The whole scene is changed now. The Lord’s work in the world is all over, the final testimony given, except the words He spoke when He stood before the governor and before the high priest. He witnessed before Pilate the good confession, and did not conceal from the high priest that He was the Messiah, Son of God. He had completely done with the world, as He said in John 12:3131Now is the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out. (John 12:31)
“Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” So it was all over with the world, and His service in it. He is leaving a condemned world. I was speaking some time ago of a godly clergyman, who, when he was dying, said he was leaving a ruined church and a condemned world. But here we have the first announcement of this judgment of the world, from the lips of Jesus Himself, in connection with that of His professing people. How sweet and precious the sympathy of His spirit!
So the Lord is leaving a condemned world and a ruined nation, which had had the testimony of God. We also are leaving a condemned world, and a ruined church. Looked at on the side of profession and responsibility, the church has not continued in the goodness of God, and must therefore undergo judgment (Rom. 11). The faith is being given up, and the truth as to the Person of Christ assailed and denied; the judgments that are to come upon the corrupt and lifeless profession seem to be no longer far off; and the Holy Ghost is bringing before the hearts and minds of the saints the coming of Christ (Morning Star) to take us to the place He was going to prepare for us (John 14:1-31Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. (John 14:1‑3)), and for which He was, in a sense, preparing us, in this chapter 13, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Thus we can see the similarity between the then and present condition of things. If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do? The Lord is in his holy temple. “The Lord’s throne is in heaven,” that is most true; but there is another truth which meets us here, “The firm foundation of God stands” (2 Tim. 2:1919Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his. And, Let every one that nameth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. (2 Timothy 2:19)). The foundation is as firm as the throne itself; we have the foundation — the truth — on earth, the throne in heaven, our refuge and our strength. In our day, too, the testimony is being given up. Jude exhorts to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints; the faith means Christian truth (Christianity), the subject-matter of faith. To contend earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the saints, is to contend for the subject-matter of the faith, the truths peculiar to Christianity “—life and immortality, “for instance; the revelation of the Father; with other precious truths.
If the saints were to contend for it in that day, it will give us some idea of where we are now. The progress of evil has not stopped one moment since then, though there have been revivals through God’s grace. Protestantism was a great revival. In the middle ages, even, there were persons who read Paul’s epistles, and were called Paulites, which was a revival of truth in the Roman Catholic Church itself.
It is remarkable the way the Lord talks of “this world.” In John 12:25, He says: “He that hateth his life in this world”; and in verse 31, “Now is the judgment of this world, now shall the prince of this world be cast out”; and in John 13:11Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. (John 13:1), “Knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world.” This world was evidently in the Lord’s mind a terrible place. He could not stay here. The Apostle John says, “All that is in the world . . . is not of the Father”; and, “The whole world lies in the wicked one.” In John 12 we get the, revelation of its judgment, as of a hopelessly evil thing. So He says further on, “O righteous Father, the world hath not known Thee” (John 17). That was a terrible thing. The Lord was bringing the world before the Father, not as the gracious Father, or Father of mercies, but He simply presents the world that would not know Him to the righteous Father; leaving it under judgment, and without intercession.
Verse 1. “Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world” — this is the leading thought now, He is about to depart out of this world. It has been said, and it is quite true, that God did not make this world we are living in — in the moral sense, “this present evil world.” He made the material earth and sea. We live in a world of lost sinners. The devil made that, and not God; he brought in the alienation and ruin and apostasy. In the Lord’s mind, the world and its prince go together. The judgment of the one involves the judgment of the other. “Out of this world” — so He had done with it! All this is brought out doctrinally in Paul’s epistles, in connection with the new order of things founded upon Christ’s death and glorification with the Father, and the presence of the Holy Ghost. The Lord brings out the all-important facts with their necessary and immediate bearing upon the moral state of the disciples.
