"Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me"

Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples." ' " So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it."

- Matthew 26:17-25

In yesterday's reading, Jesus first warned - once again - His disciples of what is imminent, His Passion and Crucifixion: "You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified." Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people assembled at the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas, and plotted to take Jesus by trickery and kill Him. But they said, "Not during the feast, lest there be an uproar among the people." Then we read the story of the woman in Bethany, who came to Jesus with an expensive alabaster flask of fragrant oil while He sat at table. She poured it on His head, anointing Him. Some grumbled and complained against her: she wasted such a precious object. It could have been sold and the money given to the poor. But Jesus said, "Why do you trouble the woman? For she has done a good work for Me. For you have the poor with you always, but Me you do not have always. For in pouring this fragrant oil on My body, she did it for My burial. Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her." After this, Judas decided he would betray Jesus. He went to the chief priests and asked, "What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?" And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.

Now on the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying to Him, "Where do You want us to prepare for You to eat the Passover?" And He said, "Go into the city to a certain man, and say to him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand; I will keep the Passover at your house with My disciples." ' " So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them; and they prepared the Passover. This is one of several times in recent readings when Jesus has displayed this particular character of divinity, an omniscience that refers to specific acts in the future. It's very mysterious: it begs us to ask, how does He know this? It's an intersection of time and space that perhaps only Creator can know (or one given such understanding by grace). It's also an intersection of persons, of encounter, and that takes us deeper into the character of God as we understand God. My study bible points out that this is Thursday of Holy Week. It notes, "Whether this was Passover or the day before Passover is debated. What is certain is that Jesus regarded the Thursday evening meal as the Passover meal for Himself and His disciples." We note also Jesus' remark that His time is at hand: He knows what is to come. As Lord and Teacher, it is He who declares it time for the Passover meal. Again, a note in my study bible is helpful here for us to see what is truly happening in our spiritual context: "The Passover commemorates God's deliverance of Israel from slavery in Egypt to the Land of Promise. It prefigures the Passion of Christ, the new Passover, God's redemption of all humanity from sin and death to the promised Kingdom."

When evening had come, He sat down with the twelve. Now as they were eating, He said, "Assuredly, I say to you, one of you will betray Me." And they were exceedingly sorrowful, and each of them began to say to Him, "Lord, is it I?" He answered and said, "He who dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me. The Son of Man indeed goes just as it is written of Him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." Then Judas, who was betraying Him, answered and said, "Rabbi, is it I?" He said to him, "You have said it." Again, we have the evidence of Jesus' foreknowledge, that is specific to the person. He doesn't only know He will be betrayed, but He also knows by whom. We note that Jesus doesn't disclose this secret to everybody, nor make a pointed accusation. We're reminded that Judgment belongs to the Day that is to come; for now our Lord is the humble Son of Man. My study bible points out that He does, however, allow Judas to disclose His own guilt. Jesus answers with a phrase that will also be used before Pilate: "You have said it." Put this way, what is spoken confers a kind of admittance, out of their own mouths something has been said. In an interesting note, my study bible refers to prophecy, another form of foreknowledge: "It is written of Him does not cancel Judas' responsibility. God foresees, but does not cause, the evil actions of humans, who always have free will." But not even Jesus' seemingly private confrontation with Judas in knowledge of what will be done brings about repentance. As my study bible puts it, it does not bring Judas to his senses -- even Jesus' warning. It gives us an idea of Judas' state of mind.

I can't quite get over the fact of betrayal, and most strikingly its effect on a Teacher like Jesus. We know His love and His compassion, in the feeding of those who followed Him to places in the wilderness (twice in Matthew's gospel: see here and here). We know His tremendous capacity for love and empathy, as when John's gospel gives us the shortest verse of all: Jesus wept, filled with pain at the sadness of His friends in their grief at the death of Lazarus. He wept, even knowing Lazarus was not yet to truly die. So how must betrayal by one of the chosen Twelve have struck Him at this time? Yes, He knew it was coming. But Christ's divine identity never stopped the human Jesus from being susceptible to every human characteristic that we understand, especially those in the expression of pain and sadness, and even longing. The great crux of this God is His humanity! The Incarnation teaches us so much about the God that loves us, and most especially about His willingness to go the full way to share our pain. There is nothing that He escapes. So how hard is this final betrayal of one whom He loved and chose, but who cannot truly embrace all that is offered through the Teacher, who has rebuked Judas for his condemnation of the woman who expressed a great act of love? Our Lord will go through every physical pain -- that is before Him. But what of His emotional pain from the betrayal of one whom He had loved and chosen? In this we have to see ourselves and our own lives, especially our perceived failures and deep humiliations and betrayals even by those whom we have loved. He was there with us, so long ago. There was nothing He was spared, and His love was perhaps much greater in capacity to all of ours. Certainly there was no failure on His part. Only acceptance of the free will of Judas. Let this be an example to us. Judgment will come when Judgment comes. Jesus gives the warning of what it is to betray the work of the Spirit, that which is truly at work through Him, and may be at work in any act of grace, an act of love, a true intention. Let us understand His pain, and His justice, and Follow Him, His Way.