John 13:18-30
18 “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 r against me.’
19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am. 20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
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.”
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” 28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. [1
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The thing that struck me today is the fact that Judas doesn’t leave the upper room until after the foot-washing. In other words, the passage we looked at yesterday included Judas. And as this passage makes quite clear, Jesus knew what Judas was planning.
And He served him, washed his feet, anyhow. Did he know for sure that Judas would follow through? On the one hand, He is God. On the other, Judas always had free will and could have resisted Satan’s temptation any point along the way. The fact that betrayal by someone close to Jesus was prophesied, and that Jesus knew what Judas was plotting take nothing away from the fact that Judas is 100% responsible for what He did. And still Jesus served him.
How do I treat the people who have hurt me? Who have betrayed me, slandered me, been unkind to me? What is the behavior of Jesus? What do these passages say to us?
We still wash their feet. We still serve. After all this is what Jesus had been teaching. “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Matthew 5:43-45). This doesn’t mean we let ourselves be a doormat, and it doesn’t mean that when appropriate we don’t confront and rebuke, not to vent or hurt, but to work toward repentance and reconciliation.
Easier said than done, right? That’s why my prayer today is for grace to live this way. It’s so much easier to wallow in righteous indignation at the hurts I have suffered, to plot revenge fantasies, or at least passive/aggressive paybacks. Much harder to forgive as God has forgiven, to serve as God has served me.
So my prayer is again today that I may be a servant, but especially that the Lord lead me to see how He wants me to serve those that have sinned against me, that I may be more and more like my savior.
What is the Word leading you to pray about today?
[1] The New International Version. 2011 (Jn 13:18–30). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan.
