What did Jesus say to Judas?

Other incidents connected with the Arrest are related elsewhere, as the flight of the young man (Mark 14:51-52); the desertion of the disciples (Matt. 26:56); the healing of the servant's ear (Luke 22:51); the solemn statement addressed to the company, "This is your hour, and the power of darkness" (Luke 22:53); and the Lord's words to Judas, recorded by Matthew (26:50), "Friend, wherefore art thou come?" as well as, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:48). All these are left unnoticed by the son of Zebedee, who here presents the Lord in the light of the willing Offerer, surrendering Himself into the hands of men, to drink the cup given to Him by His Father. For His life, which no man could take from Him, He would now lay down of Himself (John 10:18). One more incident is omitted by our Evangelist — that look of the Lord on Peter after the third denial, a look surely never forgotten by the son of Simon. At the garden Judas and the Lord parted to meet once more, and only once more, never again on earth, but at the great white throne. The man's hypocrisy unmasked, as the Lord by His last words made plain, what must have been the reflection of the traitor during the few hours that he survived in this world? For ere the Lord had died, Judas, we may believe, had gone to his own place.

And now, as so often before, the independence of our historian is again displayed, whilst the circumstances which he alone relates are found to be in harmony with the character of his gospel. What man can do, and how grace can work in the presence of evil here stand out in full relief. Judas' treachery and deceit appear, as he had the effrontery to kiss the Lord so as to point out to the band the one they were to arrest. It was the last meeting on earth of the traitor with his Master. "Hail, Rabbi!" had been his salutation. "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" (Luke 22:48), were the Lord's last words directly addressed to him. The Lord had openly announced in the upper room His approaching betrayal. He had told Judas to his face that he was the traitor. He had spoken to that wretched man as he left the upper room in language which he could not have misunderstood (John 13:27). Now He let him know that He was not deceived by that hypocritical appearance of affection.

The treachery of Judas would fain still conceal itself in the kiss of identification; which is given emphatically, as if to assure the One he is betraying that he is not part of the multitude that follow him. The Lord penetrates this disguise, not with a rebuke but with a question: "Friend, wherefore art thou here?" to which He adds, as Luke tells us, the more direct one, "Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?" Divine love has not, even yet, ceased its expostulation, ― has not closed the door against his return even yet.

The Traitor Marked. — As yet Judas was at the Supper. Had he heard what had been said? Now the Lord proceeded to point out the individual — not publicly, it would seem, but privately. And troubled in spirit, as John tells us, He said first to them all, "Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you shall betray Me" (21). If Judas was unconcerned, the Lord was not. Unattracted to Christ by all he had heard and seen during years of intercourse with Him, utterly unaffected too by His grace, caring for nothing but paltry temporal gain, self dominating him, and the rebuke he had received in Simon the leper's house rankling in his bosom, he turned against the Master, and arranged to betray Him to His enemies. Such conduct none of the rest could understand, for the Lord had become precious to them. No wonder the Lord was troubled in spirit, as He thought of Judas' deceit, treachery, and cupidity. But surely He thought, too, of the awful future that unhappy man was preparing for himself. No wonder, then, that He was troubled in spirit, when announcing the presence of the traitor in the room. "One of you shall betray Me." Which of the Eleven could be indifferent to that?" They looked one on another, doubting of whom He spake." A sign from Peter to John, who was reclining on Jesus' bosom, and a request, probably preferred in an undertone, elicited from the Lord that He would point the man out. "He it is, for whom I shall dip the sop, and give it him." The sop was dipped in the dish. John and Peter could see that. Surely with bated breath they must have watched for the next movement on the part of the Master. He handed the sop to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot. Then the devil took possession of the traitor. To halt and to change his course was now impossible. That miserable one, the son of perdition (how rightly named!), was henceforth wholly under Satanic power. A few words to him from the Lord, "That thou doest, do quickly," and the traitor went out, never again to be found in the company of the Lord's disciples. The door, that closed on him, severed his connection from the company left behind for ever. But, oh what an awfully solemn thought! he, who had been so much in the company of Christ, must meet Him as his Judge on the great white throne. Evidently what had passed between the Lord and John was unknown to the rest, save probably to Peter. The Lord's last words to Judas all, however, heard. And still unsuspecting, they supposed that he had gone to buy needful things for the feast which followed the Passover, and lasted a week, or that he should give something to the poor (29). For he carried the bag, thus filling the place of collector and treasurer. It was night when he went out, John tells us. The 14th of Nisan was over; the 15th of Nisan had begun. Judas went out, not to give, but to get. He went to earn the price of blood and appeared again but once more — viz. in the garden, guiding the company sent to arrest the Lord.

