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Having thus taught His Disciples, He became troubled in spirit and He said to the Disciples, "I say unto you, one of you will betray me." We will use John's account as it is the most complete.
In this account, we see something about the character of Judas. It appears that this news came as a shock to the Disciples. It does not appear that they had any idea who it was. Even now as He discloses who it is, they still do not grasp the significance of it. One of the Disciples, whom Jesus loved, and we must assume that He loved them all, asked Jesus, at the urging of Peter, "Tell us who it is of whom you speak." Why didn't John, in writing this account, simply say it was he who asked the question. I can only relate what the commentaries say, and it seems plausible, John described himself this way to show how proud he was to have been the Disciple whom Jesus particularly loved. It was a title of honor. John was the youngest. He was the one whom Jesus would place the responsibility of looking after His mother. Other writers often spoke of themselves that way. Paul said of himself, "I know a man who is in Christ." Solomon said of himself, "There was one in court that was the kings friend." To Paul and Solomon, these were positions of honor. To the oriental, the one closest to the bosom, was closest to the heart.
To the Jew being in the "Bosom of Abraham" was Heaven. Daniel, who was honored with much revelation in the Old Testament, was a man greatly loved of God. John, who was loved of Jesus, was honored with much of the revelation in the New Testament. Well let's get back to the story.
"Who is it", John asked Jesus, "It is the one to whom I shall give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it." This was the customary way of eating in those days. Often one large bowl was placed in the middle of the table and each would break off a piece of bread and dip it into the bowl and eat it.
Verse 27 says He gave the morsel to Judas and after Jesus did this, Satan entered into Judas. Wasn't Satan in him before this? I believe he was. John says in 17:12, that Jesus said, speaking of His Disciples, "I have guarded them and none of them is lost accept the son of perdition." Satan took over the mind of Judas to possess him and to create in him a great prejudice against Jesus and His doctrine. It gave him the justification for doing what he had already agreed to do. Then Jesus said to Judas, "What you are going to do, do quickly."
Notice again, the complete ignorance, even now, of the remaining disciples of the treachery that Judas was planning. Verse 28 says, "Now no one at the table knew why He said this to Judas." Many believe that no one, accept perhaps John, heard what Jesus said to Judas about the morsel of bread, therefore, no one but John knew why Judas left the room. Perhaps they thought sense Judas had the money that Jesus was sending him out for food or even to give something to the poor, as was the custom, so they to could observe the feast.
When Judas left, Jesus knew that He had but a little while to be with the Disciples. So He said, "Little children, I have yet only a little while to be with you." Why did He call them "little children"? Two reasons are given. One, it speaks of their limited understanding, and two, it speaks of His affection for them. He continued, "You will seek me, but you will not find me, for where I am going, you cannot not come." These statements here in verse 33, seem contrary to the other teachings of Jesus. What is He speaking of here? After His death and ascension, they will wish many times for His presence, but they will not find Him. They will, however, have the presence of the Holy Spirit to comfort and direct them, but it will not be like the physical presence of Jesus.
Likewise, at that time, they could not follow Him. The cross and heaven was not theirs at this time neither was the courage for with the acceptation of John, they all deserted Jesus until after the resurrection. Peter even denied that he ever knew Him. They could not follow Him to His glory for they did not have any merit of their own. The Disciples, despite their closeness to Jesus was saved just like you and I, by faith, apart from works, by Grace, apart from merit.
Then Jesus ended His talk by giving them a new commandment. "Love one another, as I have loved you." We can never love as Jesus did. We can only love in our own limited way but Jesus also said, "If you love one another as I have loved you, all men will know that you are My Disciples."
Love is not always prevalent in a church. Love is not always prevalent in a Christian's life. We often give people the chance to say, "If he's a Christian, I don't want any part of it." The church at Antioch was noted for its love for one another, this led to unity of purpose. Notice love came before unity of purpose. The church at Laodicea had grown rich and prospered but they were neither hot nor cold. Love had grown lukewarm and Jesus said He wished that they were one or the other but because they were not, He would "spew" them out of His mouth.
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