John 13:22-27 - Who is it?

13:22-25

All the events on this last week were going to cause great consternation to the disciples, and that included the fact that one of them would betray Jesus. They had assumed Jesus was the Messiah who would save them, and that they were united in following Him. What did Jesus mean? Perhaps more importantly, who did He mean? Verse 23 contains the first of four references to the disciple whom Jesus loved. This is generally taken to mean John, the author of this gospel. Why does John refer to himself in this way? To our ears it sounds as though he has too high an opinion of himself. However, in John’s gospel we learn of many things that could only be known by a close confidante of Jesus, and what John is doing is explaining how he came to know these things about Jesus that he relates in the gospel. It does not mean that he was loved more than the other disciples. Note also that Jesus drew close to John for a reason, so that the things read of in this gospel would be related to the whole world, so that we could all benefit from them. Peter urged John to ask of Jesus who the betrayer was, and John did this.

13:26,27

Jesus let John know who the traitor was surreptitiously. The Greek does not actually say “piece of bread” but just “piece”. However, it being a piece of bread fits in Jesus’ earlier quote from Psalm 41:9. Jesus then dipped the bread, presumably in the bitter herbs, and gave it to Judas.

“As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered him”. As indicated earlier, this Satanic involvement in no way absolves Judas of any responsibility. Also, we tend to associate demonic or Satanic activity always with “the Exorcist” type stuff. Now this sort of thing does happen, indeed there are incidences presented in the gospels, but it is not the only sort of demonic activity, nor even the most common. The influence of Satan is much more pervasive. In fact in John’s gospel it is the more mundane activity of the devil that is the focus, eg referring to the devil being the “father” of the Jewish leaders.

Judas was not irrevocably acting in league with the devil, though he probably didn’t appreciate this. Jesus knew this was also part of God’s plan and urges Judas to get on with it.