And as they were eating he said, Verily I say to you, that one of you shall deliver me up.
It is the last evening before the cross. The Lord is at the table with His twelve disciples, and He tells them that His betrayer is one of them — without naming him.
Everything is closing in on Him, yet He stays calm. During the meal, He lets the disciples hear the grief in His heart.
Still, in the face of it all, the Lord goes on in His path of love and holy calm. As the twelve were eating, He tells out the grief of His heart: "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me" (v. 21) — and this draws out the reality of their affections and their deep grief.
What made this hurt so much? One writer, commenting on Mark's record of the same words, points to the love that was thrown away.
The Lord's love was perfect. He felt deeply that one of those who had lived in His holy presence, heard His words of grace, and seen His infinite love and patience, should act like this. His words, "One of you who eats with me will betray me," came out of the anguish of His heart. The greater and more perfect the love, the greater the anguish when someone betrays that love. Never had love in all its perfection been so expressed as in Christ, and never had anyone lived outwardly so near to Christ as Judas. Yet it was all in vain, for even if he had any appreciation of that love, he loved money more.
The words search every man at the table. They land hardest on the one who already knew the answer.
At once we see Him at the table with the twelve. While they were eating, He announces that one of them is the traitor. We may well take what follows in that conversation as a last warning to Judas. The Lord had seen him turning to the chief priests and knew of his bargaining with them. He read the whole dark story in that heart, which lay before Him, the One who knows all things, like an open book. "Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me." These words must have aimed at the conscience of Judas Iscariot.
They did not defend themselves or hunt for the guilty man. They turned the question inward.
The Lord knew well who the traitor would be, but 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 them. They believed the Lord's words, and each one, full of trust in Him and of holy distrust of himself, said, "Lord, is it I?" Here is a fine testimony of upright and tested hearts. They weighed the fact and the possibility of such a crime, trusting Jesus' word more than themselves.
One writer turns the same question on the reader:
"They looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke." Can you understand that? Before your conscience wakes up, you look at other people... Have you ever, as a sinner, asked yourself the question — Is it I? Oh, but you say, I could never betray Christ. Well, I am perfectly sure I could, knowing my own heart. And, my dear friends, the person who is certain he can never do it is the very person who will go and do it.
The betrayal did not catch God off guard. That does not clear the man who carried it out.
But the betrayal of Judas was long foretold: it was all taking place "as it is written." But woe to the betrayer, for it has been said, "The carrying out of God's purposes does not take away the guilt of those who fulfil them; otherwise how could God judge the world?"
When Paul tells how the Lord's Supper began, he dates it by the betrayal, not by the crucifixion.
Left to his own wisdom, Paul would most likely have connected the account of the Supper, as we would have, with the crucifixion... But that was not the way he received it from the Lord... It was on the night of the betrayal. The betrayal is the background that makes the love shine out — the love that moved the Lord to give us the Supper. He gave it so that we might keep it as a memorial of His death until He comes.
- Nearness — no stranger sold Him. The betrayer had lived closest to Him and heard His words of grace.
- Love — the deeper the love, the deeper the wound; the anguish measures the perfection of the heart that felt it.
- Warning — the unnamed "one of you" was a final appeal to a conscience the Lord could read like an open book.
- Self-distrust — the disciples trusted His word more than their own hearts. They asked "Is it I?" instead of pointing at anyone else.
- Memorial — God chose that same night of betrayal for the Supper, so love shines out against the darkest background.
And being exceedingly grieved they began to say to him, each of them, Is it *I*, Lord?
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.
But he answering said, He that dips his hand with me in the dish, *he* it is who shall deliver me up.
The scene is the Passover table on the night before the cross. The Lord has just said that one of His twelve closest followers, sitting at that table, will hand Him over. His answer to their alarmed questions does not name a man; it names an act — a hand reaching into the same bowl as His own.
The Lord marks the betrayer by the closest gesture of the meal. One writer ties this back to the prophetic Psalms, which show where the pain cut deepest.
Yet here too the presence of grace would ripen the power of evil. The one who dipped his hand in the dish with Christ was the one who would betray Him, and as we read elsewhere, after taking the piece of bread he went out. God prepares it all, and the Lord uses it with the calm of divine perfection... The Lord's answer points back to the prophecy that spoke of His sorrow and of why it cut so deep. See Psalm 41:9; 55:12.
That Psalm also names what drove the man, and it was not hatred.
Such were His enemies: but more sadly still He says, "Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me" (v. 9). Of course, this was Judas, who did not do this out of personal hatred, but out of contemptible greed.
The Lord does not point straight at Judas. He draws the circle tighter one sentence at a time, and one writer sees a purpose in that pace.
The Lord then points out the traitor, but step by step, as if to alarm the conscience and stir it to repentance before the guilt was fixed. "One of you will betray Me." Then "He who has dipped his hand in the dish with Me."
