And as they lay at table and were eating, Jesus said, Verily I say to you, One of you shall deliver me up; he who is eating with me.
The Passover meal is underway, and Jesus tells the twelve that His betrayer is eating with Him. Three questions follow: how could someone so close do this, why did the Lord say it aloud, and how is a foretold act still that man's own sin?
The words come at a shared meal. One writer links the old feast to the far greater rescue just ahead.
In the evening He comes with the twelve, and they sat down to eat the Passover. That meal remembered how God rescued the people of Israel out of Egypt. The Lord was about to win a far greater deliverance for His people. This eternal redemption required His death, and the betrayal of one of the twelve would bring that death about.
Reclining at the table was the custom of the time:
The Jews had adopted the Roman custom of reclining at meals.
Mark records not just that a betrayer existed, but that he was sharing the Lord's food. Writers link this detail to the sorrow the Psalms speak about.
The Lord then speaks of His betrayal. His words show, as other passages do too, how deeply He felt that one of the disciples would betray Him. He knew who it was, and He said so here. But what lay on His heart, in His love for His disciples, was that one of them should do it... The Lord's answer points back to the prophecy that told of His sorrow, and of what made it so painful. See Psalm 41:9; 55:12.
Closeness makes the wound deep. It also shows what Judas loved most.
The greater and more perfect the love, the greater the anguish when such love is betrayed. Love was never shown in all its perfection as it was in Christ, and no one ever lived so close to Christ on the outside as Judas did. Yet it was all in vain. Even if he had some appreciation of that love, he loved money more.
Scripture foretold the betrayal. Does that make the betrayer only a tool? One writer holds both sides together without softening either.
It was man's sin, Satan's cunning, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas... God did not make him wicked, but God shaped his wickedness to fulfil His own purposes. One of the company chosen to be with Jesus here on earth would prove this awful truth. The nearer a man stands to blessing on the outside, the further he stands from it in heart, if he never takes it in. There was only one Judas in Israel, and he was the nearest to Jesus.
The Lord could have stayed silent. Speaking did two things at once. It prepared the disciples, and it warned the betrayer.
Now they must learn from His own lips that one of the twelve would hand Him over. They needed to be prepared for this worst of all wickedness... Divine love needed it too, for that love would not give up even a Judas without warning. It let him know that even the night around him was light. Scripture had also warned in advance and pointed at him.
He also let His own share what He was carrying.
The Lord wanted others to share in His sorrows. It has been said, "He does not proudly hide them," but He wants to lay His sorrows, as a Man, in human hearts; love "counts upon love."
The man who ate with Jesus had every outward advantage. So this verse becomes a question for anyone who carries a religious name.
Here was an apostle — a preacher of the gospel, a man with a great religious name. Yet under that cover lay a heart trained in greed. It had plenty of room for "thirty pieces of silver," but not a corner for Jesus... He preached the gospel, but he never knew it, never believed it, never felt it... You who claim to be Christians, beware of head-knowledge, lip service, religious office, and religion done by routine. Beware of these things and seek to have a heart for Christ.
- Nearness given. At the Passover table the twelve eat with the Lord. He is moving toward a rescue far greater than the one from Egypt.
- Nearness felt. The betrayer is not a stranger. He is eating with Jesus, and the prophecy in the Psalms shows how deeply He felt it.
- Nearness no excuse. God's counsel, man's sin, Satan's cunning and Christ's love all meet here — and none of them lessen Judas' wickedness.
- Nearness warned. He speaks aloud to prepare the disciples. Love also warns the betrayer himself.
- Nearness tested. The closest place to blessing becomes the furthest, if the heart never takes it in. So seek a heart for Christ, not a reputation.
And they began to be grieved, and to say to him, one by one, Is it *I*? [and another, Is it *I*?]
The last supper is under way, and Jesus has just said that one of the twelve eating with Him will hand Him over. Their answer is not argument or suspicion but grief, and a question each man turns back on himself.
The Lord did not make the announcement from a distance. He wanted His own to share what He felt. Judas, closer to that love than anyone, wanted something else more.
In His perfect love, the Lord felt it deeply. One of those who had lived in His holy presence, heard His words of grace, and seen His endless love and patience was going to act like this. His words came out of the anguish of His heart: "One of you who is eating with Me will betray Me." The greater and more perfect the love, the greater the anguish when someone betrays such love. Never had love in all its perfection been shown as it was in Christ, and no one ever lived outwardly so near to Christ as Judas. Yet it was all in vain. Even if he had some appreciation of that love, he loved money still more... The Lord wanted others to share with Him in His sorrows. It has been said, "He does not proudly hide them," but wants to lay His sorrows as a Man in human hearts; love "counts upon love."
His words were aimed first at one man's conscience, but every man at the table felt them.
