John 13 Part 2

Read: John 13.18-38

Imagine being at a party know someone their would be the catalyst for your death. How would you behave? Would you treat that person any differently?

This is exactly Jesus’ situation. He is observing the Passover dinner with His twelve disciples, one of which will betray Him. He does call out him out not by name, but rather by action. Jesus states who it is so they may have yet have another thing by which to believe Jesus is the Messiah.

John - “Lord, who is it?”

Jesus - “He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.”

Immediately after this public revelation to the group, Jesus tells Judas to go do what he must do. And get this… though the question was answered directly, the disciples still had NO clue who the betrayer was!

I personally believe that we Jesus said there was someone in that room who would betray Him, there was enough uproar, pointing fingers, and defending self, that they just plain missed it.

This reminds me of my own life. How many times God give us instruction, but we make such a big deal of it, that we actually miss what He is trying to show us? In my life, too many times.

Or we can go the route of Peter and be haughty in our declarations of loyalty. “Well, I would never betray you” or “I would die for you!” Words are nice, but we have always been taught that actions speak louder than words. And we ought to remember that God can see straight through into our hearts. I can think of so many stories where people promise something to God even up to giving up our lives and surrendering to His will, but when the time comes and it is required of us, we hold on a little harder or try to talk our way out of the situation.

This is a lesson Peter himself had to learn. I can just see Him, chest puffed out, “I will lay down my life for thy sake.” And Jesus knowingly, and probably a bit sadly, tells Peter that He will deny Him three times before the morning comes. Now, it doesn't have Peter’s response, but I wouldn't be surprised if he inwardly rolled his eyes, or scoffed to himself thinking that would never happen. But as most of us know, this prophesy does come true.

Just as Jesus humbly washed the disciples feet, let us humbly give our lives to Christ. Dear friend, we are not doing God any favors; it is our privilege to serve the Almighty.

Finally, Jesus takes some time to lay out a new commandment to the disciples, to love one another as Christ loved them. This is so practical in our daily lives. Love isn't easy but it is required. Let’s ask ourselves, do we love others like Christ loves us? Can you imagine what the world would look like if we did? Not in a kumbaya sense like one might think because Jesus did reprove and rebuke His disciples and others, but it was all done in love.

Jesus says the world would know that we are His disciples, by our love. I look at the world today and see that for the most part, this isn't the picture Christians are sending out. We are not responsible for all, but we can control ourselves. Let us actively try to show love to each and every person we come across so that we may show them Christ.