John 13

John 13:21-30 . THE TRAITOR INDICATED--HE LEAVES THE SUPPER ROOM.

21. When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, and said, Verily, verily, I say unto you, One of you shall betray me--The announcement of John 13:18 seems not to have been plain enough to be quite apprehended, save by the traitor himself. He will therefore speak it out in terms not to be misunderstood. But how much it cost Him to do this, appears from the "trouble" that came over His "spirit"--visible emotion, no doubt--before He got it uttered. What wounded susceptibility does this disclose, and what exquisite delicacy in His social intercourse with the Twelve, to whom He cannot, without an effort, break the subject!

22. the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom he spake--Further intensely interesting particulars are given in the other Gospels: (1) "They were exceeding sorrowful" ( Matthew 26:22 ). (2) "They began to inquire among themselves which of them it was that should do this thing" ( Luke 22:23 ). (3) "They began to say unto Him one by one, Is it I, and another, Is it I?" ( Mark 14:19 ). Generous, simple hearts! They abhorred the thought, but, instead of putting it on others, each was only anxious to purge himself and know if he could be the wretch. Their putting it at once to Jesus Himself, as knowing doubtless who was to do it, was the best, as it certainly was the most spontaneous and artless evidence of their innocence. (4) Jesus, apparently while this questioning was going on, added, "The Son of man goeth as it is written of Him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! It had been good for that man if he had not been born" ( Matthew 26:24 ). (5) "Judas," last of all, "answered and said, Lord, is it I?" evidently feeling that when all were saying this, if he held his peace, that of itself would draw suspicion upon him. To prevent this the question is wrung out of him, but perhaps, amidst the stir and excitement at the table, in a half-suppressed tone as we are inclined to think the answer also was--"Thou hast said" ( Matthew 26:25 ), or possibly by little more than a sign; for from John 13:28 it is evident that till the moment when he went out, he was not openly discovered.

23-26. there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved--Thus modestly does our Evangelist denote himself, as reclining next to Jesus at the table.
Peter . . . beckoned to him to ask who it should be of whom he spake--reclining probably at the corresponding place on the other side of Jesus.

25. He then lying--rather leaning over on Jesus' bosom.
saith--in a whisper, "Lord, who is it?"

26. Jesus answered--also inaudibly, the answer being communicated to Peter perhaps from behind.
He . . . to whom I shall give a sop when I have dipped it--a piece of the bread soaked in the wine or the sauce of the dish; one of the ancient ways of testifying peculiar regard; compare John 13:18 , "he that eateth bread with Me."
And when he had dipped . . . he gave it to Judas, &c.--Thus the sign of Judas' treachery was an affecting expression, and the last, of the Saviour's wounded love!

27-30. after the sop Satan entered into him--Very solemn are these brief hints of the successive steps by which Judas reached the climax of his guilt. "The devil had already put it into his heart to betray his Lord." Yet who can tell what struggles he went through ere he brought himself to carry that suggestion into effect? Even after this, however, his compunctions were not at an end. With the thirty pieces of silver already in his possession, he seems still to have quailed--and can we wonder? When Jesus stooped to wash his feet, it may be the last struggle was reaching its crisis. But that word of the Psalm, about "one that ate of his bread who would lift up his heel against Him" ( Psalms 41:9 ) probably all but turned the dread scale, and the still more explicit announcement, that one of those sitting with Him at the table should betray Him, would beget the thought, "I am detected; it is now too late to draw back." At that moment the sop is given; offer of friendship is once more made--and how affectingly! But already "Satan has entered into him," and though the Saviour's act might seem enough to recall him even yet, hell is now in his bosom, and he says within himself, "The die is cast; now let me go through with it"; fear,
Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly--that is, Why linger here? Thy presence is a restraint, and thy work stands still; thou hast the wages of iniquity, go work for it!

28, 29. no man . . . knew for what intent he spake this unto him . . . some thought . . . Jesus . . . said . . . But what we need . . . or, . . . give . . . to the poor--a very important statement, as showing how carefully. Jesus had kept the secret, and Judas his hypocrisy, to the last.

30. He then, having received the sop, went immediately out--severing himself for ever from that holy society with which he never had any spiritual sympathy.
and it was night--but far blacker night in the soul of Judas than in the sky over his head.

John 13:31-38 . DISCOURSE AFTER THE TRAITOR'S DEPARTURE--PETER'S SELF-CONFIDENCE--HIS FALL PREDICTED.

31. when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified--These remarkable words plainly imply that up to this moment our Lord had spoken under a painful restraint, the presence of a traitor within the little circle of His holiest fellowship on earth preventing the free and full outpouring of His heart; as is evident, indeed, from those oft-recurring clauses, "Ye are not all clean," "I speak not of you all," &c. "Now" the restraint is removed, and the embankment which kept in the mighty volume of living waters having broken down, they burst forth in a torrent which only ceases on His leaving the supper room and entering on the next stage of His great work--the scene in the Garden. But with what words is the silence first broken on the departure of Judas? By no reflections on the traitor, and, what is still more wonderful, by no reference to the dread character of His own approaching sufferings. He does not even name them, save by announcing, as with a burst of triumph, that the hour of His glory has arrived! And what is very remarkable, in five brief clauses He repeats this word "glorify" five times, as if to His view a coruscation of glories played at that moment about the Cross.
God is glorified in him--the glory of Each reaching its zenith in the Death of the Cross!

32. If God be glorified in him, God shall also--in return and reward of this highest of all services ever rendered to Him, or capable of being rendered.
glorify him in himself, and . . . straightway glorify him--referring now to the Resurrection and Exaltation of Christ after this service was over, including all the honor and glory then put upon Him, and that will for ever encircle Him as Head of the new creation.

33-35. Little children--From the height of His own glory He now descends, with sweet pity, to His "little children," all now His own. This term of endearment, nowhere else used in the Gospels, and once only employed by Paul ( Galatians 4:19 ), is appropriated by the beloved disciple himself, who no fewer than seven times employs it in his first Epistle.
Ye shall seek me--feel the want of Me.
as I said to the Jews--( John 7:34 , 8:21 ). But oh in what a different sense!

34. a new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another--This was the new feature of it. Christ's love to His people in giving His life a ransom for them was altogether new, and consequently as a Model and Standard for theirs to one another. It is not, however, something transcending the great moral law, which is "the old commandment" ( 1 John 2:7 , it is said to be both new and old ( 1 John 2:7 1 John 2:8 ).

35. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples--the disciples of Him who laid down His life for those He loved.
if ye have love one to another--for My sake, and as one in Me; for to such love men outside the circle of believers know right well they are entire strangers. Alas, how little of it there is even within this circle!

36-38. Peter said--seeing plainly in these directions how to behave themselves, that He was indeed going from them.
Lord, whither guest thou?--having hardly a glimmer of the real truth.
Jesus answered, . . . thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards--How different from what He said to the Jews: "Whither I go ye cannot come" ( John 8:21 ).

37. why not . . . now? I will lay down my life for thy sake--He seems now to see that it was death Christ referred to as what would sever Him from them, but is not staggered at following Him thither. Jesus answered,

38. Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake?--In this repetition of Peter's words there is deep though affectionate irony, and this Peter himself would feel for many a day after his recovery, as he retraced the painful particulars.
Verily . . . The cock,