John 13:18–30 You will remember that we have spoken several times now about the I AM sayings of Jesus – ego eimi in Greek. (See the earlier reflection on John 6:1–51.) In very brief summary, this expression is highly unusual and was easily understood to mean that Jesus was claiming identity with God the Father, the I AM of the Old Testament. But Jesus goes further! He also claims to be frequently referred to in the Old Testament. He assumes that references in the Psalms and prophetic books actually refer to himself. Jesus, in v18, makes a reference to Psalm 41:9 and interprets the events of this very evening as a fulfilment of the prophecy in that Psalm about himself! John identifies him as the Word who was there in the beginning, who was with God and who was God. I have often been told by mature Christians that they prefer to read the New Testament; they like to read the words of Jesus and the apostles more than the Old Testament writers, who were only writing as best they could before Jesus came. This approach reflects a seriously deficient view of the person and role of Jesus in Old Testament times. If Jesus is one and the same as the God of the Old Testament, then whenever we read about God anywhere in the Bible, we are reading about Jesus, too. As we come to appreciate the Trinity, we will see that whenever the Old Testament refers to God speaking or being present, then that presence and voice is the Word, Jesus in action. If we are to be faithful readers of the Bible then, we ought to read (and teach our children to read!) the Old Testament just as frequently as the New. Both equally contain the words of Jesus! There is evidence that the New Testament writers understood this. After a series of references to Moses and the wilderness journey (1 Cor. 10:9), Paul writes: We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. Some versions (e.g. NIV) squib this early manuscript evidence and use the Lord or God, instead of Christ. But Paul’s Greek text is clear: he uses ho Christos – the Christ. When Israel tested God in the wilderness, they were testing Christ. In Jude 5, we read: the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. But if you look at your Bible’s margins or footnotes, it should tell you that early manuscripts have Jesus, not the Lord. It is thought that an early scribe incorrectly changed the text to what he thought was more correct. So to summarise, when we read Jesus saying I am, or I am He, we should hear his (and John’s) insistence that Jesus is actually the God of Israel, come in the flesh at this momentous time in history for a particular and final work of salvation. He came, as God did for Israel in Egyptian slavery, to rescue the people from slavery to death and sin. This is the Big Story, the metanarrative that Jesus is constantly giving to his disciples and that John keeps telling us by his repetition of I am. Jesus claims this identity with the Father saying that if we accept him, we accept the Father; furthermore, if we accept anyone else that Jesus sends, we accept him (v20). That is often taken to mean if we accept anyone speaking in Jesus’ name. I’m not unhappy with that interpretation – but I think that we might also see a very early indication of the Trinity here. In the next chapter, Jesus says that he will conference with the Father and they will together send the Comforter, the Holy Spirit. It seems reasonable to see Jesus claiming his place as one of the Divine Trinity here (v20). So, when we read v19–20, we are forced to a realisation that Jesus is the Divine Messiah who was promised. When we read of Judas’ betrayal of him, we realise that Judas did not merely betray a friend and folk leader – he handed the God of Israel over to the Headquarters of Evil. Betrayal is a serious matter. We are familiar from novels and films with stories about betrayal: people who betrayed Jews in cellars and attics to the Nazis, or East Germans who reported their own family members to the Stasi (the secret police), or Russians informing on their countrymen to the KGB. But what if a created human being betrays his very Creator to the most evil personal power in the universe who desires to destroy God himself? This would be a mythic story of Titanic proportion. Homer, Virgil or Shakespeare never imagined that plot! And yet, understanding what Jesus is saying, this is exactly what is happening here (v19): I tell you this now, before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am he. After Jesus has made this disclosure, he is emotionally and spiritually overcome by the enormity of what is about to happen. He is even more exasperated that the disciples just do not seem to comprehend what he is saying. So he puts it in simple terms, using one of his Amen, Amen statements (v21): Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me. The disciples are horrified – even if they still do not grasp the full import of what Jesus is saying. They are more concerned with who it is, rather than the deed itself. Read again verses 21–25, with all of this perspective in your mind. You will see that John has told this story with incredulity at their own (for he was one of them) ignorance and crassness. They respond to this news of the greatest ever betrayal in the history of the universe with a whisper campaign about which one of their mates was responsible. John leaves us in no doubt about the gravity of what is happening, however. He concludes his telling of this God-destroying moment in three Greek words (four in English): And it was night. Thus John sets the scene for the rapid denouement into the crucifixion and death of Jesus Christ, the Son of God. But you and I cannot read this, without being struck silent with the self-question: Have I ever betrayed the God of the Universe? Have I ever, in rejecting any truth of Christ, betrayed God himself? Fortunately, we have the story of Peter’s betrayal which was gloriously forgiven – but we haven’t got there yet! John will end his Gospel with that! Prayer: Oh Lord Jesus Christ, I am sorry that one of us betrayed you. As a member of the human race, I feel the guilt burden of that betrayal. I am sorry. Thank you for not giving up on us. Amen. .