The world was condemned because it did not receive the Lord, its rejection of Christ necessarily involved its own judgment. “If I had not come and spoken to them they had not had sin; but now they have no excuse for their sin.” This is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
With the Spirit of God was given the full revelation of the mind of God, concerning the death, departure to the Father, and glorification of Jesus, with the glorious results — present and future — in heaven and on earth. His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father. It does not say He is going to heaven, but to the Father. What sweet consolation for His blessed spirit, wearied as He must have been of this sinful world, but not weary of service in it, this thought of departing out of it to the Father! Few subjects in this wonderful gospel are more interesting than this departing of Jesus out of this world to the Father. In chapter 3, it was One coming out of heaven, the Son of Man which is in heaven; there, the difference between heavenly and earthly things was in question; here, this world and the Father are in opposition. His love to His own had borne every strain — no faults or failings on their part, nor malice of Satan against them, had altered the affections of Jesus. His love to them was as victorious as His faithfulness to God when the world stood against Him. “I have conquered the world,” He says farther on. The adversary would have brought the world into His heart, and thus have separated Him from God. He showed Him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them. The accuser would have pleaded the unworthiness of the saints, to turn away His affections; but Jesus both conquered the world, and loved His own which were in it — even unto the end.
Verse 3. “He was come from God and went to God,” and He went as He came; not a spot nor a stain from conflict with evil, in the light of victory over the power of darkness, to bring new glory to the throne of God, and fresh delight to the Father’s heart. The moral glory in which He departed, what mind can take it in! But there was One who could, who said unto Him, “Sit Thou at My right hand,” “Jehovah said unto my Lord [Adon, name of power applied to the risen Man], Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool” — and God made Him — that is, the risen Man, Jesus of Nazareth, both Lord (the Adon of Psa. 110). and Christ. These were the glories that first awaited Him: the place at the right hand on the throne of God; and Lord (Man invested with power); and Christ (Anointed Man); made such in heaven.
Elsewhere the Holy Ghost gives us an outline of His way of coming into the world and going on to the end, as here of His departure out of it — not a step in the path is, or could be omitted. How He emptied Himself as God, and humbled Himself as Man; how He became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. His sorrows and conflicts, and how He drank of the brook by the way, are not given here (Phil. 2); but merely how He descended from glory on high, and the answer to it all. Here in the gospel of John we have the character in which He departed out of it. The One whom man rejected, who was cut off and had nothing, in everything and everywhere personally victorious; the Destroyer of Satan, the Glorifier of the Father, the Lover of His people, all this we get in John. You may read the passages that give us this in John, along with Philippians 2. You will find glory answering to glory, and suffering nothing from the comparison, from whichever side you begin (Phil. or John); for all was equal in Jesus.
Well, but was not this a glorious way to depart out of this world? We see that He did not fail, neither ways discouraged. But what of the other side? He was nearing that now. Did He not often think of what awaited Him there from His Father’s heart and hand? Did He read Psalm 110 as we do? “Jehovah said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at My right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Could He have been unconscious of the glories that waited for Him? We know that for the joy set before Him He endured the cross, despising the shame.
