Now there was at table one of his disciples in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus loved.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
Simon Peter makes a sign therefore to him to ask who it might be of whom he spoke.
Jesus has just said that one of His twelve closest followers will hand Him over, and no one at the table knows who it is. Peter wants the name, but he does not ask for it himself — he signals to another disciple, the one nearest to Jesus.
One writer traces what the disciples tried first, and why Peter, eager as he was, passed his question to someone else.
After the disciples had looked at one another, their consciences began to work. They looked at themselves, and each one asked, "Is it I?" But that did not bring the answer. Peter, though a warm-hearted man, lacked spiritual understanding. He longed to know who the traitor was, but could not frame the right question. Why did he not ask the Lord Himself who would betray Him? Because he felt and knew, in the presence of the Lord, what we have often felt — that another was nearer to Him than himself. Peter had not freedom and liberty. So he beckoned to another to ask. Intimacy grows out of affection, and it is the source of real understanding.
John's nearness was not a tactic adopted for that moment. He was in position before anyone knew a question would need asking.
John did not place himself near the Lord to get this message. He received it because he was near Jesus at the moment when only such nearness could draw out the secrets of the Lord's mind, and he was there because that was the habit of his heart... Nothing else put him so near the Lord — a nearness others could have had, but did not take.
What Peter could not draw out at a distance, John drew out by leaning back.
Peter wanted to know; he was eager to know. It is only leaning on Jesus' breast that we know these things. There we learn everything. He is not in the habit of holding anything back, for He truly deals with us as a friend. From one leaning on His bosom He has no secrets... And what brought John there? Habits of affection for Jesus lead us into such a place.
One disciple asks another for help, and one writer lingers on how free of rivalry the exchange is.
Peter, at a distance, signals to John. John, being near, leans on his Lord's breast again, and so together they draw out the secret of that heart. There is no jealousy here, and no rivalry. It is hard to say which is the greater delight — Peter signalling to John, or John leaning on the breast of Jesus; Peter using his brother, or John using his Lord.
The disciple Peter signals to never names himself in this Gospel. William Kelly notes how he does describe himself, and what such closeness is for.
It is a mark of the Spirit that the disciple who enjoyed such favour describes himself, not as loving Jesus — though he truly did — but as loved by Him: the disciple whom Jesus loved, holding back his own name as a thing of small account. It is intimacy with Jesus that gathers secrets, but imparts them for others' good.
Peter asked for a name. One writer finds love behind both the warning and the guarded way the answer came.
The love that would not openly name the traitor made him known to hearts that cared and asked. To know the intimacy of that love you must be near, and the Lord revealed His burden so that He might draw them near... To know the place John took is to know an intimacy that gives simple boldness. He enjoyed the intimacy that kept nothing back. How readily love answered him! The token given to Judas made the answer known only to the one who asked, while not revealing his name to all. The love that confided in His own was as perfect as the love that bore with Judas.
One writer turns the scene into a test for anyone looking for direction in confusing times.
If, like John, we live day by day in the enjoyment of the Lord's presence and love, we will never lack the knowledge of God's mind in any difficulty... Absorbed in His love, we will hear His faintest whisper, and His path will be plain before our face. But if we are unspiritual or worldly, acting from our own desires or preferences, we will not be able to discern the Lord's way.
- Distance — Peter loved the Lord and wanted the answer. But he was not near enough to ask. Longing is not nearness.
- Habit — John was already in the right place. Staying close to Jesus was his habit, not a move made for that one moment.
- Confidence — the one leaning on His breast learns what others cannot. Christ keeps no secrets from a friend.
- Sharing — what nearness gathers, it passes on. Peter used his brother; John used his Lord. No jealousy spoiled it.
- Guidance — the same nearness is open to us. It decides whether we hear His faintest whisper or miss His path.
But he, leaning on the breast of Jesus, says to him, Lord, who is it?
Jesus has just said that one of His own disciples will betray Him. The man lying closest to Him asks who it is, and where he was lying explains why the question came from him.
