Love’s Final Appeal

When we read all the four gospel accounts beginning with the “Triumphal Entry” and end at Jesus’ burial, we are able to obtain a greater understanding and appreciation of the many important topics that Jesus taught and a clearer understanding of the different events of the final week of Jesus’ life before His resurrection from the dead.

The portions of scripture that start with the “Triumphal Entry” of Jesus coming into Jerusalem and end with His burial are; Matthew 21:1 to 27:66, Mark 11:1 to 15:47, Luke 19:28 to 23:56 and John 12:12 to 19:42. 

 

If we just focus our attention on the last night Jesus spent with His twelve Apostles, which was the Jewish Passover meal or the “Last Supper”, we see some of the most important teachings and actions of Jesus’ three and a half years with the twelve apostles. Just naming four there are;   

1. Washing of the Apostles feet, John 13:4-12a
2. The teaching of being great in God’s kingdom means being the most humble, Luke 22:24-30
3. The new meaning of the Passover’s unleavened bread as it relates to Jesus’ body, Matthew 26:26
4. The new meaning of the Passover’s wine in relation to Jesus’ blood, Matthew 26:27-28.

 

However, there is another very important lesson that is commonly overlooked of that final night’s Passover meal that Jesus had with his apostles. It was Jesus’ efforts or his multiple appeals to Judas to repent.

 

When Jesus chose the twelve from the many other disciples who were following Him, Judas was one of them. Luke 10:1, “After this the Lord appointed seventy-two others and sent them two by two ahead of him to every town and place where he was about to go.” In doing so, did He not know that Judas would betray Him? The answer to this question has two points.

 

First, Jesus did not choose at random those who were going to be the twelve apostles.

Luke 6:12-16, 12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Jesus spent all night in prayer before He chose the twelve who were going to be discipled to be the primary group of men who three and a half years later were going to be commissioned to take the Good News of the Gospel of Christ Jesus to the world.

 

Secondly, Jesus being, “The Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, being the very and eternal God, of one substance, and equal with the Father, was himself man in nature, yet He was without sin.”

• Philippians 2:6-7 NLT, “6 Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. 7 Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being.”; meaning that Jesus being a man, still had many of His Divine or Godly attributes as we see throughout the gospels. Jesus still maintained His omniscience. He still knew all things past, present and future.
• John. 2:24-25 “But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, And needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man,”.
• John 1:48, “How do you know me?” Nathanael asked. Jesus answered, “I saw you while you were still under the fig tree before Philip called you.”

 

It was because of Jesus’ omniscience that He was able to mention His betrayal multiple times before it occurred. The following references are a partial list in chronological order as to when Jesus referred to it.

• John 6:64, Yet there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus had known from the beginning which of them did not believe and who would betray him. 
• John 6:70-71, 70 Then Jesus replied, “Have I not chosen you, the Twelve? Yet one of you is a devil!”  71 (He meant Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, who, though one of the Twelve, was later to betray him.) 
• Matthew 17:22, When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 
• Matthew 26:1-2, 1 When Jesus had finished saying all these things, he said to his disciples, 2 “As you know, the Passover is two days away — and the Son of Man will be handed over to be crucified.”
• Matthew 20:18, “We are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and the teachers of the law. 

 

At this point it is important to take notice of some key portions of scripture, all of which will help us understand the events that led up to the night of the last Passover supper Jesus ate with His twelve apostles. 

 

1. The Passover Meal and Judas – John 13:18-30

 

To have a better picture of the Passover Feast, the night Judas betrayed Jesus, it is essential to know some important Jewish and Middle Eastern cultural traditions and their meanings in relation to the Passover meal.

 

When reading this portion of scripture, we need to realize that Jesus and the twelve were not sitting at a table eating the Passover meal as depicted by Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting of the last supper. Nor were they sitting at the dinner table as we do today, they were all reclining while eating at the table.

• Matthew 26:20, “When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve.
• Mark 14:17-18, “When evening came, Jesus arrived with the Twelve. 18 While they were reclining at the table eating…” 
• Luke 22:14, “When the hour came, Jesus and his apostles reclined at the table.”

 

The seating arrangements at the dinner table also had its very importance significance for the Passover meal. William Barclay gives us the following facts. “When we understand… culturally …what was happening, we can see that there was appeal after appeal to Judas. First, there were the seating arrangements at the meal. The Jews did not sit at table; they reclined. The table was a low solid block, with couches round it. It was shaped like a U and the place of the host was in the center. Jesus would be sitting in the place of the host, at the center of the single side of the low table. The disciple whom Jesus loved (John) must have been sitting on his right…”

 

The position where one sat at a dinner table was of great importance, it implied a place of honor, this is clearly understood when reading, what Jesus taught about humility.

