John 13:31

John 13:31 says, Therefore, after he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him.  From the time He began His ministry, Jesus knew that His time on earth was coming to an end.  Still, Jesus lived His life that the Father might be glorified.  When we are born again, the fact of our mortality does not change, but we still must live that God will be glorified.  Verse thirty-two adds, If God be glorified in Him, God shall also glorify Him in Himself, and shall straightway glorify Him.  Jesus was about to suffer a degrading death at the hands of the religious leaders, but He was doing so for the salvation of mankind and the glory of God, and for this He would be glorified.  Though we cannot die for the salvation of any, we can live a life devoted to God that He might be glorified.  Verse thirty-three continues, Little children yet a little while I am with you.  Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, whether I go, ye cannot come, so now I say unto you, Verse thirty-four concludes, A new commandment give I unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  Referring to them as little children, Jesus said again they couldn't go where He was going.  We cannot go to the cross to save anyone.  Jesus told the disciples, and us, what we can do, and that is to love one another.  This is something we can do, but we hear more about the Ten Commandments than we do of this one.  As with the Ten Commandments, it wasn't a suggestion.  Verse thirty-five says, By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if you love one another. Jesus said this was the way that people would know that we are His disciples, that we love one another.  When we treat people with hatred, this does not speak well of our relationship to God.  Verse thirty-six adds, Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards.  Peter wanted to know where Jesus was going that he couldn't go, and Jesus said Peter couldn't follow Him there yet, but that he would later.  Until Jesus went to the cross, we like Peter could not follow Him to salvation.  Verse thirty-seven continues, Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake.  Peter said he would follow Jesus to the death, still not realizing what he was promising.  We need to be willing to die for our faith in Jesus Christ today, realizing now what He did for us on the cross.  Verse thirty-eight concludes, Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.  Jesus said not only would Peter not follow Him to death, but before the cock crowed, Peter would deny Jesus three times. We must be wary of self-pride or we too will fail.

John 13:28

In John 13:28 says, Now no one at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him.  None of the disciples knew why He told Judas to do what he had to do quickly.  This should have made it clear that what Jesus had said about the sop was not said out loud.  Verse twenty-nine says, For some of them thought, because Judas held the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or that he should give something to the poor.  The disciples thought that since Judas held the bag, Jesus might have sent Him to buy supplies or give to the poor.  The last would have likely been something Judas would have hated to do.  When we have been blessed by God with material things, we may be more than willing to spend on supplies for ourselves than we are to give to the less fortunate.  Verse thirty says, He having received the sop went immediately out, and it was night.  It says that Judas having received the sop went out immediately and it was dark.  What better time to betray God than in the dark.  We may feel that the darkness keeps people from seeing what we are doing, but Jesus knew even before Judas left what he was going to do.  Judas still had a choice. When thoughts of doing wrong come into our lives, we still have a choice about carrying them out.  The fact that our thoughts are the same as our actions in God's eyes does not give us a reason to go ahead with the action.  For one thing, as long as it remains but a thought it affects only the person and their relationship to God.  Once we act on the thought, it affects others as well.  Had Judas chosen to stay with Jesus, his thoughts of betrayal would have needed to be addressed to God, but forgiveness and restoration would have been freely given.  Again, Judas's actions were his own and were not dictated by God.  God can never be a loving and impartial God if He causes some to sin.  Each person is responsible for their own sins.  We can never blame God or the Devil.  The blame game has existed since Adam and Eve, but in order to follow Jesus as we should, we must accept responsibility for our own sins and ask forgiveness for them.  Anyone who says they have never done anything to need forgiveness for makes themselves equal to Jesus, and there just never has been nor never will be such a person. 

John 13:25

John 13:25 says, He then lying on Jesus' breast saith unto Him, Lord, who is it?   Verse twenty-six adds, Jesus answeredHe it is to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.   I have always understood this to mean that the question was asked and answered for all the disciples to hear, but Matthew Henry says it was a quiet conversation. This would seem to make more sense, and reading on through the passage, I don't know why I had made that assumption.  I guess that is a warning that we need to understand what the Bible says and not just what we think it says.  We do know that God points out our sins individually, though He may at times work through others to bring them to light.  I don't believe Jesus's purpose was to humiliate Judas, but simply to acknowledge that He was aware of what Judas was about to do.  It was still Judas's choice.  In the remainder of the verse, Jesus gave the sop to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.  There was a very specific identification of who was going to betray Jesus.  When we are guilty of sin, God leaves no doubt that we are the one who is guilty.  We don't need to look around to see if we can blame someone else.  Verse twenty-seven adds, After the sop Satan entered into him.  Then Jesus said unto him, That thou doest, do quickly.   A more accurate statement would be that Judas surrendered to the power of Satan.  God will not make us do anything and Satan cannot make us do anything.  The devil made me do it might be a quick excuse, but it is wrong. Jesus told Judas go quickly and do what he planned to do.  Again, this does not mean Judas had no choice, but that Jesus knew the time was at hand for His trial to begin. We need to be careful that we don't allow sin to rule any part of our life, or we like Judas will be betraying God. 

