John 13:21-30

00:00:00:57 – 00:00:26:30
Clint Loveall
Hey, friends. Welcome back. Thanks for being with us. Sorry about the long intro. We are continuing through the 13th chapter. I’ve got a scene, verse 21 here as, we’ve had Jesus speaking with the disciples after the foot washing. We’ve said this is a kind of a way of intro. John doesn’t do a Last Supper in the way that the other three gospels do.

00:00:26:34 – 00:00:47:46
Clint Loveall
If you’re familiar with that idea of this is my body broken for you and that that liturgy or those verses that we use in communion. John doesn’t for whatever reason, he tells the foot washing story and then he mentions them at dinner, but it he uses it in a different way. And that’s what we’ll go through today.

00:00:47:51 – 00:01:08:48
Clint Loveall
So let me just read it for you, and then we’ll come back and try to unpack it. After saying this, Jesus was troubled in spirit. He declared, I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me. The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him.

00:01:08:52 – 00:01:29:40
Clint Loveall
Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus, of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, it’s the one who might give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish. So when Jesus had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

00:01:29:45 – 00:01:50:58
Clint Loveall
After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. And Jesus said to him, do quickly what you’re going to do. Now no one at the table knew why he said that to him. Some of them thought that because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, buy what we need for the festival or that he should give something to the poor.

00:01:51:03 – 00:02:19:53
Clint Loveall
So after receiving a piece of bread, he immediately went out and it was night. So again, a modified telling, primarily focused on the idea of being betrayed. We don’t get a Communion or Last Supper story in the classic sense from John. What we get instead is, a kind of multilayered. I would say, Michael, there’s several things going on here.

00:02:19:53 – 00:02:45:32
Clint Loveall
So Jesus is is troubled. He’s that word means kind of like rough water, agitated. And he says, one of you will betray me. And the disciples don’t know what to do with this. This is, probably, I think Jesus’s first words about being betrayed. And then I think this is also our first reference to something that becomes important in the back part of the story.

00:02:45:34 – 00:03:15:38
Clint Loveall
Michael, the one whom Jesus loved. And it’s easy to get sidetracked there because it’s a strange phrase. It’s going to come up multiple more times in this gospel. Scholarly church consensus has typically been that John is here referring to himself, or that John at least is the one being referred to. That makes sense. I think that’s been a kind of, typically agreed on thing.

00:03:15:39 – 00:03:41:07
Clint Loveall
I’m sure not everybody agrees on it, but I think that’s been mostly accepted. And so then you have this interesting moment where Peter is asking whoever that disciple is, find out who it is, and then they dip it in the dish and gives it to Judas. We’re told Satan enters and we’ve already been told that that. So probably you shouldn’t take that literally here.

00:03:41:07 – 00:04:04:52
Clint Loveall
That’s already happened. And then he says, go and do that quickly. And Judas then leaves. I, I don’t know exactly how you describe this text, Michael, but it seems to me that John is bringing multiple things to an intersection and tying or weaving them together. There’s, I think, several interesting storylines happening.

00:04:04:57 – 00:04:32:40
Michael Gewecke
Yeah. No doubt. I do think that what we have at its core, obviously, is Jesus being aware of the betrayal itself, which is a distinctive in John. I think with the amount of time and attention given to it. This is not about Judas getting a lot of money and Judas, you know, pursuing his own self-interest. In fact, the betrayal story, I think you could argue here in John, is more about Jesus than it is about Judas at all.

00:04:32:42 – 00:04:53:18
Michael Gewecke
In fact, when it comes to the moment of Judas being the one who’s going to go out and he’s going to actually do that betrayal. It it’s attributed to the idea that, you know, Satan is is active in that. So Judas really isn’t the subject here of this story as much of this. It is Jesus an opportunity to do some teaching.

00:04:53:18 – 00:05:15:01
Michael Gewecke
And clearly the the way that John teaches, it gives us a few insights, to the really important characters of the story, the first being Jesus himself. That idea that Jesus is troubled in spirit. I think it’s actually easy to read past Clint, but a helpful note to read the same way that Jesus wept at the grief at Lazarus, his passing.

00:05:15:01 – 00:05:38:40
Michael Gewecke
Here, Jesus is troubled by the specter of betrayal of someone that he loves, of the the harm that is going to be done both to him and then also ultimately, even the harm done to Judas by Judas himself. So there’s a fundamentally human note in this story that I think is worth noting. And then look at these others, the disciples who are here with Jesus.

00:05:38:40 – 00:05:58:12
Michael Gewecke
We have the one who Jesus loves. I think you’re exactly right to say generally scholarly consensus is that’s John, I’m sure, with some exception. And then you got Simon Peter named both of these being really important characters in the story, and they’re naturally inquisitive themselves. Well, Lord, who is it? Right. If you’re saying that someone’s going to be the betrayer, who’s that person?

00:05:58:17 – 00:06:24:59
Michael Gewecke
Jesus gives this sign. He he takes the bread, dips it in a dish, and John does this. Clint. There’s a lot of bread stories in John that are not explicitly communion stories. They’re not framed with that table exactly being named or called out, but they’re at least in the background, they’re at least coloring the story. And here we have it again, right.

