Walking With Christ

John 13:26-27 (26)Jesus 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. (27)Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”(ESV)

Strap in. This might be a wild ride. I’ve read this verse dozens, if not hundreds, of times. Each time I missed something. Until today.

Two things. First, in verse 27 we see that Satan did not enter Judas until after he, Judas, had taken the morsel of bread from Jesus. Judas reached out his hand and took the morsel of bread. He heard what Jesus had said about what this action meant. Judas understood in that moment that Jesus knew about the plot that Judas was a part of.

Did you catch it? Judas was confronted by Jesus in a very direct way and knew that he was caught. He knew that Jesus knew about the plot. He had the option to not take the bread! Jesus gave Judas a way out even at the very last possible moment. Judas could have denied the bread and repented of what he was doing. It was only after giving himself over to that decision that Satan had the power and authority to enter into Judas.

Second, after Satan entered Judas, Jesus was no longer speaking to Judas. He knew who He was talking to. The disciples could not see what had just happened because they could not see the supernatural. Jesus could see it all and knew very well that He was talking to our accuser.

This one gave me a headache. I’m going to have to just sit with it for a while. Who else missed this? Am I the only one?