• Luke 14:7-11 7 When he noticed how the guests picked the places of honor at the table, he told them this parable: 8 “When someone invites you to a wedding feast, do not take the place of honor, for a person more distinguished than you may have been invited. 9 If so, the host who invited both of you will come and say to you, ‘Give this man your seat.’ Then, humiliated, you will have to take the least important place. 10 But when you are invited, take the lowest place, so that when your host comes, he will say to you, ‘Friend, move up to a better place.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all your fellow guests. 11 For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” 

 

William Barclay continues, – “But it is the place of Judas that is of special interest. It is quite clear that Jesus could speak to him privately without the others overhearing. If that be so, there is only one place Judas could have been occupying. He must have been on Jesus’ left … The revealing thing is that the place on the left of the host was the place of highest honor, kept for the most intimate friend.”

 

At this point of the Passover meal, Judas had already betrayed Jesus to the chief priests and Jesus had already referred to it five times as we previously saw.

• Luke 22:3-4, “3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus.”
• Matthew 17:22, “When they came together in Galilee, he said to them, “The Son of Man is going to be betrayed into the hands of men.”

 

Why did Judas have the seat of honor at the dinner table even though Jesus knew what Judas had already done and was still going to do? By allowing Judas to sit in the place of honor, we see the loving and gracious efforts of Jesus or “Love’s final appeal” reaching out to Judas to redeem him from this “crime already half committed” as we read in;

• Luke 22:1-6, 1 Now the Feast of Unleavened Bread, called the Passover, was approaching, 2 and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some way to get rid of Jesus, for they were afraid of the people. 3 Then Satan entered Judas, called Iscariot, one of the Twelve. 4 And Judas went to the chief priests and the officers of the temple guard and discussed with them how he might betray Jesus. 5 They were delighted and agreed to give him money. 6 He consented, and watched for an opportunity to hand Jesus over to them when no crowd was present.

 

By having Judas sit in the place of honor and not exposing his treachery to the others, did not imply that Jesus condoned what Judas did and what he was going to do. How would the others treat Judas sitting at the table in the place of honor if it was known he had already betrayed Jesus? Would they have treated Judas as Jesus treated him? Would the environment of the meal been favorable for Jesus to teach and do what He needed to do at last meal with His apostles? How does God, in His love for us, treat us knowing about the sins we have committed and or have not yet asked for forgiveness?

 

Judas’ betrayal was on Jesus’ mind during the meal; Jesus refers to it on three different occasions in John Chapter 13, the first two are;

• John 13:10-11, “10 Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”  11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.”
• John 13:18, 18 “I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: ‘He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.”

 

Why did Jesus not disclose to the others the fact that it was Judas who was going to betray Him? Jesus had just finished teaching a very important lesson on humility and God’s kingdom by washing the apostle’s feet. By disclosing Judas’ intentions, the others would have forgotten everything that Jesus taught by example and in word prior to that moment.

 

Also, if Jesus would have disclosed to the others what Judas had done and was going to do, Judas “would have never left that room alive.” In Luke 22:38 it tells us during the last supper some of the apostles had swords, “The disciples said, “See, Lord, here are two swords.”

 

Judas’ place of honor at the Passover dinner table was another effort by Jesus to reach out to him in love and grace to redeem him for this “crime already half committed”.  

 

Loves final appeal – It was not until the third time that Jesus mentions he was going to be betrayed that it caught the others attention, but Jesus never mentions Judas by name.

• John 13:21-30, “21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.” 22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. 23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John), was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.” 25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, son of Simon.”

 

William Barclay again gives us and important cultural perspective of Jesus’ actions of the Passover supper in relation to Judas. “For the host to offer the guest a special tit-bit, a special morsel from the dish, was again a sign of special friendship. … When Jesus handed the morsel to Judas, again it was a mark of special affection. … There is tragedy here. Again and again, Jesus appealed to that dark heart, and again and again Judas remained unmoved. God save us from being completely impervious to the appeal of love.”

 

Even God’s mercy, grace, love and forgiveness has its limits. This is one thing God cannot make us do, is to love Him. We either accept His mercy, grace, love and forgiveness and repent, and turn back to God, or we turn our back on the One who gave His life for us and reject Him as Judas did. John 13:27a, “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him, “What you are about to do, do quickly,” Jesus told him…” The moment when the love of Jesus had reached its limit is when He said to Judas; John 13:27b, “What you are about to do, do quickly, Jesus told him…”

 

It was amazing that during the entire time of the meal and afterward Jesus never exposed Judas’ betrayal to the others. This is clearly seen in the final verses.

• John 13:28-30, 28 but no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the Feast, or to give something to the poor. 30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. 

 

May we never in our relationship with God reach the point of His final appeal of love for us to repent and but because our hearts are so hardened by sin, we reject Judas did. 

 

Pastor John