John 13:23

John 13:23 says, Now there was leaning on Jesus' bosom one of the disciples, whom Jesus loved.  There are some people today who attempt to use this passage to claim Jesus was having a sexual relationship with this disciple, that most would recognize as John.  This is an attempt to discredit Jesus and implies that any physical closeness is sexual in nature.  We know this is not true in either claim.  Then, some see this as saying Jesus loved some of the disciples more than the others.  Again, Jesus loves everyone the same, even Judas.  He died for Judas just as willingly as He died for John.  Jesus may have had a closer relationship to some than to others, based on their devotion to Him, but He did not love one more than the others.  Verse twenty-four adds, Simon Peter beckoned to him, that he should ask who it should be of whom he spake.  Peter spoke to the disciple, most likely John, and asked him to ask Jesus who it should be of whom He spoke when He said one would betray Him.  It was not like Peter to ask someone else to ask his question, but in this case he did.  Fortunately, we don't have to go to someone else to speak to God for us.  We not only have direct access to God, but we have the Holy Spirit going before us.  Peter most likely had the other disciple ask Jesus because he was physically closer, and the answer would not be stated out loud.  I believe Peter knew he wasn't the one who would betray Jesus, and he may not have believed any of them would.  We need to be careful that we don't make unfounded judgments about other Christians.  It is better to always believe the best of them.  If we do have questions or concerns, it is always good to get together with at least another Christian and bring our concerns to Christ. 

John 13:20

John 13:20 says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that recevieth whomever I send recieveth me; and he that receiveth me recieveth him that sent me.  Jesus said anyone who received one that He sent received Him.  God is still sending people into the world today, and we as His followers should welcome them as we would welcome Jesus.  Verse twenty-one adds, When Jesus had thus said, he was troubled in the spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.  We are told that after Jesus said this, He was troubled in the Spirit.  The Holy Spirit today will let us know when there is trouble in a situation, but we must be closely relying on Him to know it.  Then in the same verse, Jesus let them know why He was troubled.  These were His closest disciples, but one was to betray Him.  How often today do we, as His followers, His closest disciples, betray Him with our actions, our words, our more especially our thoughts?  Just as Jesus knew the real nature of the disciples, He knows ours today. When our attitude is wrong, we can be certain we trouble the Holy Spirit.  Verse twenty-two continues, The disciples looked at one another, doubting of whom Jesus spake.  Even they, as close as they were, did not understand the true character of Judas.  When there is trouble in the church today, we may doubt the cause.  Judas was very effective in going through the motions of following Christ, but he didn't truly believe. Being a follower of Christ is not about rules and rituals but about a real relationship. To their credit, the disciples did not immediately start pointing fingers at one another.  We need to be slow to judge others and quick to examine our own relationship for signs of disobedience.  I will state once again it is my belief that Jesus did not know this because Judas was preordained to betray Jesus.  If that were the case, he could not be held accountable.  If we have no choice about following or not following Christ, then God is not an impartial God. Judas was responsible for his actions, and so are we. 

John 13:18

John 13:18 says, I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the Scripture might be fulfilled, he that eateth bread with me will lift up his heel against Me.  Jesus had just been speaking of a servant and his master, and Jesus knew that one of His disciples did not consider Jesus to be his master.  He said He would be betrayed to fulfill the Scripture, but this does not mean that all the events of His betrayal were orchestrated.  Jesus did know the Scriptures referring to His death, and He knew His time had come, so He knew one of His closest disciples was going to betray Him.  Just because they had all followed Him physically didn't mean they followed Him spiritually. There are people today who go through the motions physically of following God, such as church attendance or baptism, but they have no intention of following Him spiritually.  We will see that Jesus did not run Judas off, and we are not to decide that someone today should be run off from the church, unless they are actively acting to disrupt the church.  God knows peoples' hearts, and they will never fool Him.  Verse nineteen adds, Now I tell you before it come, that when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am He. Jesus told them before it occurred so that looking back, they would believe in Him.  We sometimes may not understand everything that is going on in our lives from a spiritual point of view, but if we are faithful to Him, we will understand as we look back on our life.  We are simply to continue to follow Him as His servants.  We at times seem to think that in heaven we are going to be something more than we are here on earth, but we will still be His servants.  If we are unwilling to serve here, why do we think we would serve there?  If we are full of hate here, why do we think we will be full of love there?  If we feel superior to people here, why do we think we will feel equal there?  We begin to live for Him the moment we accept salvation through Him, and we should daily grow more like Him. 

John 13:16

John 13:16 says, Verily, verily I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he who sent him.  Jesus tells the disciples that the servant is not greater than his lord, nor is the one who is sent greater than the one who sent him.  So, first, for this to be true of our relationship to Christ, we must acknowledge that He is our Lord.  I almost said realize, but there is a difference between realizing and acknowledging.  It is easy enough at times to realize that someone is better at something than we are, but often we refuse to acknowledge it. We don't want anyone else to know.  We may know that Jesus is the Savior of the world, and as such is the Lord of those who accept Him, but we may not always acknowledge that fact in our everyday life. Second, we will never be greater than Jesus.  In America, we like to say that we can grow up to be anything we aspire to.  In our relationship to God, we can never grow up to be God.  We will always be His servants.  Verse seventeen adds, If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.  Do we know these things about our relationship with God?  If we are led by the Holy Spirit, then beyond a doubt we do.  Yet, at times we can let our self-will get in the way.  We no longer want to be the servant, because in the eyes of the world, being a servant makes one something less than being the Lord.  If we are truly following God, then we will be happy to be His servants.  If we have no happiness in life, maybe we need to look to our relationship with God to find out why.  The things of this world should never deny us happiness.  We are His, and will be forever, and if this does not bring us happiness every day, nothing ever will.