author of I Kissed Dating Goodbye, and former pastor of a mega-church in Maryland, renounced his faith, saying: “I have undergone a massive shift in regard to my faith in Jesus. By all the measurements I have for defining a Christian, I am not a Christian.”

We’re not talking about backsliding. Neither are we talking about disagreements, or hurt feelings, or being let down by other believers. Betrayal is to renounce the Lord. It hurts, confuses, and can cause you to stumble in your walk.

The first thing to do is to put the betrayal into perspective. The betrayal has nothing to do with you. It is not you who is being betrayed, it is the Lord. In fact (and this may sound strange), someone else’s betrayal ought to give you greater resolve to finish well.

Nevertheless, knowing our frailty, the Lord does everything He can to prepare us for betrayals.

Jesus cares more for you than He does Himself.

It was Thursday night of Passion Week. Jesus had just washed His disciple’s feet, including Judas.

Joh 13:16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him.
Joh 13:17  If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.

The world of the disciples was about to be severely shaken. Their expectations of the Kingdom of God on Earth would be crushed. Peter would return to fishing for fish rather than fishing for men.

No matter what it might look like for the next few days, He would be sending them out, as planned. They would serve the Lord, each other, and others.

They would thereby be “blessed.” Not just in the future, when rewarded in Heaven. The promise is that they would be blessed in the work itself. They’d be doing what they loved. In their case, all except John would die a martyr. They would die doing what they loved.

Joh 13:18  “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘HE WHO EATS BREAD WITH ME HAS LIFTED UP HIS HEEL AGAINST ME.’
Joh 13:19  Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.

The Lord’s concern was for the eleven. He did not want them to be stressed by Judas’ betrayal. He told them in order to prepare them before it happened so that they would understand it did not take Heaven by surprise.

In Psalm 41:9, King David described a personal betrayal. His counselor, Ahithophel, would betray him by supporting the rebellion of his son, Absalom. Jesus applied the words to Judas as a fulfillment.

It was not a direct prophecy of something only Judas could do.

Albert Barnes explains, “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.”

If not Judas, someone else would have fulfilled the future predictions of Psalm 41:9. If that sounds odd, answer this: Could John the Baptist have been Elijah? Jesus said, “If you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come” (Matthew 11:14).

Judas was an unbeliever who was consumed with greed. He never believed the Lord. His motivation was material, not spiritual. Eventually he was taken captive by the devil, to do his will.

If you are wondering about a motive for his betrayal, consider this. All of the disciples believed they would soon be officials in God’s magnificent Kingdom on Earth. Imagine being the treasurer if you were an accomplished thief! If Judas had figured out Jesus was not going to inaugurate the Kingdom, he may have wanted to cash out, to make at least some money on Jesus. To his greedy heart, thirty pieces of silver were better than none.

The reason some say Judas must have been saved was because he participated in doing signs and wonders.

I submit that the two magicians in Pharaoh’s court could perform at least some of signs Moses did. In the future, we are told that the false prophet will do great signs (Revelation 13:13).

In the Book of Deuteronomy we read, “If there arises among you a prophet or a dreamer of dreams, and he gives you a sign or a wonder and the sign or the wonder comes to pass, of which he spoke to you, saying, ‘Let us go after other gods’ – which you have not known – ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams, for the LORD your God is testing you to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul” (13:1-3).

Judas was never saved.

Joh 13:20  Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”

Jesus was “sent” by God the Father. Jesus would send the disciples. They had a “to-the-end-of-the-Earth” ministry ahead of them. The betrayal, and the Cross, would not be the end.

Joh 13:21  When Jesus had said these things, He was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, “Most assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me.”
Joh 13:22  Then the disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom He spoke.

Jesus had a lot to say, but from here on, only to His disciples. Before He could continue, He must dismiss the betrayer.

Joh 13:23  Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved.

John wasn’t using Jesus for a pillow. It means he was on Jesus’ right hand side. John will several times refer to himself as the disciple Jesus loved. I think he didn’t want to call attention to himself.

Joh 13:24  Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask who it was of whom He spoke.

A little bit of comedy here, as Peter tried to get John’s attention. There’s a scene in Pride & Prejudice in which Mrs. Bennet sits looking and winking at Elizabeth and Catherine for a considerable time. Elizabeth won’t look at her. When at last her other daughter does, she very innocently says, “What is the matter mamma? What do you keep winking at me for? What am I to do?’

Embarrassed, Mrs. Bennet says, “Nothing child, nothing. I did not wink at you. Why would I be winking at my own daughter?”

Joh 13:25  Then, leaning back on Jesus’ breast, he said to Him, “Lord, who is it?”
Joh 13:26  Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.

Whatever else the dipped bread signified, it showed compassion towards Judas Iscariot by not overtly exposing him as Satan’s covert agent.

Joh 13:27  Now after the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”

We typically say that Judas was possessed by Satan. I’ve been rethinking the whole idea of possession. It comes down to this: Are demons synonymous with fallen angels?

Maybe. That is the majority opinion. Nowhere in the Bible does it directly say that demons are fallen angels.

One scholar writes, “[Equating] fallen angels with demons arose in the second and third centuries AD. It was an invention of late ancient Christian writers.” After a lengthy paper published in The Journal of Bible Literature, he concludes, “For most ancient Jews and for Christians before the second and third centuries, angels and demons were two distinct species.”

The New Testament accounts about demons portray them as obsessed with having a body. If you had not been taught otherwise, you’d conclude that demons were disembodied spirits.

Demons may be the disembodied spirits of the Old Testament race of giants called Nephilim. It makes a lot of sense.

When it says Satan “entered” Judas, it need not mean possession. The word can describe influence.

Jesus knew His timeline. He dismissed the devil to do his work, to play his part. Jesus was in charge.

Joh 13:28  But no one at the table knew for what reason He said this to him.
Joh 13:29  For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus had said to him, “Buy those things we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.

Jesus chose His words carefully, to mask Judas’ betrayal. You can probably imagine that, had they known what Judas was up to, the evening would have gone differently. You can’t tell me that Peter wouldn’t have impulsively gone after him, sword drawn.

Joh 13:30  Having received the piece of bread, he then went out immediately. And it was night.

For three and one half years Judas had been exposed to the light. “In [Jesus] was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” It’s as if he slithered back under his rock.

Judas was not a tragically misunderstood antihero. He didn’t betray Jesus for some greater good, as many try to portray him. He was an unbeliever who had plenty of opportunity to receive the Lord.

Could Judas have gotten saved? Sure; and then God would have fulfilled the Scripture, and accomplished the betrayal, some other way.

Almost everything Jesus did and said in these verses was to prepare His guys. He warned them in advance. He assured them that they would go forward with the Gospel.

Don’t stumble over those who are betraying the Lord. They aren’t betraying you.

#2 – Jesus Protects You When He Is Betrayed (v31-38)

Dante’s Inferno describes Hell as nine concentric circles of torment located within the Earth. The ninth circle is the final, deepest level of Hell. It is reserved for traitors and betrayers. Dante chose as its most famous occupant, Judas Iscariot.

Joh 13:31  So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.
Joh 13:32  If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately.

The Cross was shameful, but Jesus described it as bringing “glory” to His Father and Himself.

“Son of Man” was the Lord’s favorite title for Himself. It is a title for the Messiah, found in the Book of Daniel.

He mentioned “glory” five times in these two verses:

Jesus would be glorified as He declared from the Cross, “It is finished!” A centurion, for example, would witness the Cross, and say, “Truly this was the Son of God.”

God the Father was glorified because He could, on account of Jesus’ sacrifice, justify sinners.
They brought glory to each other, Jesus for His humility and the Father for His exaltation of Jesus.

All this and more would be the immediate effect of Jesus death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Grant Osborne writes, “Here is that supreme paradox – the most horrifying event in human history is at the same time the most glorious.”

Joh 13:33  Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you.

Abandoned. A word that ought never describe the treatment of children. Jesus was soon to return home, to Heaven. It would seem an abandonment to the disciples. They had lived with Jesus over three years. They expected Him to inaugurate the Kingdom of God on Earth. They had given up everything for Jesus. They had been lobbying for their assignments.

For the disciples, His departure would only be temporary. He would come again for them. For the Jews, His leaving them would be final. He was returning to Heaven, and they could not follow Him because of their unbelief.

Joh 13:34  A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
Joh 13:35  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

“Love one another” is not “new.” “Love one another as I have loved you” is new. Two things come to mind regarding the way Jesus “loved” them and us:

The Lord’s love was expressed on the Cross, where He gave Himself for us. Thus, if we are to love as He does, we must lay down our lives.
The Lord’s love is enabled by the Gift of God the Holy Spirit, given on the Day of Pentecost. Thus, if we are to love as He does, we must continue in the Holy Spirit and not our flesh.

We hear “love one another” and think it is a DIY project. It isn’t. You and I could never love one another the way the Lord loves us – not without the indwelling Holy Spirit.

Joh 13:36  Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”

They were in Jerusalem, where the Messiah would rule on King David’s throne. A few days prior, the crowds hailed Jesus as King, with shouts of “Hosanna!” Where could Jesus possibly be going? Rome? Nope; Heaven.

Joh 13:37  Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”

If we are correct in assuming the disciples were anticipating the Kingdom, it could be that Peter meant he would be willing to fight for Jesus against the Roman legions.
When the Romans came for Jesus later that night, in Gethsemane, Peter did just that, cutting off an enemies ear.

Peter volunteered to be a sword-wielding soldier. Jesus was preparing Peter to be a scattered sheep.

There are a lot of metaphors to describe believers in the Church Age. Soldier is one of them. Sheep is another. So is steward, servant, slave; builder, building, betrothed, bride; farmer, athlete, vessel, etc. In the 1960s, Paul Minear published a paper listing 96 metaphors, what he called “images of the church.”

Don’t be cutting off ears soldier-like when the Lord might want you to be washing feet servant-like.

Joh 13:38  Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.”

Adam Clarke writes, “Jesus must first die for Peter, before Peter can die for him.”

Peter would survive his denial, mostly because Jesus would protect him. John doesn’t record it, but Jesus said to Peter, “Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren” (Luke 22:31-32). Peter failed, yet his faith did not fail.

The same is true of us, if we’ve been born-again. As long as we remain in our unredeemed human bodies, we will fail, falling short of perfection. But since our faith is in Jesus Christ, and we have His protection, our faith will not fail.

Baptist Pastor Jack Hyles once said, “Failing is not a disgrace unless you make it the last chapter of your book.”

The Lord’s protection is not always the untouchable kind. Can you say, “Job?” Satan did sift Simon Peter. Jesus would use it to strengthen Peter, the other ten disciples, and you and I.

God the Holy Spirit is an important theme in Jesus’ comments all that evening. Jesus will say, “And I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever – the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you. I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you” (John 14:16-18).

Duncan Campbell said, “The Kingdom of God is not going to be advanced by our churches becoming filled with men and women, but by men and women in our churches becoming filled with God.”