Let us look at a few of these honors, as belonging to Him, they feed our souls. Those I refer to give us His position as risen Man, the Psalm quoted reveals Jehovah seating Him as Man at His right hand on His own throne. In Acts 2, God has made this same Jesus Lord (the Adon of Psa. 110), and Christ (Anointed Man). This is God’s present answer to those who rejected Him; but there is one glory wanting to complete the picture of this present position as exalted Man. In Philippians 2, we have seen Him coming, as it were, out of heaven into the world, and the manner of it — -emptying Himself, humbling Himself, and becoming obedient to the death of the cross. Then, as before, God answers the claims of such service by His exaltation, and then, which is peculiar to this chapter, and beyond measure interesting, He takes up the name (Jesus) by which He was known in His humiliation amongst men, which contains in itself a mystery, like the truth of His Person, it being His human name, and at the same time signifying, “Jehovah the Savior,” implying clearly that He was a divine Person, the angel also explaining it: “for He shall save His people from their sins.” God gives Him this very name in heaven as a name of surpassing glory; that at that name — once so familiarly known — and known only to meet with hatred and scorn amongst men “every knee should bow, of heavenly, and earthly, and even of infernal beings, and every tongue confess Jesus Christ Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
What a glorious answer on God’s part to the despisers and rejecters! The rejected One at the right hand on the throne of God in heaven, invested as Man with Lordship and Messiahship there, and the name He was known by in His humiliation given to Him again in heaven (as the titles “Lord” and “Christ” had been), as the great name at which every knee must bow. Lord and Christ, and Jesus, these positions, and the name given to Him in heaven, designate the wondrous Man now sitting at the right hand of God. He comes into the world, emptying Himself, humbling Himself, and obeying; He departs out of it the Conqueror of the world, Destroyer of Satan, the Glorifier of God. In each of these “lines” of “truth” the “soul” recognizes “Him” as “pre-eminent” and unapproachable, infinitely glorious as Man, and its own food and delight for evermore.
“Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.” That is just what you might expect. How could He cease to love them — infinitely weak, too, in themselves, and objects of the malice of the enemy? Satan had sought to get in and hinder. The Lord says to them elsewhere, “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat.” That is, the whole company; and He says to Peter, “I have prayed for thee.” So, in Colossians 2:44And this I say, lest any man should beguile you with enticing words. (Colossians 2:4), you can see Satan was coming in; “This I say lest any man should beguile you with enticing words.” There Paul, in the spirit of his Master, is loving and guarding the saints. The apostle is contemplating the outburst of satanic power in the church; and Satan will always have the ready agents of his power in evil, so long as this present evil world lasts. So it says, “The Lord hath sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation” The broad spiritual meaning of that is, one acting in the power and mind of Satan, Satan himself is an Amalek. Satan may attack, but it is all in vain, when Christ loves, whether the object be an individual saint or the church. “He loved them unto the end” — on to the end of His service on earth. He had kept them, and guarded them, and now He is going to tell us how He loves His saints to the end of their sojourn in the world, how He would keep them, and by what means.
Verses 2-3. And supper being ended [“during supper,” is the meaning, of it], the devil having now put into the heart, of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God.” That is a wonderful position for man, first revealed in Jesus, and in all its reality others are brought into it by grace and redemption, We, learn how, after the cross, and when He had breathed upon them the Holy Ghost, He said, “My God. and your God, My Father; and your Father” (John 20); thus connecting them with Himself, by grace, in His relationship as Man to God. You find in Christ that the most lowly acts are the necessary outflow of His glorious nature. “He could not be hid,” because “the light shines.”
“Knowing that the Father had given, all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God he riseth, from supper.” That is, in all the consciousness of His own personal relation in every way to God. “He was come from God, and went to God,” and the Father had given Him all things: He is always in full consciousness of His relation to God and His Father. Yet it is a Man who gives expression to these glorious thoughts. In Revelation 21, it says the new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God. There is no more glorious thought than that, The glorified saints had been with God all through the millennial reign, and now come forth from God.
Verse 4. “He riseth from supper, and laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.” Then He begins to wash the disciples feet. You see what a new scene it is. There are no Pharisees here, or Sadducees, it is all between the Lord and the disciples, and all in connection with the place He was going to He was going there, and would have us there with Himself in due time. Then He comes to Simon Peter, and Peter was by no means prepared for such blessing as this. “Thou shalt never wash my feet,” he says. And this was simply the pride of self-ignorance affecting humility; but the thoughts of his heart would ere long be fully revealed, even to Peter himself, by the word of God, living and operative, and not less so surely when proceeding from the mouth of Jesus Himself.
