But, according to Mark, as soon as they had all settled and had just begun eating, Jesus announces, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me – one who is eating with me.” 

That’s no way to start a relaxed meal anticipating the celebration of a religious festival together over the next several days.

However, each of the four Gospels has a little different perspective on the course of the dinner.  Typically, Mark is abrupt and likes to get right to the point. Matthew begins in the same way while Luke and John ease us into the dinner a little more. Personally, I would hate to start dinner with that announcement right at the start. I cannot imagine anything worse. It’s like being invited out to lunch only to find out after being seated that you are there to get fired. You don’t remember much of the meal after that.

I like the way Luke puts it a little more gently, “I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you..” John is even more encouraging, “Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.” 

I was at lunch with a friend this week and offered to pray for the meal. He said, “No, I want to give thanks because I am so grateful for this time with all of you.” That’s the way to start dinner.

How does he show them the full extent of his love? In a way that meets with resistance from Peter but certainly must have upset Judas the most since it has only been a short time since Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with expensive perfume. You remember the response of Judas and the other disciples. “They were indignant. Why waste this, they asked. This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”  John makes Judas look even worse than the others. ‘He did not say this because he cared about the poor because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it.”

I used to feel the same way when I toured the rich cathedrals in Europe. What a waste of money. That was before I met a man who told me the poor do not only need money but they also need beauty. They have no access to art museums reserved for the wealthy or those able to afford admission but traditionally the Church was open to everyone – including the poor.  Today, we value utility more than beauty but it is still the same. The poor need more than money and it is often those who cannot understand that who end up with shriveled hearts and minds.  Everything is reduced to money – as it was especially for Judas.

Jesus knew ahead of dinner what was going on in the mind and spirit of Judas but until then had said nothing to any of them. But I can imagine that what he did next was especially galling for Judas. Jesus rises from the table and let’s read it:

Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 

After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

That little word “so” makes such a difference, doesn’t it? Jesus knew the Father had put all things under his power and that was what gave him the freedom to do something that would normally be done by only the servants. He did it as an illustration of rightful authority – not as an illustration of subservience. I think we sometimes confuse this.  Jesus washed their feet out of strength and not to show he was beneath them or even that they were equal to him. The best serving comes out of genuine recognition of strength and authority that comes from the confidence given by God.

Peter did not understand that, did he? He thought Jesus was doing it out of what Peter misunderstood as humility. As before, Peter was embarrassed by Jesus because he misunderstood him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus was not washing their feet out of subservience but out of authority. This was the sign of Jesus being the one sent by God. He was not humbling himself as we would normally think of it. He was establishing his rightful role as Teacher and Lord. After all, he certainly would not have washed the feet of Judas as a sign of subservience.

When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Afterwards, John records that Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “I tell you the truth, one of you is going to betray me.”

In some ways, I think Jesus may have been saddened and troubled in the same way he was at the response of the rich young ruler – only infinitely more so. So many times he said his mission was to seek and save those who were lost and seeing someone walk away was troubling. All the more it must have been a sense of great loss to see one who had witnessed the miracles, heard the teaching, been a part of the fellowship become the one who would betray him. Reading back on it the gospel writers all mention ahead of time that Judas was the one who would betray Jesus but none of them seem to have seen it at the time.

You probably read Dante’s “Inferno” as a student and recall that the final level of hell was reserved for three particular traitor: Brutus, Cassius, and Judas.  It’s actually a surprise to read Dante’s description of the center of Hell.

At the base of the well, Dante finds himself within a large frozen lake: the Ninth Circle of Hell. Trapped in the ice, each according to his guilt, are punished sinners guilty of treachery against those with whom they had special relationships. The lake of ice is divided into four concentric rings of traitors corresponding, in order of seriousness, to betrayal of family ties, betrayal of community ties, betrayal of guests, and betrayal of lords. This is in contrast to the popular image of Hell as fiery; as John Ciardi writes, “The treacheries of these souls were denials of love (which is God) and of all human warmth. Only the remorseless dead center of the ice will serve to express their natures. As they denied God’s love, so are they furthest removed from the light and warmth of His Sun. As they denied all human ties, so are they bound only by the unyielding ice.” 

I believe that is what Jesus saw as his one disciple’s fate – to be separated from God’s love so completely and bound by a frozen eternity. It was not his grisly death but his hopeless eternity.