As they eat the Passover, the Lord first uses an indirect way to stir the conscience of Judas. How good to see that the disciples were "very sorrowful" to hear this, rather than indignant against the guilty man. In fact, in wise distrust of themselves, they ask in turn, "Lord, is it I?"
Their question is not doubt about Christ.
He knew well who the traitor would be. Yet He expresses the anguish of His heart when He says, "one of you will betray me." He wanted to test their hearts again and bring to light what was inside. They believed the Lord's words. Each one was full of trust in Him and of holy distrust of himself, and said, "Lord, is it I?" What a fine testimony of upright and tested hearts! They thought about the fact and the possibility of such a crime with more confidence in Jesus' word than in themselves.
Matthew records how the traitor handled his turn.
We can picture the scene, as each one, distrusting himself, asked, "Is it I?" No one apparently kept silent except Judas, who at last — since staying quiet any longer would give him away — had the nerve to say, as Matthew records, "Rabbi, is it I?"
Judas had every outward advantage the eleven had.
One of that company chosen to be with Jesus here below was to prove this terrible truth. The nearer a man is outwardly to blessing, the further he is morally from it, if he does not take it into his heart. There was only one Judas in Israel, and he was nearest to Jesus. Only one man joined all the privileges of that companionship to all the guilt of betraying Him.
The mood does not last. Peter soon speaks with full confidence in himself.
Not knowing our own weakness, we think we are safe even though others may fail. So Peter says, "Even though they all fall away, I will not." They would all fall away. But the one who takes the lead in expressing his self-confidence would have the greatest fall. We break down in the very thing we boast about.
Before conscience wakes up, a person looks at everyone else.
Before your conscience is awakened, you look at other people. Then conscience begins to work, and each one says, "Lord, is it I?"... Have you ever, as a sinner, asked yourself the question — Is it I? Oh, but you say, I could not betray Christ. Well, I am perfectly sure I could, knowing my own heart. And, my dear friends, the person who is certain that he can never do it is the very person who will go and do it.
- Love speaks. The betrayal wounded His heart, and He said so. He lays His sorrows in human hearts instead of hiding them.
- Love tests. His word brought out what was inside them: belief in Him joined to holy distrust of themselves.
- Sorrow inward. Their grief turned on themselves, not on the unknown traitor; that is the mark of an honest heart.
- Nearness deceives. Judas copied the question to hide behind it. Outward closeness to blessing means nothing if a man never takes it into his heart.
- Confidence kills. The same men who asked "Is it I?" soon boasted they would never fail — and we break down in the very thing we boast about.
But he answered and said to them, One of the twelve, he who dips with me in the dish.
At the Passover table the disciples ask one by one whether they are the traitor. The Lord answers with no name, only a mark: the man is an insider, sharing the same dish. Commentators ask why nearness, not distance, is the sting here, and how a man could eat with Jesus while planning to sell Him.
Of all the people in Israel, the betrayer came from the twelve — the men chosen to be with Jesus day after day. One writer draws from this a principle that reaches far beyond Judas.
One of the company chosen to be with Jesus here on earth would prove this awful truth. The nearer a man stands to blessing on the outside, if he does not receive it into his heart, the further he is from it in his soul. There was only one Judas in Israel, and he was the nearest to Jesus. Only one man joined all the privileges of such companionship with Jesus to all the guilt of betraying Him.
The shared dish does more than identify the man. It shows what he trampled on: a love that opened its sorrows to friends and counted on love in return.
The betrayal was heartless and utterly wicked: the man who was about to betray the Lord could dip with Him in the dish. The Lord wanted others to share His sorrows with Him. Someone has said that He does not hide them out of pride. Instead He wants to lay His sorrows, as a Man, in human hearts; love "counts on love."
The Lord moves step by step, from one of you to the man sharing His dish, and He never says the name Judas. One writer reads this narrowing as mercy still at work.
The Lord points out the traitor next, but He comes closer by degrees, as if to alarm the conscience and rouse it to repentance before the guilt was fixed. First it is one of you. Then it is the man who dips his hand with Me in the dish.
Another writer weighs what the act itself revealed:
The Lord's answer was that the betrayer would dip his hand in the dish with the Lord Himself. That act would show a shameless attitude of resisting his own conscience.
If closeness to Christ could improve a man by itself, Judas would have been the best of them. The opposite happened. One writer traces the steps.
There was sin in Judas's nature, and that sin showed itself in the shape of the love of money. Next Satan suggested a way to satisfy this desire, for he loved money more than he loved Jesus. Here we see the result of outward nearness to the Lord while the conscience stays untouched... His nearness served to harden him... And religious forms cannot improve the flesh, even where Christ Himself is.
Several things came together at that table, and God's part in it excuses no one.
