Lenten Thoughts: Matthew 26:20-25

20 When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve. 21 And as they were eating, he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” 23 He answered, “He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. 24 The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” 25 Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, Rabbi?” He said to him, “You have said so.”

For the past several years, I've been teaching an elementary school aged Sunday School class. I've prepared weekly lessons from Esther, Acts, and am currently teaching through the Gospel of Luke. In preparing all these lessons, I am constantly in awe at the revelation of the sovereign acts of God and in the case of the New Testament books, the perfect understanding and knowledge that Christ has over events and the hearts of men.

Chapter 26 opens with Christ's statement that He would be delivered up to be crucified. Betrayal would be the means of His being delivered up and He knew it. Jesus had spoken to His disciples repeatedly about what was coming and had given them many details in advance. But the detail He shares at the Passover feast brought it 'home' to them in a way that nothing else had--His deliverance into the hands of His killers was to be accomplished through the betrayal of one of His hand-picked disciples.

Not surprisingly, verse 22 tells us that this made them 'very sorrowful.' But the surprise comes in the second half of the verse: they ''began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?”' One man who reclined at the table knew full well what he had already done. He knew he was the man. But the rest of the disciples feared they could be the one! There is no reason to think that betrayal had ever entered into the minds of any of the other disciples and yet each one feared it could be himself. These men had walked with Christ. They had seen Him call out the Pharisees, the scribes, the leaders of the synagogue and reveal that He knew not only what they were thinking, but the intents of their hearts. They recognized the exent of their sinfulness and depravity and knew that they, even they, were capable of this heinous act.

And Judas? He asks Jesus, "Is it I, Lord?" along with the others, even though he had thirty silver coins in his pocket. Why? Did he fear that it would become obvious to the others if he remained silent? Did he think he could fool Jesus? Was he afraid that his plot would be revealed? Did he have the capacity to fool even himself?

Whatever was going on in the mind of the betrayer, Jesus left no room for doubt about the final end of that man! Yes, God had sovereignly ordained every detail of Christ's passion, and yes, Judas' role was foreordained, but he still had personal responsibility for his actions. He didn't do it because God made him, he did it because he wanted to. Jesus challenged Judas as directly as Nathan had challenged King David but with very different results; David confessed, "I have sinned against the Lord," but John's Gospel reveals insight into Judas' response:

John 13:21After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table close to Jesus, 24so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.