Which King Do You Serve?

Who loves swimming? I do. When I was a kid, I'd look with longing at turquoise rectangles filled with sparkling water where one could free-float and dive and bob until fingers and toes looked like prunes and eyes squinted nearly closed against the glare of the sun. A day at the pool with friends was the best. day. ever.

One of the water games I'd often play was where everyone ducked beneath the water's surface, and one person would shout a sentence as loudly as they could under the water. Then we'd all bob to the surface and someone had to correctly identify what the sentence was.

Surprisingly, it was nearly impossible. When I was the sentence-shouter, I could hear my words issuing into the water, and while I could hear their distortion, it still seemed as clear as clear could be what I was trying to say. But no one else could tell. And vice-versa for my friends. We'd all try as hard as we could to get our message across, enunciating to a ridiculous degree to make our voices edge past the bubbles, but no dice. No one could understand the words.

The game never lasted terribly long; we always got too frustrated, and we'd find our fun somewhere else with diving rings or looking for pennies on the floor of the pool.

I wonder if Jesus felt that frustration in John 13:18-30?

Only in this passage, there's no fun water adventures or laughing, squealing little girls. There's a ritual feast, and solemnity. There are thirteen guys crowded around a low table, reclining as they ate their Seder meal. And the one named Jesus is the center of attention as some strange words issue from His mouth.

He's ended the last section in 13:17 with: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them," and He begins this section in 13:18 with: "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.'"

Lifting one's foot against another person is quite the insult. It's the equivalent of the expression: "I wash my hands of you!" It's giving up hope for change, it's moving on, it's closing the door. In Matthew 10:14, Jesus says: "If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, leave that home or town and shake the dust off your feet." In other words, "Good riddance! No more!"

Here, Jesus quotes a prophetic verse written by His ancestor David and applies it in context: "He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me." He who shares my bread has closed the door. He's moved on. He's said "Good riddance!"

Then Jesus explains in a single sentence the entire concept behind why correct prophetic words are so powerful: "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that I am He."

John's entire mission is wrapped up in another sentence in John 20:31: "But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, and that by believing, you may have life in His Name." 

There comes a moment to every one of us, where we will be offered a choice: believe the words and so gain understanding? Or reject the words, shake the dust off the feet, say "Good riddance," and move on?

Jesus is underlining the moment of belief: "...So that when it does happen, you will believe..." 

But at the moment? He may as well have been shouting the words under water. The disciples are clueless.

Jesus is troubled. He's got the events of the evening already playing out in His mind. He says: "I tell you the truth (an emphatic statement), one of you is going to betray me" (John 13:21). This must have been building in His thoughts as He shares His last meal with the friends who are closest to Him, the ones He has called His mother and brothers and sisters -- His own family, who have been closer to Him than even his half-biological family (Matthew 12:48-50). He's just washed His brother-the-Traitor's feet in a basin, served him in humility while still knowing what was about to happen. Can you hear the pain in the words? One of you is going to betray me.

"His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them He meant."

Bubble bubble. No matter how forceful the strain of the voice, no matter the careful enunciation of the words, the disciples are clueless. 

Except Judas Iscariot. He's frozen on the recliner, and the moment Jesus utters the words, he knows he's been found out. All his secret dealings with the chief priests are discovered; Jesus has turned the spotlight on his heart, and he can no longer hide.

Finally, Peter motions to John, who is reclining next to Jesus (apparently, reclining was the modus operandi for eating the Passover meal; everyone leaned on their left elbow with their heads toward the table and ate with their right hand. I've got to admit, I've wondered about acid reflux, which is just... not pleasant when in a reclining position. Did they not suffer from it?). 

John gives us some details that make this much easier to picture placement around the table. Jesus is reclining somewhere at the table, and John is on his right. Peter was likely on the other side of John. Why? Because "Peter motioned to this disciple [John] and said, 'Ask Him which one He means.' Leaning back against Jesus, he asked Him, 'Lord, who is it?'"