00:06:25:12 – 00:06:52:46
Michael Gewecke
We have in the faith tradition, this practice that has been done by every generation of Christians going to the table, practicing the table we’re bonding to, and returning to the story of the night when Jesus broke bread with the disciples. What is John do with that? Will John, as a gospel, has already had numerous encounters where we’ve talked about John making assumptions about the story already being known, and then, you know, fleshing out details on the side.

00:06:52:46 – 00:07:13:15
Michael Gewecke
I think something like that is happening here. I think John expects that we know the story of the Last Supper, and it’s interesting when John tells this with that knowledge in the background, I think John is showing us that the bread is not just a revelation of the the human Jesus Christ, who is God as it is in all of the Gospels.

00:07:13:15 – 00:07:36:48
Michael Gewecke
But it’s also a way that Jesus is demonstrating foreknowledge, demonstrating even a kind of agency by pointing out, hey, here’s the one who’s going to betray Jesus in. This is not just offering a practice of the church, but in some ways, he’s demonstrating miraculously control, an awareness of the very events that are going to transpire in his death.

00:07:36:48 – 00:08:05:42
Michael Gewecke
Jesus is in that way, I think, connecting the communion of the breaking of the bread. He’s he’s connecting it directly to the person who’s going to be instrumental in his broken body, which is not explicit in its text. I want to just admit that to you. But in a gospel like John, I think it’s easy to see how these motifs get work together in a very busy intersection, and there’s a lot of background and foreground that comes together for some really interesting, teachings, I think in the text like this.

00:08:05:47 – 00:08:30:18
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I would agree. I think, you know, we can talk about it when we get there. But if you look at stories late in this gospel, bread is going to come up again. Bread came up early in the gospel in it represents many things. I, I am the bread of life. The idea of sustenance, daily bread, the kind of prayer that we make.

00:08:30:23 – 00:08:53:49
Clint Loveall
I think there is an earthiness to that that is well used by John as a, as a storytelling device where it, it, it builds on each reference, builds on the other ones. And ultimately that will take us to a, a story late in this gospel. And we’ll try to do our best to remember when we get there.

00:08:53:54 – 00:09:22:48
Clint Loveall
Michael, you said something that I think is important here. Jesus was troubled in spirit and not on the surface. I think that could we’ve said a number of times that one of the distinctive of Jesus in John is that he’s unafraid. He’s not confused. You’re not going to find, you know, why have you forsaken me in this gospel, this this picture of Jesus is one of strength and confidence.

00:09:22:53 – 00:09:48:05
Clint Loveall
And yet it’s also the gospel that tells us Jesus wept and then wept, and then tells us that Jesus is troubled in spirit. And what what I think is fascinating is to put those two realities of this gospel in conversation with one another. Jesus is unafraid of his mission, but he’s not unaffected by it. He is not untouched.

00:09:48:05 – 00:10:21:41
Clint Loveall
He is not a robot simply programed to go to the cross. Jesus is empathetic, empathetic, and is able to embrace the the reality of human emotion. So he’s moved by the grief around him. Here he’s troubled by the idea of betrayal, the breakdown of the one I don’t think, I think it would be very difficult to read this as as Jesus being afraid.

00:10:21:41 – 00:10:52:45
Clint Loveall
I don’t think that fits the character of this gospel. And yet Jesus is troubled by the things that happen around him and the lack of faith that just Jesus is not unaffected. He is not, Teflon that everything bounces off the the strength, the confidence and the the faith that he that he portrays in the Gospel of John.

00:10:52:49 – 00:11:16:03
Clint Loveall
He is. It’s poignant. It’s deep. It’s profound. But it’s not. It’s not a barrier through which nothing else can get through. It’s Jesus is aware of the world around him. And I think that this is a good a good evidence of that.

00:11:16:04 – 00:11:39:48
Michael Gewecke
I think another way of say that is that John does strike at tension and and maybe even the balance, you might say, between the portrayal of Jesus, who is the all powerful, all knowing, Son of God, and also the reality that Jesus Christ is truly the Son of Mary, the one who who experiences life in the fullest sense as a human with the church.

00:11:39:48 – 00:11:55:57
Michael Gewecke
That we’ve said this before, is indebted to John in many ways for our understanding of the incarnation and theology and all of these things that have transpired over thousands of years. A lot of that finds its source here in John. I also want to point out here, I, I think there’s some defense of the disciples built into this text.

00:11:55:57 – 00:12:26:55
Michael Gewecke
And the case I want to make on that is, here at the end. No one knew why he had said this to Judas. Some thought maybe Judas was supposed to go out, buy stuff for the festival. Maybe he was supposed to donate to the poor. Right? I think within this text, there’s a kind of defense of, well, why didn’t they stop him if if they knew, if Jesus called out the betrayer, how in the world do a group of 11 let the 12 go off and make this kind of destructive choice?

