Jesus said: “ ‘18 I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But it is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate My bread has lifted his heel against Me.’ 19 I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. 20 Very truly, I tell you, whoever receives one whom I send receives Me; and whoever receives Me receives Him who sent Me.’ 21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.’ 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He was speaking. 23 One of His disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to Him; 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom He was speaking. 25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked Him, ‘Lord, who is it?’ 26 Jesus answered, ‘It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.’ So when He had dipped the piece of bread, He gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot. 27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why He said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival”; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night” John 13: 18-30.
John gives us two (2) accounts of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus. The first is in verses 18-19 and the second in verses 21-30. Curiously Jesus identifies His betrayer as “The one who ate My bread has lifted his heel against Me” (verse 18). This suggests that “My bread” was the Eucharist that Jesus had already just celebrated with His Apostles for the first time. We must remember that John is not writing a chronological synopsis of Jesus’ life, but is focusing instead on other aspects of His life, and so Jesus’ discourse in chapter 6 may very well have been this time when Jesus celebrated the Eucharist with His Apostles when He said: “50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”
John 6:50-51. If this is indeed how these accounts are spread out throughout John’s Gospel it makes sense that the missing account of the Eucharist in John’s Gospel occurred in John 6:51, for the treason of Judas follows a few verse later in John 6:71 and this makes even more sense.
The second account of Judas’ betrayal refers of the never-identified Apostle — “the one whom Jesus loved” (verse 23) — who is the author of this Gospel. We have to understand that the table where meals were eaten was very low to the ground, and so diners reclined on pillows leaning up on their left side and left elbow, propping up their head on a pillow with their feet protruding away from the table. So John must have been sitting to the right of Jesus. Reclining was required for the Passover Seder, and the dipping of a morsel of bread was done with the right hand, always with the right hand. So this account has all the semblances of a Passover meal.
But are you not also intrigued with Jesus’ command to Judas in verse 27:
“Do quickly what you are going to do”? It strikes me that Jesus is very much in command of the events occurring that night. His destiny is His to give away — and only His. No one, much less Judas, is going to change that, so Jesus wants His inevitable death to occur very soon — and quickly.
The hour of Satan is at hand in his betrayer Judas, and the night has already descended on Jesus — the Light is about to be extinguished —
but not without Jesus’ permission. He always is in charge of His destiny — and yours and mine too!
I am also moved beyond words when Jesus says that this night “is to fulfill the scripture, ‘The one who ate My bread has lifted his heel against Me’” John 13:18. Does this not bring us all back to the opening words of the bible in Genesis when the Satanic serpent is bruising the heel of the woman? In Genesis 3 after God discovers that the Satanic serpent tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit, God said this to the serpent:
“14 Because you have done this, cursed are you among all animals and among all wild creatures; upon your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.
15 I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers; he will strike your head, and you will strike his heel” Genesis 3:14-15.
Can you not hear John telling us all that this night is all about the gigantic struggle between our Lord and Savior and the Satanic serpent from the beginning of human history?
Dear friends I implore you to take time in these verses today, reflecting on the mighty battle Jesus waged on our behalf. Pray that you will not be counted among the Judases of our world but instead be the ones Jesus loved. May we all eat the bread of Jesus rather than the bread of betrayal.
Oh dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. May You number us among those who love You, and may our food truly be Your Bread of Life. And this I pray, in Your Holy Name, amen.
From the Bible:
“Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst” John 6:35.
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh” John 6:51.
“I am the bread of life” John 6:48.
“Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst”
John 6:32-35.
“For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world” John 6:33.
“Jesus then said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven” John 6:32.
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