It is deeply interesting and instructive to consider the history of this man, to whom the Lord committed the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Did not the Lord know the character of the man He was taking up? He makes no mistakes. He knew that this vessel of election was just as capable as that other one, whose calling was from heaven, for the work allotted to him: but that in him, as in all, there must be first the emptying, and then the filling. What though the utmost grace and patience were needed in the Teacher; was ever teacher like Jesus?
Let us look at some of Peter’s ways, always rash, equally ignorant of his Master’s character, and of his own weakness (Matt. 16:21-2321From that time forth began Jesus to show unto his disciples, how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. 22Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee. 23But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men. (Matthew 16:21‑23)). “From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day. Then Peter took Him, and began to rebuke Him, saying, Be it far from Thee, Lord: this shall not be unto Thee. But He turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind Me, Satan; thou art an offence unto Me: for thou savorest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men.” “Savorest” means, “Thou thinkest, thy mind is not on the things that be of God, but the things that be of men.” Yet the Lord, knowing everything, took up this man to form him and fit him for service to Himself, and to give him a glorious place in the kingdom. It was natural love made him say it; thinking the things that be of men. I am often awake to the consciousness that I am thinking the things that be of men, things nice perhaps in themselves, but quite contrary to the present thoughts of Jesus. Thus, in seeking to spare one’s self, or the fleshly feelings of a saint, one might easily become a very Satan (adversary), running directly counter to the thoughts of Jesus, who had to break down the flesh, to replace it with something from Himself. So, in imitating what holy men of God have done in former times, people often become Satans — adversaries, for that is what it means. The Israelites had to kill people to inherit the land, but if we killed anyone it would be a heinous sin. The Lord meant that he had that thought from Satan. Peter must have known very well the Lord loved him.
Verse 6. “Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter said unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?” Peter thought it was really great humility, his resisting the Lord’s gracious movement. “Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me” (vss. 7-8). There is the point, he could not be with Him in glory unless He washed his feet. It is very remarkable that the man the Lord chose to entrust with the keys of the kingdom of heaven, should never have shown the least intelligence as to his Master’s ways. But he had neither the Holy Ghost, nor the knowledge of redemption, practically also the Word of God was a sealed book to him. His understanding was yet to be opened. Here we have all the elements of his then state; a quickened soul, and the divine Person before it, sustaining it in its weakness, everything else wanting. In Luke 24:4545Then opened he their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures, (Luke 24:45), it says, “He opened their understanding, that they might understand the scriptures,” and He opened the scriptures to the understanding given. They did not understand the scriptures before that. When the Holy Ghost came, a few days after that, Peter leads them all, quoting the scriptures intelligently. They were very much like thousands of people that are born again, but do not understand redemption. I believe numbers of Christians are not sealed by the Holy Ghost; they love the Lord, they fear eternal judgment, but they do not know they are redeemed, they hope they may be.
The Lord says, “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” If I wash thee not, thou hast no part “with Me.” That is a very important thing. No part with Christ in glory. The washing of regeneration is an act done for all eternity, but feet-washing has to be repeated every day of our lives. It is actual sin if we have a thought of sin. If I have to do with a great deal of what is unpleasant in you, or you with me, one’s own nature comes out. You might feel indignant, and the indignation quickly pass into anger. As Moses says, “Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch you water out of this rock?” — takes things into his own hands, sinned, and so lost the present enjoyment of Canaan. It may be my duty to take up sin in another, or in an assembly. If I get excited about it, it is sin. It might not be a great sin, and it is not like a man willfully playing into Satan’s hands. But the simple fact is, one cannot touch defilement without becoming defiled one’s self, no matter how pure the intention; if it was only touching the bone of a dead man, the water of separation must be sprinkled (Num. 19:16-1916And whosoever toucheth one that is slain with a sword in the open fields, or a dead body, or a bone of a man, or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 17And for an unclean person they shall take of the ashes of the burnt heifer of purification for sin, and running water shall be put thereto in a vessel: 18And a clean person shall take hyssop, and dip it in the water, and sprinkle it upon the tent, and upon all the vessels, and upon the persons that were there, and upon him that touched a bone, or one slain, or one dead, or a grave: 19And the clean person shall sprinkle upon the unclean on the third day, and on the seventh day: and on the seventh day he shall purify himself, and wash his clothes, and bathe himself in water, and shall be clean at even. (Numbers 19:16‑19)).