As C.S. Lewis wrote, “A damned soul is nearly nothing: it is shrunk, shut up in itself. Good beats upon the damned incessantly as sound waves beat on the ears of the deaf, but they cannot receive it. Their fists are clenched, their teeth are clenched, their eyes fast shut. First they will not, in the end they cannot, open their hands for gifts, or their mouths for food, or their eyes to see.”

In Luke’s account, Judas even takes part in the bread and the wine. I have often wondered if his hands shook or he hesitated in any way when he was served by Jesus.  It does not say but I know it had to be on his mind. If Jesus knew then soon everyone else would know as well.

While all of them were upset by Jesus saying that one of them would betray him and began questioning themselves and each other, it’s clear that Jesus tells only John who it will be. Simon Peter motioned to the disciple whom Jesus loved (John) and said, “Ask him which one he means.” I imagine Peter would have jumped up and taken care of the traitor on the spot just as he later does with cutting off the ear of the soldier who comes to arrest Jesus. But Jesus does not announce who it is exactly for that reason. Judas is committed to the betrayal and Jesus is not going to do anything to keep him back. John writes that “As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him” but it had been coming for quite some time. He had, for whatever reasons and for however long, gradually given himself over to the spirit of Satan. Again, no one seems to have seen the signs or said, “Oh, of course it is Judas. We suspected him all along.” No, only Jesus knew and knowing that it would have been better for Judas had he never been born there is no anger on the part of Jesus – just a deep troubling of his spirit. I imagine every loss of a soul affects him the same. Not anger but sorrow.

But look what happens immediately after Jesus announces the betrayal. Yes, they begin questioning among themselves which of them it might be who would do this but then they move quickly to resuming their long past discussion about which of them was considered to be the greatest. I suppose that makes sense as they had just finished suspecting each other of betrayal. They wanted to prove their loyalty but proving loyalty quickly turns to competing for position. Time and again the disciples prove themselves to be stupid and completely unaware of what is going on. No one said, “This is a special moment. We better pay attention and act our best.”

I think it’s worth mentioning that this discussion is different in a very significant way from that discussion three years ago. Then, it was a good-natured debate. It’s not an argument. It’s more like what we would call trash talking today. They are going at each other about greatness and what it means.

But this time is different and, of course, they could not have picked a more inappropriate time for it. And now it bubbles up again – but it’s a different question. This time they are not debating. They are having a heated argument. They are not asking about the nature of true greatness but the words here read “what is it to appear to be great?” They are asking, like others who have experienced some success, how to keep this going. It’s not a legitimate question any longer. It’s not the start-up question of the young but the question that often comes with success and suspicion of others. It’s actually the worst question possible because all the answers are wrong. It’s one thing to have a genuine interest in the qualities of greatness and another to desire only the outward show but not the inward substance.

Immediately after their feet being washed and Jesus sharing the values and symbols of the new covenant with them they are going at each other with both suspicion and pride. What a frustration that must have been for Jesus. It was like separating quarrelling children from each other when you take them out for a nice dinner. Of course, only Jesus knows this is the last time they will be together until after the resurrection. I doubt this would have been the way he would have wanted his last time with them to end. Could they not have made it easier for him? What patience he had with them!

But, it’s so much like the Church today in many ways. We have the commandment to love each other. Over and over Jesus tells them what the mark of a disciple will be. “A new commandment I give you. Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are my disciples if you love one another.” But we continue to replace that with other things more important to us.

It’s not all men will know by your political parties or all men will know by your economic theories or all men will know by your positions on social issues. Unfortunately, that is how we define ourselves today and how people outside the church define us as well. We are not known for loving each other but for our sometimes devouring of each other with our anger and self-righteousness. We are, like the disciples, still arguing about who is the greatest. Who has the biggest platform, sells the most books, has the most followers, won the most elections and commands the most influence. I know this troubles the spirit of Jesus almost as much as the betrayal of Judas because it betrays Jesus to the world. It makes the world turn away from the church instead of toward Jesus.

And so the last supper was not the silent and inspiring communion we observe today was it? It was anything but that. It was not solemn and worshipful as much as it was confusing, disheartening, unsettling, and a sign of what was in store for all of them: The beginning of the end.