You have said it

 Now on the first day of the Feast of the 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

Yesterday, we read that when Jesus had finished His discourse on His second coming, and including teachings about this time in which we await His return, He said to His disciples, "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."  And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, a woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil, and she poured it on His head as He sat at table.  But when His disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste?  For this fragrant oil might have been sold for much and given to the poor."  But when Jesus was aware of it, He said to them,  "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."  Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, "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 the 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.  My study bible suggests, "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 (Greek Pascha), God's redemption of all humanity from sin and death, and entrance into the promised Kingdom.  Whether the first day of the Feast was Passover or the day before Passover is debated among the Fathers.  [In the synoptic gospels this day of the Passover meal is set on the first day of Passover; in John's gospel Jesus as Lamb of God dies at the exact time when the Passover lambs are being slain in the temple.  Both traditions are theologically accurate -- the Mystical Supper is the fulfillment of the Passover meal (synoptic) and His death is the fulfillment of Passover lambs being slain (John).]  What is certain is that Jesus regarded the meal with the disciples to be the Passover meal."

 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."  My study explains here, "That 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.  Jesus lets Judas accuse himself, yet even hearing that Christ knew of his deception, Judas does not repent."

The phrase Jesus uses here also appears elsewhere, particularly with Pilate and those others who accuse and plot against Him:  "You have said so" or "You have said it."  (See Matthew 26:64; 27:11; Luke 23:3; Mark 15:2.)   It's an interesting response, in the sense that Jesus in some sense makes no overt accusation, but allows others to "speak for themselves."   To Pilate the response is directed to the question, "Are you the king of the Jews?"  We recall the argument at Crucifixion between Pilate and the chief priests regarding the placement of accusation on the Cross.  Pilate wrote, "The King of the Jews" while the leadership argued it should be replaced with, "He said He was king of the Jews."   It's something important to think about, as so much of our spiritual understanding of these texts is based on witnessing, testimony.  Perhaps Pilate understood something about Jesus' response, and certainly we know he said, "I find no fault in this man."  The implication of self-condemnation, a kind of witnessing against oneself, is what we see here.  The truth becomes something obvious, and yet denied, even by those who "have said so."  There is no repentance in their mouths.  I think we're given of what evil does here, how a world is turned upside down, people do what they know not to do -- and accusation comes from their own mouths.  We note also that Jesus does not do any accusing of His own; He doesn't name the disciple in front of the others here -- this is the best way to encourage repentance, rather than a conflict (especially an open one) in which all kinds of factors may be at play in response.  Also in today's reading are these words from St. Paul:

 "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.” To the contrary, “if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good (Romans 12:14-21).

 Jesus knows that it is God's will that He be a witness in complete faith:  as the human Jesus, He doesn't take revenge nor does He ever instruct His followers to do so.  But testimony comes against His enemies, even out of their own mouths.  Jesus is truly "honorable in the sight of all."  And His life -- and the things He predicted -- were to manifest that vengeance isn't ours but God's.  Can we abide with Him, His way?  There are times when Jesus speaks up boldly, He condemns the practices of the Pharisees and scribes and calls them "hypocrites" in the temple in front of all.  He  predicts their condemnation.  But let us consider that difference between speaking the truth about an entire class of practices which harm the people, and mere vengeance.  God will call on us to testify, but sometimes that testimony comes in a form of martyrdom ("martyr" is from the Greek word for "witness").  Let us remember that we never lose sight of what He teaches us.