The priests washing their hands and feet signifies that they could not go about the things of God unless they were practically holy (Ex. 30:19-2119For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: 21So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations. (Exodus 30:19‑21)). We shall never come into judgment, but there are defilements that every saint of God contracts. If you think an ungodly thought, though you may have resisted it, it is sin, for if you had been walking with God, the thought would not have got in. If we knew more of the character of God, and what holiness means, we should be very sensitive.
This is a figure of what He does from heaven, He intercedes for us there, and the Spirit of God in His action in us responds. The Holy Ghost applies the Word; whoever may be the instrument, it is the washing of water by the Word. “He that is washed” — regeneration can never be repeated, it is not needed — no question of blood here, though everything is founded on it. When you see a saint on his knees, confessing his sins, it is the result of Christ’s intercession for him, and the Holy Ghost’s action on his soul. I used to think that if I went to the Lord, He would intercede for me, and the Father would come forward and forgive me, but it is a far deeper thing. We should never be confessing our sins, but as the result of His praying for us, and this is most precious grace, let us remember it. “He that is washed,” is not the same word as “to wash his feet.” It means the washing of regeneration, a new nature. The apostle says, “He saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost.” It does not mean washing with blood. Looked at on the side of the new nature, he is always clean. The other word means, “to wash one’s hands or feet.” It is only to wash our feet with us. In Israel, before perfect grace was revealed, man was on the ground of responsibility.
“If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me” — we should have no part with Him in the place He is in now. It shows what a serious thing it is in the eyes of Christ. The Lord takes note of all these things. He follows them out to their full end and results. If He did not wash our feet we could not be Christians at all. Suppose I was perfectly careless, and did not care whether my feet were washed or not, it would show I was not a Christian at all. When we think of the holiness of His nature, it wakes us up to holiness. It is interesting to see how, in connection with His own departure out of it, He is drawing the saints in heart and affection away from this world He was leaving, and we know He is coming again to take us entirely out of it. “Who gave Himself for our sins, that He might deliver us from this present evil world” (Gal. 1:44Who gave himself for our sins, that he might deliver us from this present evil world, according to the will of God and our Father: (Galatians 1:4)).
The advocacy in John’s epistle is His intercession where we have failed, but the priesthood in Hebrews 4 is for infirmity. If we are weak, and the power of Satan comes in, we are to come to the throne of grace to obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need; but when we have sinned, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Verse 9. “Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” He is a man of an ardent spirit, but ignorant of the truth. “What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter.” He was an ardent soul, but a man merely having strong affections is more liable to get into mischief than a man who has no affections at all. Peter followed afar off, and went into the palace of the high priest, and sat by the fire; but people who did not care would not have gone in. So that is where natural affection brought him.
It is a wonderful thing to think that the head of the apostles should have always gone wrong. See Luke 22:31, 3231And the Lord said, Simon, Simon, behold, Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat: 32But I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not: and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren. (Luke 22:31‑32): “Satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat, but I have prayed for thee, that thy faith fail not, and when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren.” “Restored” — it does not mean “converted,” in the evangelical sense. His fall was to be the means of strengthening him. But, till a man has been bruised and broken to pieces, he is no good for service. “And he said unto Him, Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison, and to death” (vs. 33). Just as usual — self-ignorant. We really cannot get on in this state. Till a man has learned himself, he cannot get on, cannot serve Christ. Then in verse 50, “One of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear.” John tells us it was Peter. There you see the violent man. His self-ignorance “and unbrokenness we have noticed. He followed afar off — here is the coward; to violence and cowardice he now adds profaneness, he denied Him with an oath. It is thus that poor Simon, son of Jonas, comes out — by and by we shall see in Peter sweet traces of Him from whom his name was derived (Petros, Peter; Petra, the rock). “On this rock I will build,” and so on (Matt. 16:1818And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. (Matthew 16:18)). We must be broken, must learn ourselves, or, in attempting to follow Christ, we shall only expose ourselves.