Judas kept eating from the same dish after hearing those words. That act showed what he was doing to his own conscience.
His answer to this was that the betrayer would dip his hand in the dish with the Lord Himself. This act would show a brazen attitude of resisting his own conscience. The Son of Man would go to the cross, as God had purposed. Yet the woe He pronounces on the betrayer shows it would have been better for that man never to have been born.
One writer reads this moment from four directions at once. He still holds that God's plan never made Judas sinful.
"One of the Twelve, he who dips with Me in the dish"... It was man's sin, Satan's guile, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas... God did not make him wicked, but his wickedness was shaped to this end, to fulfil God's purposes. One of the group chosen to be with Jesus on earth would prove this awful truth. The nearer a man stands to blessing on the outside, the further his heart is from it — if he never takes it in.
Sharing the dish with Christ did not help Judas. One writer traces the reason to a conscience that this closeness never touched.
And now we find the result of outward nearness to the Lord while the conscience is unaffected... He stays this close to Christ, until we read that "after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him." Living as a hypocrite, his heart grows hard. Then Satan comes between his conscience and all hope of pardon. Many a natural man would not betray a friend with a kiss, as Judas soon after did. His nearness only hardened him — he took the piece of bread from the Lord's own hand!
The other disciples still did not know whom He meant. His words reached one man's ears, not the table's judgment.
The Scripture had spoken of him as the one who was near to the Lord, eating bread with Him, then lifting up his heel against Him. By this Scripture the Lord appealed to Judas, letting him know that He knew all this. Yet patient, suffering love did not reveal him to the rest of the disciples. The Lord did make known to them how deeply He felt Judas' betrayal, but He did not rebuke him in front of them. How perfect was the Lord's love! In bearing with him was there not an appeal to his heart and conscience?
- Table. The Lord marks the betrayer by a shared meal — a hand in the same dish. Psalm 41:9 had drawn that picture long before.
- Warning. The Lord narrows His words by stages. He wants to rouse the conscience to repentance before the guilt is fixed.
- Counsel. Man's sin, Satan's guile, God's counsel and Christ's love all meet here. God's plan did not make Judas wicked, and the guilt stays his.
- Nearness. Closeness to Christ with an untouched conscience does not soften a man — it hardens him. Judas took the bread from Jesus' own hand.
- Love. Even at this point the appeal is personal, not public: He tells Judas that He knows, yet does not expose him to the rest.
The Son of man goes indeed, according 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 Lord speaks these words while the man who will betray Him still sits at the table. He joins two things that seem to clash: a death written in Scripture long before, and a betrayer who carries full guilt for it. How can God's fixed purpose and a man's guilt both stand? The verse holds both, then ends with the most terrible words ever said about anyone.
The Lord does not treat His betrayal as an accident. Scripture had marked out His path long before, and that gives the believer solid ground:
Judas could, after all, only carry out the purpose of God, and the Saviour pointed this out... It is a great support to the heart of the believer to know this. Neither the wickedness of man nor the schemes of Satan can defeat any purpose of God. God makes rebels against their Maker, human or angelic, serve the final result He has planned, even against their own will. Of course, this does not lessen their wickedness in the smallest degree. God and His purposes have no place at all in their thoughts.
Four things met at that table, and none of them cancelled the others:
It was man's sin, Satan's cunning, God's purpose, and Christ's love. But none of these things changed the wickedness of Judas: "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born." He was appointed, we may say, to this condemnation. God did not make him wicked. God gave his wickedness the shape that would fulfil His own purpose.
Judas heard this sentence before he had done the deed. That is not only exposure. It is a last appeal:
God's love would not give up even a Judas without warning. So love had to let him know that "even the night" was "light about" him. Scripture had also warned and pointed him out. And the Lord adds His terrible warning: "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born."
The Lord closes in by stages instead of naming the man at once. Notice too the one title Judas will not use:
Next the Lord points out the traitor, but step by step, as if to alarm the conscience and stir it to repentance before the guilt became final... Judas is the slowest of all to speak up with his question. He asks it knowing with deadly certainty what the answer would be, yet he looks as innocent as the rest. But notice, he does not call Christ his "Lord," as the others do. That is over for him: it is "Rabbi, is it I?"... He has heard that terrible "woe" from lips that never lie. Even so, he goes away and sets himself to do the thing that would mark him for all eternity as the "son of perdition." Such is the hardening power of sin.
Judas had every outward advantage. That is what makes his case so frightening. Being near Christ, with the conscience untouched, does not soften a person:
There was sin in Judas's nature, and it showed itself as the love of money. Next, Satan suggested a way to satisfy that craving, for Judas loved money more than he loved Jesus. Here we see what outward nearness to the Lord does when it never touches the conscience... While he lived as a hypocrite, his heart grew hard. Then Satan came between his conscience and all hope of pardon. Many an unconverted man would not betray a friend with a kiss, as Judas soon did. His nearness only hardened him.