The wording is strange to modern ears because the seating was nothing like ours. One writer explains how people ate at that time, and what it meant to lie in another man's bosom.
We must not think of people at meals in those days as being like us today, all sitting on chairs around a table. Rather they were lying at table. They had cushions on the ground. They would lie side by side, with their heads towards the table and their legs away from it. The one who lay in front of the Lord Jesus lay "in His bosom". He would also lean on His breast. So this one was not only sure of the wonderful love of the Lord Jesus, he also wanted His nearness. These two things go together. He was nearest of all to the heart of His Master. It was no matter of doctrine that he knew Jesus loved him; he felt it, and he wanted to enjoy being close to the Lord. This nearness to his Lord is the source of his teaching. He learnt, as it were, through the heartbeat of his Master, leaning on His breast.
Peter wanted the answer, yet he passed the question to another man. One writer reads that as an admission.
Peter, though a hearty man, was not perceptive. He longed to know who the traitor was, but could not frame the right question. Why did he not ask the Lord Himself who would betray Him? Because in the presence of the Lord he felt and knew what we have often felt — that another was nearer to Him than himself. Peter did not have freedom and liberty. So he beckoned to another to ask... Intimacy is the outcome of affection, and the source of real understanding.
Earlier in the same chapter Jesus washed the disciples' feet. One commentator links the two scenes as cause and effect.
The disciple who asks the Lord must be one who is near to the Lord. The one who is nearest can describe himself as "one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved." He is conscious of the Lord's love to him, and he trusts that love. So John leans on the bosom of Jesus. The man whose feet, a little before, had been in the hands of Jesus, now reclines with his head on the bosom of Jesus. May we not say that this position of intimate communion is the proper outcome of feet-washing?
The question was blunt, and the reply came in a way that told the asker everything and the room nothing.
How wonderful a place this one had taken, who was nearer than Peter. He lay on Jesus' bosom as one whom Jesus loved, content to be there and to rest in what he was to Jesus and in His thoughts about him. To know such a place is to know an intimacy that gives simple boldness. He leaned on His breast and asked, "Lord, who is it?" He enjoyed the intimacy that keeps nothing back. How readily love answered him! The sign given to Judas made the answer known only to the one who asked, without revealing his name to everyone. The love that confided in His own was as perfect as the love that bore with Judas.
The same room held the full range of response to Christ.
Jesus is there with a love that can never break down, for "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end." John is there delighting himself in the love of Christ. He rests his head on the bosom of Jesus, and calls himself the disciple whom Jesus loved. Peter is there with real and warm love for the Lord. But he trusts in his own love to the Lord instead of resting in the Lord's love to him. Last, Judas is there, with no love to the Lord. He has the money bag at his side and the devil in his heart, ready to betray the Lord and pass into the long dark night.
John's place was no accident. One writer says what put him there, and what it gave him.
Peter wanted to know; he was eager to know. It is only by leaning on Jesus' breast that we know these things. There we learn everything. He is not in the habit of holding anything back, for surely He deals with us as a friend. From one who leans on His bosom like this He has no secrets... And what brought John there? Habits of affection for Jesus lead us into such a place. We do not know what we will receive there, but we find love (it was "the disciple whom Jesus loved").
Notice when this closeness appears. Betrayal was in the room.
In John 13:23-25 we find the apostle pillowing his head on the breast of divine love. He does this in the presence of the spirit of betrayal, and of the activities of Satan, who had entered into the heart of Judas.
- Washed, then welcomed. The hands that washed the feet make room for the head. Nearness is the outcome of what Christ has already done for us.
- Nearness is felt. John did not know the Lord's love as doctrine only. He felt it, and he wanted to be close enough to enjoy it.
- Nearness gives understanding. Peter's eagerness could not reach what John's closeness received. The Lord keeps no secrets from the one at His breast.
- Nearness holds in the dark. With betrayal at the same table, this disciple rested his head on divine love itself.
- One table, four hearts. Love that never fails. Love resting in that love. Love trusting itself. And no love at all. Where each man lay showed the difference.