"But Jesus said to him, Friend, for what purpose art thou come?" What calm and gentle answer to the Satan-possessed Judas Iscariot. Should not this tender question have touched the conscience of the traitor? He was beyond hope. It is significant that the Lord addresses him with the word, Friend. Yet it is a different word which the Lord used in calling His disciples as recorded in John 15. The word He uses here signifies "companion." Judas had been a companion of the Lord, He had beheld His mighty works, and had by Him messianic power to heal the sick conferred upon himself. This is the last word that wicked man ever heard addressed to himself by the Lord. The next time we behold him is when he is filled with remorse, casting the pieces of silver in the temple; then he went and hanged himself.

(V. 26). At once the Lord replies, "He it is to whom I shall give the sop, when I have dipped it." Others have pointed out that the force of the Lord's words is somewhat obscured by the Authorised Version. It is not "a sop" as if it were a mere casual act; but "the sop," referring to a definite custom to give to a favoured guest the specially prepared morsel of the feast. The Lord follows His words by giving the sop to Judas Iscariot, and thus, not only the betrayal is foretold, but the betrayer is exposed.

(V. 27). Already lust had opened the heart of Judas to the devil's suggestion, now Satan himself takes possession of Judas. If there was any stirring of conscience left in Judas, any sense of shame, any shrinking from the sin he was about to commit, all is silenced with the entrance of Satan. With Satan there is no hesitation, and henceforth Judas becomes the helpless instrument of his designs. For Judas there is now no turning back, and thus the Lord can say to him, "That thou doest do quickly."

As they are eating the Passover the Lord uses an indirect means first to awaken exercise in the conscience of Judas, "Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me." How good to see that the disciples were "exceeding sorrowful" to bear this, rather than indignant against the guilty man. In fact, in wise distrust of themselves, they ask in turn, "Lord, is it I?" 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. God's counsels would be fulfilled as regards the Son of Man going to the cross; but He pronounces such a woe upon the betrayer as to indicate it would have been good for him not to have been born.

Since the others have asked the question, Judas can hardly remain silent, but asks, "Master (not Lord), is it I?" For he is stubbornly determined to do his own will, therefore can hardly use the word "Lord." The Lord answers with an emphatic "Thou hast said," implying, "as you suggest, so it stands." The unhappy man., in spite of the Lord's showing him that He knew his plans, would not turn from the folly of his headlong course. Evidently at this point Judas went out (John 13:26-30). Of course, even if he did not, we today are clearly commanded not to break bread with one known to be a covetous deceiver (1Cor.5:11).

A Surprise. — But we must not anticipate. The announcement by the Lord of His betrayal took the eleven by surprise. For so carefully had Judas concealed his real character up to this time, that evidently none of the rest suspected him. There are times when suspicion at once, and rightly, falls on a person. It was not so in this case. A close secret, too, must the chief priests have kept the fact of their bargain with that man of Kerioth, for as yet no hint of it had oozed out. The Lord, however, by the sop marked out at John's request (John 13:25-26) the one who should betray Him. And then in answer to Judas' question, "Rabbi, is it I?" of which Matthew has told us, there came that solemn reply "Thou hast said."

In Judas' state that token of love only hardened the conscience long seared by secret sin, which shut out from the heart all sense of love. His very familiarity with Christ's passing through the snares and dangers of a hostile world may have suggested that so it would be now with his Master, while he himself might reap the reward of his treachery; and the knowledge of His grace, without heart for it, may have led him to hope for mercy he had never known refused to the most guilty. The moment comes when holy love becomes unbearable to him who never relished it; and the sin he preferred blinded his mind and hardened his heart to that which had otherwise touched the most callous. "After the morsel, Satan then entered into him." The devil had already put it into his heart to deliver the Lord up; now, after receiving without horror or self-judgment the last token of his Master's love, the enemy entered. At being thus designated there may have been irritation, which if retained gives room for the devil even in ordinary cases; much more in his who had trifled with unfailing grace, and thus forgot wholly His glory, as he had ever been insensible to God's nature and his own sin. "Jesus therefore saith to him, What thou art doing do more quickly" — that is, sooner than was indicated by his pretension to share the doubts of the disciples or to join in what was before their hearts.

"Friend, wherefore art thou come" (ver. 50)? It would correspond to what the Lord felt as we find it expressed in Ps. 55, etc., and typified by David and Ahithophel. The Psalms reveal to us the keenness of the pain the Lord experienced. "My own familiar friend has lifted up his heel against me."

"Then came they and laid hands on Jesus and took Him." You don't get everything in one part of Scripture. "He gave his back to the smiters," or they could not have touched Him. He lived far too long to please men. Look at Nazareth. They sought to kill Him there, but they could not till their hour came. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness."