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6. The Declaration of the Coming Treachery (Matthew 26:20-25)
MATTHEW 26:20-25
20 Now when evening had come, he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. 21 As they were eating, he said, “Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.” 22 They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to ask him, “It isn’t me, is it, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who dipped his hand with me in the dish, the same will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who betrayed him, answered, “It isn’t me, is it, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You said it.” (Luke 17:1-2)
Christ had always lived in intimate communion with His disciples. God was among them. His presence colored the atmosphere of their communion. They loved one another in holiness and brotherhood. Even though they were persecuted, pursued, and caused to gather in secret, joy and peace prevailed among.
Jesus began to unveil His betrayer during the Lord’s Supper without mentioning his name openly, not wanting to make him a rejected public example. The declaration of the coming betrayal fell in the midst of the party as a bomb. This discovery was a divine preparation to clean all the apostles from their faults and scruples that they might be worthy of receiving the Lord’s Supper.
The frightful thing is that not one of the disciples was sure of their own faithfulness. Every one of them felt the possibility of betraying his Lord in his heart. Maybe they thought previously of fleeing to the enemy to escape the nation’s anger. Each one of them felt uncovered before the Lord and was broken shamefully. All of them confessed their weakness confusedly in public. They neither pretended nor boasted of their faithfulness and dignity.
Christ began an attempt to win Judas’ soul, to bring him to repent and confess. He depicted to him the privilege of his communion, love and power which Judas had experienced for a long time in his Lord. He warned him at the same time of the terrible judgment in hell, which would certainly fall on him since he had experienced God’s grace and was now rejecting it.
Yet Judas was filled with the spirit of the devil, “the father of liars.” He looked in Jesus’ face pretending repentance and said, “May God will, I shall not be a traitor.” Judas did not call Christ “Lord” as the other disciples did, but “Rabbi”, “my teacher” or “master.” His separation from Christ appears in this malicious hypocrisy. Then Christ cut him to the heart and declared the wickedness of his soul. Christ said to him, “You have said it. You are the one.”
Are you going to repent before Christ cuts you to the heart and judges you? Are you going to show yourself as a faithful servant of the Lord? Or is evil still in control of your conscience? Have you truly been broken? Or you are a hypocrite who does not follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit?
PRAYER: Heavenly Father, have mercy on me, a sinner. Pull every seed of sin out of my soul. Forgive me my malice and the evil that dwells in me. Create in me a new heart and renewed manners. I will certainly perish without the blood of Your Son. Deliver me from my lusts, and sanctify me that I may follow Your Son faithfully together with all the repentant on earth. Give the spirit of repentance and penitence to all the churches that You may dwell in them through Your Holy Spirit. Lord, save us from ourselves!
QUESTION:
- What happened shortly before the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper?