He Who Shared My Bread

This morning we're continuing the story of Jesus from the vantage point of John.

So if you have your Bible with you, please open it to John chapter 13, verse 18.

John 13:18

If you don't have a Bible, you can grab one in the front of the seats there, the black book.

The words will also be on the screen for you this morning too.

We're kind of jumping right back into the middle of what took place on the evening prior to Jesus' death.

We're in the upper room.

Jesus has just finished washing the feet of his disciples.

A beautiful and humble act of love.

And after doing this, Jesus made it clear that this does not change their relationship to him.

He is still the teacher, they the students.

He the master, they his servants.

And yet Jesus' command is for them to lovingly serve one another.

To humbly meet the needs of one another, just like he has now done for them.

The evening meal is now in progress.

And here at the table, Jesus has more to say.

We'll pick it up in verse 18.

He says,

I am not referring to all of you.

I know those I have chosen.

But this is to fulfill this passage of scripture.

He who shared my bread has turned against me.

I'm not referring to all of you, says Jesus.

Now it's not entirely clear what Jesus is referring back to here.

Is it that the instructions to serve one another and the blessing that goes along with that does not apply to all of them?

Or is Jesus reaching even further back to verse 10 where he said,

And you, plural, are clean, though not every one of you.

Whatever the case, it seems clear who Jesus is referring to.

He's bringing the conversation back to Judas.

As John explained above in verse 11.

For he knew who was going to betray him.

And that was why he said, not everyone was clean.

And Jesus makes another sort of mysterious statement.

He says, I know those whom I have chosen.

Again, we're kind of left with the disciples wondering what Jesus means.

Imagine that you're one of the disciples sitting there around the table as he says this.

What do you mean, Jesus?

You chose all of us.

It was Jesus who from the beginning had called or invited each one of them to follow him.

And then again, it was Jesus who had selected 12 out of all of his followers

and designated them to be his apostles.

Luke chapter 6, verse 13.

Luke 6:13

So what do you mean, Jesus?

I know those whom I have chosen.

Is it that some are chosen in a deeper sense and some are not?

Or is it that Jesus has chosen all of them and knows all of them,

including which one it is who is about to betray him?

Whatever the case, Jesus tells them that scripture is about to be fulfilled.

This is to fulfill this passage of scripture.

He who shared my bread has turned against me.

Jesus quotes here from Psalm chapter 41, verse 9.

Psalms 41:9

Psalm 41 is a psalm of David in which David reflects on his own afflictions

and prays about his own troubles.

And if you know the story of David, he had some pretty deep and painful afflictions

and many troubles.

Let's look at a couple verses from Psalm 41, starting in verse 7.

David says,

All my enemies whisper together against me.

They imagine the worst for me, saying,

A vile disease has afflicted him.

He will never get up from the place where he lies.

Even my close friend, someone I trusted,

one who shared my bread, has turned against me.

Now exactly who David meant here in Psalm 41, verse 9, we can only guess.

Psalms 41:9

Perhaps this came from David's latter years when he was old and frail,

a time of political intrigue when various men were envious of David's power

and wanted to steal his throne.

Whatever the case, let's not miss the anguish in David's voice.

Even my close friend, someone I trusted,

one who shared my bread, has turned against me.

What is David lamenting here?

Betrayal.

Betrayal of the worst kind.

This is not just some rival who has long opposed David.

This was a close and trusted friend of his.

How close?

Close enough that David could say,

He was one who shared my bread.

In other words, we used to eat together at the dinner table.

And now, says David, he's turned on me.

Now David, I believe, is speaking to God about the anguish of his own betrayal

by a close friend.

But now Jesus is saying that what happened to David

is about to happen again to the son of David, the Messiah.

It's as though Jesus is saying,

I too am about to suffer the anguish of deep betrayal

by a dear and close friend.

A friend so close, he has shared my bread.

A man I've reclined at the table with countless times.

He's about to turn against me.

In verse 19, Jesus says,

I'm telling you now before it happens

so that when it does happen,

you will believe that I am who I am.

When it comes to signs that prove Jesus is the Messiah,

we tend first to think about the miracles that Jesus did.

Those great works of God's power.

But Jesus, in a sense, says,

this too will be a sign for you.

Just as David was betrayed by one of his closest friends,

so the Messiah, the son of David,

will also be betrayed by one of his closest friends.

Jesus speaks about what will happen.

And that clear ability to declare the future

is meant for us to believe that he is the one

as we see it all unfold, just like he said it would.

Now what Jesus says next in verse 20 is this,

very truly I tell you,

whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me.

And whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.

These words hearken back to what he said before

and they point ahead to what he is about to do

to send his disciples into the world on his behalf.

But we're not gonna sit here too long this morning.

We're gonna keep moving through the story here.

Verse 21.

After he had said this,

Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified.

Very truly, I tell you,

one of you is going to betray me.

Notice how Jesus is the one who brings it back again

to this betrayal that's at hand.

This is what is weighing heavily

on the mind and heart of Jesus right now.

Do you hear the anguish in the soul of Jesus?

He was troubled in spirit

as he said this.

Truly, truly, I tell you,

one of you is going to betray me.

Because we know the story,

maybe we tend to just think of Judas

as that guy who was the black sheep

right from the beginning.

Maybe we assume that things between him and Jesus

were always kind of cold.

Or that Jesus, long time before this,

had already shut his heart to Judas,

knowing that Judas would betray him.

But now here, as Jesus utters the words,

we see that this betrayal deeply affected Jesus.

The thought of his close friend

doing what he was about to do,

it troubled him in spirit.

These are the same words that John used

to describe the grief that Jesus felt

as he saw Mary crying over Lazarus' death.

These are the same words that Jesus used

just not too long ago in the gospel

to describe how he felt about his own death

being very near at hand.

When he said,

now my soul is troubled,

and what shall I say?

Father, save me from this hour?

And so it's here that I want to invite you

to consider.

Not all of us,

but some of us,

have felt the anguish

of betrayal

by a loved one,

a close friend,

a dear family member,

maybe even a spouse.

I cannot say to you

that I know what that's like,

but Jesus can.

He's experienced it.

He was troubled in spirit

and testified,

truly, truly, I tell you,

one of you is going to betray me.

Jesus knows the anguish of betrayal.

And so if you have felt that

or are feeling that right now,

know that you are not alone.

Verse 22,

his disciples stared at one another

at a loss to know which of them he meant.

One of them,

the disciple whom Jesus loved,

was reclining next to him.

Simon Peter motioned to this disciple

and said,

ask him which one he means.

Leaning back against Jesus,

he asked him,

Lord,

who is it?

Let these words sink in.

None of the other disciples

saw this coming.

None of them.

They were all at a loss

to know who Jesus was talking about.

Peter didn't know who it was.

John,

the beloved disciple,

didn't know who it was.

They were part of the inner circle of three.

Neither of them knew who it was.

None of them saw this coming.

And it's here at this point

that we probably need to reflect back

over the whole story of Jesus.

It wasn't as though

all of these disciples,

well, they somehow knew,

yeah, I'm a true follower of Jesus,

but Judas over there,

I'm kind of suspicious about him.

No.

They didn't have suspicions about Judas.

To them,

Judas was one of them.

He'd been there from the beginning

with the rest of them

over the past three years.

He was there at the feeding of the 5,000.

He was there being sent out

with the rest of them

back in Luke chapter 6.

Luke 6 · chapter mention

He was there in the boat

when Jesus calmed the storm

and when Jesus walked out to them

on the water.

He walked along the roads with them.

He ate with them.

He worked with them.

He rode with them.

He witnessed all of it

together with them.

And so,

the bond between Judas

and the rest

was probably pretty strong.

They had been through

all of this together with him.

But though Judas had already

been meeting secretly

with the religious leaders,

he was able to keep up

appearances well enough.

None of the 11 disciples

knew it was him

or saw this coming.

Now, some of them,

of course,

knew that he had helped himself

to the money

from the money purse

on occasion.

But did that make him

make them think

that he was disloyal?

Apparently not.

Could it be that they were

all so aware

of their own sins

that Judas'

just seemed somewhat normal?

Just like the rest of them.

James and John

had their arrogance

and their pride.

Peter had his brashness

and loved the praise of others.

Thomas was a cynical guy

who...

And they all argued

and fought with each other

from time to time.

And then Judas,

yeah,

he helped himself

occasionally to the money

from the money purse.

Some people are very skilled

at hiding

what's really going on

inside of them.

And I can't help

but think here

that for Judas

to be convincing

and to have had them

all fooled,

no doubt

there were moments

in which he acknowledged

and even loved

the good things

that came

with following Jesus.

But there was a war

going on inside of him.

A secret love affair

with the world

and the things in it.

And all of that

was just too much

to give up

for this Jesus.

I imagine that inwardly

he vacillated

back and forth

through it all

truly enough

until now at least

that he had them

all fooled.

All except Jesus,

the one who knew

what was in a man.

So here they are

reclined around this table.