00:12:26:55 – 00:12:53:24
Michael Gewecke
And I think John, in a very clever and interesting way, provides us with some background knowledge to provide some justification for for what’s happening here. There’s confusion the disciples don’t really know. At the end of the day, what’s going on here with this story until later when the betrayal happens and then ultimately Jesus’s death and what will come after, you know, that’s when the clarity comes for these disciples.

00:12:53:24 – 00:13:15:36
Michael Gewecke
But up to this point, you know, the way that John tells this gospel is just there’s a lot of rampant confusion there. There’s a lot of not understanding what is happening while the story is going on. And John’s including these little tidbits, these little drop ins to just tell us, hey, Judas goes off to go do the thing and everybody’s confused by what’s happening in this moment.

00:13:15:50 – 00:13:26:43
Michael Gewecke
Only with some context in history playing out. That’s the real reality, and the total arc of the story become clear yet again.

00:13:26:43 – 00:13:51:54
Clint Loveall
I think it’s interesting to see those threads woven together here. And there’s not quite the, you know, is it? I, Lord, but there is an openness, you know. Lord, who is it? It it’s not a clear cut picture of what’s happening here. And then when Judas leaves. In many ways, John has done this to us before.

00:13:51:54 – 00:14:15:59
Clint Loveall
We would love to ask some questions of the backstory. What? Why? What? He leaves and nobody asks. Follow up question. I mean, right, some. But one of you is going to betray me and then we just somebody gets a piece of bread and then we just move on with the evening. It doesn’t. There’s a there’s an oddness to this that has been characteristic of some of John’s storytelling.

00:14:15:59 – 00:14:40:37
Clint Loveall
And, and really, it’s a little bit true of all of the other gospels as well. But, it’s a profound moment. We will have an opportunity in a, in a chapter or a few chapters, actually, to revisit the idea of what Judas does and the speculation as to why. John, I will I give you a little commercial.

00:14:40:42 – 00:15:21:00
Clint Loveall
John’s not very interested in defending Judas. John’s. You’re going if you if you want to soften the charges against Judas, this isn’t the gospel you’re going to reach for. And and I don’t actually know which one you would reach for, but it certainly wouldn’t be. John. But Jesus, now, I, I think what I want to say is we’re about to come into a significant portion of discourse in this gospel, including a very long, powerful prayer, the longest recorded in any of the Gospels, and the idea of Judas both what he’s going to do.

00:15:21:00 – 00:15:53:06
Clint Loveall
And then when we get back to what he does, I think are the bookends of about three and a half chapters here that are coming up. And so as we this story is, is a doorway of sorts to, of a unique, a thing that only John does in the Gospels, and then John will close that in transition with coming back to Judas, interestingly enough, will mention this again tomorrow when we start that section.

00:15:53:11 – 00:16:05:22
Clint Loveall
All of that discourse happens in Judas’s absence in John. And so, kind of interesting way that John bookends what he’s about to do in terms of his writing.

00:16:05:27 – 00:16:33:00
Michael Gewecke
Also and just very, very briefly, but want to make note of this because in John, every word matters. And so the very ending of this text and it was night, don’t you miss the significance, importance of that? We pointed out light and dark are themes throughout this entire book. And the the moment when Judas has resolved to go out and to take the life of the light of the world.

00:16:33:05 – 00:17:00:27
Michael Gewecke
What is it? It’s the darkest night. It it is not it. It is a moment in which, not just the time of day, but the tenor of his spirit, the reality of what’s going to happen to the world that God created and loved, the sacrifice that Jesus is prepared to make. All of that figures into this darkness, the that the light will overcome, but not until the darkness has has reigned.

00:17:00:27 – 00:17:18:07
Michael Gewecke
And there’s a way in which that this is both giving us some sense of context. But I can’t imagine reading this book without also seeing in it. John, spiritual teaching about the state of the characters and the moment that happens when this goes to betray the Savior.

00:17:18:10 – 00:17:42:35
Clint Loveall
Yeah, I think that’s a really good insight. We’ve been told that some people prefer the darkness and want to hide their deeds, and Judas has just named himself among them. And, contrast that to a character we’re going to see down the road a couple chapters. Who is going to tell us first came to Jesus at night, but now does an act of faith in the daylight.

00:17:42:36 – 00:18:06:29
Clint Loveall
So, those, those things maybe just seem like story details, but when when a gospel writer drops a sort of random seeming detail, it is usually not random. And I think that’s a very good. I think that’s a very good catch and a very good insight, Michael. It John’s telling us a lot more than what time of day it was.

00:18:06:34 – 00:18:21:54
Michael Gewecke
There’s a lot in this book. Certainly hope that you found something in this conversation that’s new, interesting, challenging. Certainly. If you have found that give it a like helps others find it in their own study of John. If you want to stick with us, subscribe. You can follow along as we continue through this book and others like it.

00:18:21:54 – 00:18:24:37
Michael Gewecke
We’re glad to be with you and look forward to seeing you the next time.

00:18:24:37 – 00:18:25:15
Clint Loveall
Thanks, everybody.