Tuesday | The Table of Choice: Drawing Near or Turning Away

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Today is Tuesday of Holy Week and we'll

be looking at the last supper in John

13. After Jesus washed the disciples

feet, they all sat together to eat a

meal. Listen to verse 21-30.

When Jesus had said these things, he

became troubled in spirit and testified

and said, "Truly, truly, I say to you

that one of you will betray me." The

disciples began looking to one another

and at a loss to know which one he was

speaking. Lying back on Jesus's chest

was one of his disciples whom Jesus

loved. So Simon Peter nodded to this

disciple and said to him, "Tell us who

it is of whom he is speaking." He then

simply leaned back on Jesus's chest and

said to him,"Lord, who is it?" Jesus

then answered, "That man is the one for

whom I shall dip the piece of bread and

give it to him." So when he had dipped

the piece of bread, he took it and gave

it to Judas, the son of Simon, his

scariot. After this, Satan then entered

him. Therefore Jesus said to him, "What

you were doing, do it quickly." Now,

none of those reclining at the table

knew for what purpose he had said this

to him. For some were assuming since

Judas kept the money box that Jesus was

saying to him, "Buy the things we need

for the feast." Or else he was to give

something to the poor. So after

receiving the piece of bread, he left

immediately and it was

night. The way the apostle John

describes himself in contrast to Judas

has something to teach us about

disciplehip. I think verse 23 says,

"Lying back on Jesus's chest was one of

his disciples whom Jesus loved." At the

table or set of tables that fit all 12

of the disciples, John was so close to

Jesus that he was able to lean against

him and speak to him like a close friend

and confidant. Peter even nodded to John

to find out who Jesus thought would

betray him. And that kind of reminds me

of of my oldest son when he was younger.

He if he wanted something for me, if he

wanted a favor, he would get his younger

brother to ask thinking that I favored

the

youngest, which of course wasn't true.

Actually kind of was, but anyways,

that's what it reminds me of. So the

impression I get is that Peter thinks

John is favored by Jesus, or else why

not just ask the question himself? But

when Jesus informed them that one of the

disciples would betray him, Jesus leaned

close to ask, "Lord, who is it?" I find

it interesting that Judas was sitting

close to Jesus as well. It seems as if

Judas was within arms reach of Jesus

because he was able to hand him a piece

of bread. Now, we have to consider the

fact that a banquet dinner with at least

13 people and possibly other disciples

there as well. Sitting that close to

your rabbi would have been considered a

place of honor for both Judas and

John. And we know this was a cultural

thing for Jews. And we still see it

today in our culture during special

public occasions like a presidential

inauguration where the news pays close

attention to who is sitting up front and

what message that sends out. Matthew

Matthew 23:6

23:6 even refers to seats of honor at

banquetss which hypocrites fight over. I

wonder whether Judas weasled his way to

that seat or if he was invited there by

Jesus. Regardless, both Judas and John

were close to Jesus, but they were in

completely different places spiritually.

John acted as if he was highly favored

and in fact he called himself quote the

disciple whom Jesus loved. He leaned on

Jesus because that's how comfortable he

was with him. They were close friends.

Judas, on the other hand, was near, but

in his heart, he was the furthest away

from Jesus, completely

alienated. But despite this, Jesus

literally broke bread with Judas and

handed him the unleavened bread of the

Passover meal dipped in bitter herbs.

That bread was eaten to remember God's

deliverance of Israel from slavery. And

Jesus was there as the bread of life

come to do the same thing for all

humanity. But Judas didn't accept this

unleavened bread and its meaning. He

could have repented, partaken of the

meal with Jesus, and remained faithful

to him, but instead he left immediately

once he was exposed. In a sense, he

ingested Satan by choosing to leave.

Verse 26 and 27 says, "When he dipped

the piece of bread, he took it and gave

it to Judas. After this, Satan then

entered him." This is saying that the

spirit of the deceiver motivated him to

carry out the plans of the Pharisees.

Judas rejected Jesus as the bread of

life, the new unleavened bread of the

new Passover, which offers deliverance

from sin and Satan.

Instead, he chose the leavenven of the

Pharisees, which Jesus and Matthew

called hypocrisy and

pride. This image of Satan entering

Judas to lead him to unfaithfulness is

the opposite of the Holy Spirit, which

remains and resides within us and helps

us to be faithful. Jesus says in the

very next chapter in John 14, I will ask

the father and he will give you another

helper so that he may be with you

forever. The helper is the spirit of

truth. The encouragement I find in this

in this image of the disciples at the

last supper is that everyone is invited

to become the disciple whom Jesus loved,

favored and embraced by God. And the

challenge is that none of us, no

believer is beyond becoming like a

Judas. All it takes is to become

hard-hearted and embrace the leavenven

of wickedness, which is a way of

describing how sin molds us and shapes

our character. 1 Corinthians 5:7-8 says,

1 Corinthians 5:7–8

"For Christ our Passover, also has been

sacrificed. Therefore, let's celebrate

the feast not with old leaven, nor with

the leavenven of malice and wickedness,

but with the unleavened bread of

sincerity and truth."

Paul there is talking about communal

sin. But embracing sincerity and truth

starts individually by acknowledging

what's inside our

hearts. I bet if we knew a lot of

details about Judas's life, we might

understand why he acted the way he did.

There must have been truths about

himself that Judas didn't want to accept

or acknowledge.

You know, we tend to be deceitful,

prideful, and

egotistical when we are too ashamed to

tell the truth and be vulnerable and

show weakness. At times, it it feels

easier to hide behind deceit and behind

vanity and even to just be overwhelmed

by distractions than it is to be

vulnerable. But the reward for accepting

what Paul calls the unleavened bread of

sincerity and truth is the gift of our

own belovedness in Christ Jesus. And

Judas was wearing a mask. He was there

as an apostle, but he was filled with

deceit. He was pretending um that he had

good motives when he didn't when he all

he had was selfish motives. You know,

when we take off our masks, whatever

they are, then we can enjoy being our

true self.

We can accept God's grace and enjoy

communing with God just like the image

of John reclining on

Jesus. You just wasn't spiteful and full

of pride because he was unloved and

unaccepted. He was at the table in a

seat of honor, but he wouldn't accept

how much God was trying to embrace him.

Sometimes we can't accept it either, and

it's because of our ego and insecurities

and fear of discomfort and fear of

failure. And those things drive us or

can drive us away from God. But if we

see ourselves through Jesus's eyes and

let that change how we worship and pray

and we can grow to have confidence, the

confidence that John had. He was

confident enough to refer to himself

with a special title. This disciple whom

Jesus loved sat next to Jesus at the

Passover banquet. He was the only

apostle at the foot of the cross and was

told by Jesus to care for his mother

Mary. He outran Peter to reach the empty

tomb and recognized Jesus when he

appeared in Galilee after the

resurrection. John presents himself in

his gospel as the model disciple. But

it's not because he thought he was

perfect. His own epistle acknowledges

that we all sin and we deceive ourselves

if we claim we

don't. But this is what made John the

model disciple. He carried himself as if

he was highly favored by God. because in

fact he was and so are we. I I think a

prayer of affirmation can help us

recognize what we have in Christ. And it

can be as simple as praying for a few

minutes. God, you are my father and I am

your son or daughter. You are love and I

am your beloved child. Try repeating

that prayer today in a quiet place.

Amen.

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