Apparently they had tables

that were low to the ground

back then

and they sort of

lay on their sides

with their feet

kind of back out

from the table

around the table.

and John refers

to himself

discreetly here

as the one

whom Jesus loved.

That's where he gets

his nickname

the beloved disciple.

The picture we get here

is of Peter

and then John

beside Peter

and then Jesus

beside John.

And they're at the table

and it seems

as though Peter

basically kind of

discreetly asks John

maybe even in a whisper

ask the Lord

who is it?

And then John

leans his head back

on the chest of Jesus

right beside him.

Who is it?

And then Jesus

speaks to John

and tells him

straight up

verse 26

Jesus answered

it's the one

to whom I will give

this piece of bread

when I have dipped it

in the dish.

And then dipping

the piece of the bread

he gave it to Judas

the son of Simon Iscariot.

As soon as Judas

took the bread

Satan

entered into him.

So Jesus

told him

what you're about

to do

do quickly.

But no one

at the meal

understood why

Jesus said this

to him.

Since Judas

had charged

with the money

some thought

Jesus was telling him

to buy what was needed

for the festival

or to give something

to the poor.

As soon as Judas

had taken the bread

he went out

and it was night.

So it seems

pretty obvious

that this little exchange

where John

asks Jesus

who is it

and Jesus

tells John

it's the one

who I will

give this piece

of bread to

it was quite discreet.

Nobody except

for John

seemed to really

understand

what was going

on here

or even knew

that Judas

was the betrayer

even after he

had left.

They thought

well Jesus

must have sent him

on an errand

or something.

Imagine for a moment

that you

or John

right in the middle

of all this

and you ask Jesus

and Jesus

tells you

it's the one

to whom I

give this piece

of bread

and for the rest

of that meal

till the moment

that Judas leaves

you have that knowledge

something's going

on here.

Nobody else

really understands

what's going on.

what are you

thinking?

What are you

feeling in this

moment?

This part of the

story ends

rather ominously.

Jesus tells

Judas to go

and do what

he's about to do.

John tells us

that Satan

entered

into Judas

the devil

himself

and then Judas

went out

and it was

night.

night.

When we partake

of the Lord's

table each

month

it's easy

it's natural

to want to

focus on the

bread

and the cup

and we should.

Those are the

symbols

that the Lord

has given us

to remember

his death

but this bread

that was broken

and this cup

that was passed

around the

table

came in the

midst of

sorrow

grief

betrayal

and treachery.

a man

sitting at this

same table

was about to

hand Jesus

over to

men

who were

bent

on putting

him to

death

and it

broke the

heart of

Jesus

what Judas

was about

to do.

Not only

was it evil

but it was

personal.

Matthew

tells us

that when

they had all

heard Jesus

say that

one of them

would betray

him

that they

all began

to say

to Jesus

one after

another

surely not

I

Lord

in other

words

I would

never do

such a

thing

and when

it came

around to

Judas

he too

it says

looked into

the eyes

of Jesus

a friend

like no

other

and he

said

surely you

don't mean

me

Rabbi

he lied

to Jesus

face

and it

doesn't say

this in the

Bible but I

imagine that

there were

tears almost

in Jesus

eyes as he

held that

dipped piece

of bread

out to

Judas

a token

of friendship

and love

we might

hear all

this and we

might think

well what

tragedy

what darkness

why bring us

here to

hear about

this today

to look at

this awful

betrayal

but this is

another example

of how God

can use

even the

worst

and most

wicked of

things

and bring

something good

and beautiful

out of it

it's through

this betrayal

that Jesus

will come

to die

and it's

through Jesus

death

on that

cross

that forgiveness

and cleansing

of sin

will come

to all of

us

who repent

and believe

in Jesus

through Judas

betrayal

came Jesus

death

but through

Jesus death

came salvation

for all

who will

believe

and so as

we come to

the table

again this

morning

we're going

to have a

moment of

quiet here

and I want

to invite you

to confess

your sins

to the

Lord

quietly

to ask

for his

forgiveness

to reflect

on Jesus

death

and how

his blood

brings

forgiveness

and atonement

for you

after a few

minutes of

quiet

prayer

Dave will

come up

and pass

out the

elements

and if

you

are here

this morning

and you

have confessed

your sins

you have

confessed

that Jesus

is Lord

and believe

in your heart

that God

raised him

from the

dead

then I want

to invite

you to

partake

with us

this morning

to eat

and drink

together

with us

if not

simply let

the bread

and the cup

pass you

by

we'll wait

until everyone

has been

served

and then we'll

partake

together

prayer

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.