This sentence stands alone. These words belong to one man only, and his life fills out what they mean:
Of only one man has our Lord ever said, "It would have been better for that man if he had not been born" (Matt. 26:24). Judas turned away from the faith. He was the "son of perdition," a man marked out for ruin. Satan entered his heart. He sold his Master for thirty pieces of silver and betrayed Him with a kiss. Then, filled with remorse, he went and hanged himself, and "went to his own place."
The words also settle a question people still ask: might the lost be restored in the end? Test that hope against this sentence:
Suppose Judas' fall ended with him restored to a safer blessing than before. Then it would have been good for him to have been born, and his case would be the highest witness of grace... But the Lord's word about Judas is absolute: better not to have been born.
- Written — Scripture fixed the Son of Man's road to the cross. No wickedness of man and no scheme of Satan can break God's purpose.
- Guilty — God's plan excuses nobody. God did not make Judas wicked. He gave that wickedness the shape His own purpose had foretold.
- Warned — the Lord spoke the woe to the traitor's face, step by step. Love would not let even a Judas go without one last appeal.
- Hardened — nearness to Christ without a changed heart softens nobody. It hardens, until hypocrisy shuts the door on pardon.
- Absolute — "better not to have been born" is a verdict with no reversal hidden inside it. The words leave no room for the hope that the lost are restored in the end.
And Judas, who delivered him up, answering said, Is it *I*, Rabbi? He says to him, *Thou* hast said.
At the supper table the Lord says that one of the men eating with Him will hand Him over. Each disciple, unsure of himself, asks, "Is it I?" — and so, at last, does Judas.
Only one man at the table had still not spoken.
We can picture the scene. Each one distrusted himself and asked, "Is it I?" It seems no one stayed silent except Judas. Staying silent any longer would give him away, so at last he had the nerve to say, as Matthew has recorded, "Rabbi, is it I?"
The Lord did not name the traitor at once.
Next the Lord points out the traitor, but step by step. It is as if He wants to alarm the conscience and stir it to repentance before the guilt is final. "One of you shall deliver Me up." Then, "he who dips his hand with Me in the dish." Judas is the slowest of all to respond. He asks his question knowing for certain what the answer would be, yet he wears the same look of innocence as the rest.
The others said "Lord." Judas used a teacher's title instead.
It is striking that John and his companions called the Saviour "Lord," while the betrayer called Him only "Rabbi" (Matthew 26:25). There is no recorded instance of Judas ever giving Him the higher title. To truly acknowledge Jesus as Lord is the fruit of a work of the Holy Spirit within (1 Cor. 12:3).
Judas hears an answer, not a hint.
The others have asked the question, so Judas can hardly stay silent. He asks, "Master (not Lord), is it I?" He is stubborn and set on doing his own will, so he can hardly use the word "Lord." The Lord answers with an emphatic "You have said so." It means, "as you suggest, so it stands." The Lord had shown him that He knew his plans. Even so, the unhappy man would not turn from the folly of his headlong course. It seems that at this point Judas went out (John 13:26-30).
He uses the same form of words again later in this chapter.
Jesus replies, "You have said so." It is a quiet way of saying yes. We meet it again in the latter part of this same chapter (v. 64).
The Lord had just said that the Son of Man goes as it is written of Him. Does that make the betrayal any less Judas's own?
There we see it fulfilled by the will of God. Although it was "by the foreknowledge of God," it did not relieve Judas of his responsibility. Peter speaks of people appointed to stumble. They were not appointed to be disobedient, but to stumble if they were disobedient. Yet all of it was foreknown. The guilt of it rested on Judas, but "it had been good for that man if he had never been born." How appalling! Yet after hearing this Judas says, "Is it I, Rabbi?"
Four things met at that table, and none of them cancelled the others.
It was man's sin, Satan's guile, God's counsel, and Christ's love. But none of these things altered the wickedness of Judas... One of that company chosen to be with Jesus here below was to prove this awful truth. If a man does not receive blessing into his heart, then the closer he stands to it on the outside, the further he is from it morally.
Being close to Christ is never a neutral thing.
Judas, found out, takes the piece of bread, and the greed that ruled his heart won the day. Satan used this to destroy him. He hardened Judas's heart against every feeling of common humanity... Nearness to Jesus, without faith, and with a heart that His presence does not touch, only hardens in a terrible way.
- Near. Judas held the closest place a man could hold. Yet nearness to blessing on the outside, if it is never received inside, leaves a man further away, not closer.
- Warned. The Lord came at him in stages — "one of you," then "he who dips with Me" — to wake his conscience before the guilt was final.
- Named. Judas asked with the same look of innocence as the rest. The answer came straight back: as you say, so it stands.
- Withheld. He said "Rabbi," never "Lord" — and owning Jesus as Lord is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's work inside a person.
- Hardened. God foreknew the betrayal, yet the act was Judas's own. Closeness without faith did not soften him; it hardened him.