John 13:18-38

The Central Idea of the Text is that Jesus focuses on glorifying the Father and teaching the disciples to love one another. While eating with His disciples, Jesus identified Judas as the one who would betray Him; a betrayal that ultimately served God’s purpose for Jesus to go to the cross and die a substitutionary death.  Judas was the consummate hypocrite, for none of his friends suspected him of evil intent.  For years, Judas accepted Jesus’ gracious provision for him, but not His love. The Giver of grace found no place in the heart of Judas.  Jesus called Judas to walk with Him, knowing he would betray Him (John 6:70-71), and He protected his identity throughout His years of ministry, permitting the disciples to have false assumptions about him, right up the end (John 13:21-22).  If the disciples had known Judas’ true identity, it’s possible they would have turned against Judas, much like Peter turned against Malchus (John 18:10).  After receiving the morsel of bread, Satan entered Judas and both set their wills against Jesus; however, Jesus was in control of the situation, using both to bring about the cross.  After revealing Judas’ identity to John, Jesus sent Judas out to betray Him (John 13:27).  Jesus sought the Father’s glory by doing His will (John 13:31-32; cf. John 17:4), and teaching the disciples to love one another as He had loved them (John 13:31-35).  Peter seemingly ignored Jesus’ words about love and expressed a concern about His going away.  Jesus graciously comforted Peter by stating that he would be separated only for a short time and would be joined to Him later (John 13:36).  Peter then claimed he would die for the Lord, but Jesus explained that Peter would actually deny Him three times (John 13:37-38).