John 13:17,18 - Blessed are you if you do them

13:17

“If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them”. We so often think of “blessed” as meaning we will receive good things, especially material blessings. Indeed, my software tried to suggest that the latter part of the sentence should be “you will be blessed if you do them”! God may well bless us in that way, but the core meaning of “blessed” is that we are in God’s purpose, it really means we are in the kingdom. So if we live with the attitudes and actions of Jesus then that is a sure sign that we are in the kingdom, we are walking in step with the Spirit.

13:18

Jesus then makes it explicit that He knows that one of them would betray Him (and He knew which one it was!). For Jesus says He is not speaking to all of them. The words Jesus has been speaking have no relevance to Judas, for he had already determined the course he was going on. “But the Scripture will be fulfilled”, the betrayal was all part of God’s plan, bearing in mind as we have already said, that this does not mean Judas and the devil were not responsible for their parts. Jesus then quotes from Psalm 41:9. It is worth reading Ps 41:10-12 as well (it is, of course, worth reading the whole Psalm!) which speak of God’s vindication and eventual victory.