“For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which He was betrayed took bread…” 1 Cor 11:23

Today is the actual day in our calendar during which we commemorate the fateful night when Jesus shared this last earthly meal with His disciples. For most of us, we associate these words with a solemn Communion service. But when I read it today, I could not help but shudder at the words which stood out to me, though I had heard them so many hundreds of times in my life, that Jesus was able to keep His composure, able to keep from reacting, or defend Himself, even though He knew that Judas had already treacherously conspired to betray Him into the hands of His enemies.

Think about it. If you knew that one of the people with whom you were sharing a meal was about to hand you over to those who would torture and kill you, would you be able to keep your cool? Would you be able to stay on task, or hold your tongue back from asking why, or try to defend yourself? Would you have permitted him to dip his hand in the dish with you (Matt 26:23). Indeed, Judas was there through the entire ceremony, betrayer and betrayed, conspirator and the One conspired against. Oh the depths of patience and love!

The Lord’s Supper is only recorded in three of the gospels. Though it is conspicuously missing in John, the meal and the events and conversations before and after are still recorded in great detail. Although John chose to omit the part about the bread and the wine, he is also the only one who elaborated what took place directly following the meal. Here again the matter of the betrayal is raised:

“…having loved His own who in the world, He loved them to the end. And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus…poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet.” JN 13:1-5

We should remind ourselves of the context here. Betrayal is one of the most intolerable, debilitating experiences we can have as humans. Judas had been one of the chosen 12! He had walked with Jesus, served next to Jesus, slept next to Jesus. He had seen with his own eyes when crippled men would rise up and dance. He was there to receive a bear hug from the mother of a boy who had been raised from the dead. He had distributed the loaves and fishes. Scripture tells us that this same Judas sat through the entire Lord’s Supper, and even lingered as Jesus humbly washed the dirty feet of each disciple. I imagine Judas must have felt his feet were especially dirty that day. Yet despite hearing the words “you are clean, but not all of you”, he could not bring himself to shake free from the compelling love of the Messiah.

Jesus endured betrayal even though he was subject to the same frailty as each of us. It wasn’t that it did not hurt; it is that He understood how to turn His hurt over to the Father. Despite the present storm, He could remain calm, stay focused, hold things in perspective, resting in the promise and presence of His God and Father.

May you enter into Resurrection weekend as Jesus’ disciples had done on Good Friday 2000 years ago—having witnessed a depth of love, security, commitment, and selfishness, that even before the Cross and Resurrection, you are brought to the place of adoration and worship like I was when I considered: on that same night…he had been betrayed by a great friend.