If Peter had been anywhere else besides next to John, knowing him, he would have asked the Lord himself. If John had been anywhere else besides on Jesus' right side, he couldn't have "leaned back against Jesus." If he had been on Jesus' left side, he would have had to "lean forward." 

Anyway, these details remind us that this is not Leonardo da Vinci's painting where all the disciples are sitting up at a modern table and lining only one side of it.

This is reality. This really happened. Sometimes, in the centuries that have passed since these events took place, the telling of this story and the retelling and more retelling gives it almost a fairy tale cast. A bedtime story. A "Now I lay me down to sleep" feeling.

Jesus is fidgeting with a piece of bread He's broken from a loaf. When John asks: "Lord, who is it?" His fingers on the bread still. He knows the course of occurrences that will take place during the evening, but He also offers the Traitor one. last. chance.

"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 (John uses the Traitor's full name to underline the solemnity of this crucial moment)" (John 13:26).

The bread is outstretched, the words hang in the air. Judas stares at the Master's hand that holds the dripping piece of food. While all the rest of the disciples are thoroughly confused, he knows exactly what it is he is being offered. A chance. His future stretches before him in a long moment of clarity: if he refuses the bread, he remains in the Teacher's inner circle. A trusted friend. A man of honor. If he takes the bread, he acknowledges the betrayal he's planned to commit. He gets his money. 

Judas Iscariot's story is one that we will never know to its full extent, but we can piece it together. He's an outsider, the only one of the Twelve who does not come from Galilee, so it's likely he was never a part of some inside jokes, some things that only a "Galilean" might understand. Maybe he's felt left out. Maybe he's allowed resentment to build. He's also the keeper of the coin, and money speaks to him; John tells us that he used to help himself to what was in the money bag (John 12:6). I wonder if Judas turned his head away when his Master said: "Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."

In this moment with the weight of eternity resting on it, Judas pauses. Then he reaches out, and takes the bread.

If you need a sound track, there would be a pause in the rhythm of the music here. 

Here is the moment to which all events from creation in Genesis 1:1 have led. Here is where the course of history changes. The moment Judas stretches out his hand and takes the bread, he solidifies his betrayal. John says: "As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him."

Satan's plan, spoken by God the Father prophetically in Genesis 3:15, is being accomplished. God the Father steps back to allow the betrayal of His Son.

Jesus looks at Judas. I think there was a lot of weight in that look. I think Judas felt it, but he's determined now. He's made his choice. He's not going back.

Jesus says: "What you are about to do... do quickly." And Judas gets up and leaves. John says: "And it was night." Maybe it's a time marker, or maybe it's a statement about Judas' eternity. Judas has truly moved into the realms of the enemy.

The rest of the disciples glance at each other. Not one of them guessed the correct meaning of the words and events that have happened right in front of them. Every one of them have their own interpretation. "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" (John 13:29).

Bubble, bubble.

The rest of the disciples are clueless about the eternal weight of what just happened. They've seen Judas' defection, and they've interpreted it completely off-center. 

What was on my heart this morning as I was praying came through this passage loud and clear. How often do we, the bride of Christ, the church, the body -- misinterpret the words of Jesus, the intent of the situation? How often do we explain away wrong-doing? How often do we mishear the message?

Oh, how we have done that! How we are doing that!

Jesus comes to bring His kingdom, but it is not a kingdom meant to challenge Caesar in Rome. And this is where Judas has it wrong. This is where the rest of the disciples get confused. 

Jesus comes for one purpose and one alone: to die. For us. He became sin. For us.

When we lose sight of that, when we place our hope in any other savior except the one crucified, we lose the message behind the bubbles. It becomes meaningless chatter.

Bride, we've got to listen to the Head. How can the arm listen to the leg? How can the toe listen to the elbow?

We've got to get it together. Break the surface, hear the words meant for us, the Bride. "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen, you will believe that I am He."

No one else is He.
Only Christ.

So let's not crown anyone king of our life who has not also worn the crown of thorns, hung on a cross, and returned from death, victorious.

That's the only King I want to serve.