Judas’ Betrayal Announced and Peter’s Denial Predicted

Today's Reflections 
 
     

Judas’ Betrayal Announced and Peter’s Denial Predicted

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Jn 13:21-33, 36-38

²¹[Reclining at table with his disciples,] Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” ... ²³One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. ²⁴So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. ²⁵He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” ²⁶Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. ²⁷After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” ... ³⁰So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

³¹When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²[If God is glorified in him,] God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. ³³My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”

³⁶Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered [him], “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” ³⁷Peter said to him, “Master, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” ³⁸Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

One of you will betray me. This is not a statement of fact, for it has not happened yet. Jesus understands everything that is going on—the initial rejection and the mounting hostility against him until this critical point—and he is simply making an educated assessment of what can possibly happen. By exposing the plot against him, he is giving the betrayer a chance to reconsider his evil plan. No one is destined for doom from the very beginning—not even Judas.

Sent by the Father into the world to save sinners, the compassionate Savior does not give up on Judas. After all, Judas is one of his apostles—a friend and confidante. Jesus is not making a judgment but rather a last-minute appeal to his friend to finally accept him as his Lord and Savior. Hence, Jesus’ words to Judas are not of accusation but of compassion.

Many of Jesus’ enemies did not really know

his goodness and his divine character.

Jesus prayed, “Father, forgive them,

they know not what they do” (Lk 23:34).