“The cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him . . . And when he thought thereon, he wept” (Mark 14:7272And the second time the cock crew. And Peter called to mind the word that Jesus said unto him, Before the cock crow twice, thou shalt deny me thrice. And when he thought thereon, he wept. (Mark 14:72)). There is repentance. In John 21 there is self-knowledge, “Lord, Thou knowest all things; Thou knowest that I love Thee.” He has lost all confidence in himself. There the saint comes out. He does not undertake to do anything. Now Christ will be glorified in him; the Lord says, “You are going to suffer martyrdom for Me.” There are these three things: repentance, self-knowledge, and following his Master even unto death — a glorious career. It was Simon Bar-Jonas that drew back at the cross; it was Peter that was faithful even unto death.
Verses 12-15. “So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” But we must be very like Christ in trying to do that. For if I go to wash a failing saint’s feet, and my own flesh is not subdued, what a terrible state of confusion would ensue. One must act in His spirit.
What a scene that was! There was Peter, wholly unbroken, the same kind of man we have been looking at in Luke. He had been already acting as an adversary, always looking at things from a human point of view. There is nothing more distressing to us when we become spiritual, than to see the saints thinking of earthly things. Then there was Judas — all that was weighing on the spirit of the Lord. Meanwhile He was thinking of us all through our earthly course, how He would bring us through it!
In washing their feet, then, He has given us an example; blessed are they who follow the example of the Lord and Teacher! But not all who were there present were chosen; the scripture was to be fulfilled in the exceptional case of the betrayer, who lifted up his heel against Him — lifted up his heel against his divine Master, with whom he must so often have eaten bread. Continually in His company, yet never knowing Him; outwardly near, but inwardly and spiritually the chasm that subsisted between Jesus and him was immeasurable — in fact, was never crossed.
Nevertheless, whoever received one really sent by Jesus, received Himself — Judas should have been among the number. It may be that this was Jesus thought at that moment, for when He had thus said (vss. 20, 21), He was troubled in spirit. Every kind of sorrow the Lord was to taste, and so this special one of a false friend. And He said, “One of you shall betray Me.” The disciples want to know who it was. Peter feels that he who leaned upon the bosom of Jesus was most likely to know the secrets of that bosom. What a wonderful place of intimacy for mortal man! How profound the reverence which that intimacy produced! That which he listened to, looked upon, handled, of the Word of life, was the eternal Life which was with the Father.
The last act of Jesus towards Judas was one of gentle courtesy; He dipped the sop and gave it to him. Satan thought it was time to take possession of his victim, and entered into him — he went out, and it was night. The Light of the world would quickly leave it. When the wicked was before Him, He was troubled, but the trouble has given way before the sense of glory; the very cross is to be a scene of glory, the Son of Man glorified there! But this was moral glory. Well might the blessed apostle say, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ”; and well may we in our day take up this boasting. God Himself was glorified in Him there, and would straightway glorify Him in Himself. The cross was a very different place from heaven; but the moral glory of Jesus was the same everywhere.
The disciples could no more follow the Lord than the Jews themselves; yet they had life with its instincts, and could love one another. When Jesus had passed through the dark waters, they might follow Him then; but Peter was quite ready to lay down his life for his Master’s sake! Within a few hours he would have thrice denied Him. It was only Simon, son of Jonas, that made the boast.