It was man's sin, Satan's cunning, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas... God did not make him wicked, but God shaped his wickedness into this form to fulfil His own counsels.
One writer turns the verse on the reader instead of on Judas.
The believers at Corinth were in danger of the same kind of disloyalty to Christ that led Judas to betray his Master — not to the same degree, but the same kind. We must not curse Judas and forget that we could do the same. The Lord did not speak harsh words to him. Scripture records his shameful deed to warn us. But we are not to stare at Judas. We are to look at the Lord, and to think what sorrow this was to Him... The Lord Jesus cared for Judas, and yet Judas betrayed Him.
- Nearness given. The betrayer came from the twelve chosen to be with Jesus — no one in Israel stood closer.
- Nearness shared. The dish speaks of a love that lays its sorrows in human hearts and counts on love in return.
- Nearness warned. The Lord comes closer step by step. He wakes the conscience before He names the guilt.
- Nearness refused. Closeness on the outside hardens a man whose conscience stays untouched. Religious forms cannot improve the flesh, even next to Christ Himself.
- Nearness examined. Man's sin, Satan's cunning, God's counsel and Christ's love all met at that table. The right response is to ask about ourselves, not to pass a verdict on Judas.
The Son of man goes indeed as it is written concerning him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of man is delivered up; [it were] good for that man if he had not been born.
The Passover meal is underway when Jesus tells the twelve that one of them will hand Him over. He then says two things at once: Scripture marked out His path long before, but the man who betrays Him is under a woe.
The Lord's deepest grief here is about who is doing this.
In His perfect love, the Lord felt it deeply. One of those who had lived in His holy presence, heard His words of grace, and seen His endless love and patience was going to act like this. The greater and more perfect the love, the greater the anguish at such a betrayal of love. Christ expressed love in all its perfection as no one else ever did. And no one ever lived as near to Christ, on the outside, as Judas. Yet it was all in vain, for even if he had any appreciation of the love, he loved money still more.
"As it is written of him" points back to the Psalms. They had already described the betrayal and the sharpness of the pain.
The Lord's answer refers to the prophetic statement which told of His sorrow and the reason it was so sharp. See Psalm 41:9; 55:12. The Son of man must go as Scripture had written of Him. But the doom of the man who did it was terrible.
For the believer, this reaches far past one night.
In the end, Judas could only carry out the purpose of God... It is a great support to the believer's heart to know this: neither the wickedness of man nor the schemes of Satan can frustrate any divine plan. Rebels against their Maker, human or angelic, must contribute to the final result He planned, even against their own will. Of course this does not lessen their wickedness at all. God and His purposes have no place in their thoughts.
The "but" in the middle of the verse is the whole point. Being foretold is not the same as being excused.
The Holy Writings had foretold that betrayal would take the Son of Man into death. That did not lessen the seriousness of the traitor's act in any way. God knows all things and can foretell men's acts. This does not relieve them of responsibility for what they do. By his act Judas revealed his true self. Jesus was about to reveal Himself fully by His death.
Four things came together at that table.
It was man's sin, Satan's cunning, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas... God did not make him wicked. But God gave his wickedness this shape, to fulfil His counsels.
Judas held the closest place of all, and it did him no good.
One of the company chosen to be with Jesus here on earth would prove this awful truth. The nearer a man comes to blessing on the outside, the further he really is from it, if he never takes it into his heart. There was only one Judas in Israel, and he was nearest to Jesus. And there was only one man who joined all the privileges of such closeness to Jesus with all the guilt of betraying Him.
Jesus says the woe out loud, in Judas's hearing, before the deed. That is deliberate.
Divine love would not give up even a Judas without warning. It had to let him know that even the night was light around him. Scripture too had forewarned and pointed at him. And the Lord adds His awful warning: "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
Some hold that the lost will all be restored in the end. This last clause tests that idea: if Judas ends in blessing, the Lord's words would not be true.
Suppose Judas' fall ended with the fallen one restored to a more secure blessedness. Then it would have been good for him to have been born — the highest witness of grace... What the Lord says of Judas is absolute — better for him not to have been born.
The words reach far past Judas.
The words from such lips are awful: "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." The same is true of everyone who rejects the Lord Jesus Christ and dies in sin.
- Written — Scripture foretold the betrayal. No evil act of man or Satan can frustrate God's purpose.
- But — One word, "but," keeps the guilt where it belongs. God's foreknowledge never relieves a man of responsibility.
- Near — Judas stood closer to Jesus than anyone. Nearness that never reaches the heart leaves a man furthest away of all.
- Warned — Love spoke the woe aloud before the deed. Even the traitor got his warning.
- Absolute — "Better not to have been born" leaves no room for a later restoration. It is the verdict on all who reject Christ and die in sin.