In the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John, we have a picture of what a true servant looks like. The time for Jesus’ departure from this earth was about to take place through His greatest act of servanthood. It was the time of the Passover, the time when the Hebrew people celebrated an event that was started by the Lord God many, many years ago, when the blood of a spotless lamb was slain and the blood of the lamb was sprinkled upon the doorposts of their houses as they prepared to separate themselves from Egyptian slavery that they had known for four hundred and thirty years. The remembering of that event still persisted during Jesus’ life on earth.
It was also the time when Jesus would have his last supper with his disciples before being crucified upon the cross. The Bible lets us know that they were in an upper room of someone’s house when this supper was taking place. Here was the Passover Lamb of God, himself, about to give his life for the sins of the world, and yet, here was a real sign of His love for mankind. He knew the time of his departure was at hand, and yet, John tells us, “Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” Isn’t that the way He is, though? Even when He calls us to follow Him, He knows that there will be times in which we deny Him by our actions, by our words, and by our plain out rebellion, even turning from time to time to our old sins and habits! Yet, He loved us enough to die for these same sins so that He might call us His friends and we might call Him, “Savior”. “In that while we were yet sinners,” Paul told us, “Christ died for us.” Such love is hard to understand, but it can still be received and experienced.
“By the time that it was time for their supper,” John tells us, “He knew that the devil had already entered into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray him.” Did Jesus love Judas? Yes He did, even though He knew that Judas was “a wolf in sheep’s clothing.” When Judas led the Priestly soldiers to arrest him in the Mount of Olives, Jesus said to him, “Judas? Do you betray me with a kiss?” Even then Jesus tried to reach out and let Judas know that His death would be for his sins as well. But He knew Judas would do this and afterwards hang himself. We have no indication that Judas ever made it to heaven. He was probably never even saved, even though he was a part of Jesus’ disciples. He was the purse keeper of the group and evidently money meant more to him that Jesus did. He tried to repent, but it was too late to do so. I hope you don’t wait before it’s too late to repent.
