Consider the Last Supper narrative. Here we have Jesus, among other things, telling his disciples that one of them will betray Him this very day. “Truly, truly, I say to you, that one of you will betray Me.” That statement alone would have been an attention getter. “The disciples began looking at one another, at a loss to know of which one He was speaking.” Ok, so they definitely were all ears now. They hear His declaration of the betrayal. It was clear that they were all paying attention to the subject at hand. They were no longer distracted by other conversations that were taking place at the table.
“There was reclining on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. So, Simon Peter gestured to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom He is speaking.” Peter is not only paying attention, but he is engaged in the subject matter in a way that is significant enough to raise logical concerns. “That’s a shocking thing to say”, he must have thought. “All of us here have been with you for 3 years.” I wonder if Peter might have been thinking this was the beginning of another parable. Surely, He can’t mean one of US. Literally? There were also, eleven others who must have been staggered by this statement. What did they think? But it was Peter who spoke up. And, knowing what we know of Peter from the story later on in the garden, when he defended Jesus with a sword, I doubt Peter’s tone in asking the question that followed was a simple query.
“Lord, who is it?” I wonder if behind this question was a building indignance. A combination of, “you’ve got to be kidding” and “if you mean this literally, just point him out, I’ll take care of him”. Just think about this from an everyday human perspective, not a Biblical narrative. We have a tendency to romanticize and forget that these were human men involved in a real time situation. How would we have reacted in this situation? It’s also hard to get the full scope of the narrative since we know the outcome and can spill this knowledge back on what was happening at the supper. If we didn’t know (and the disciples didn’t) what was to come, how would we have handled the situation.
“Jesus then answered, “That is the one for whom I shall dip the morsel and give it to him.” Jesus didn’t beat around the bush. He did not continue as if it were a parable. He came straight out and told Peter, and the others who certainly could hear, with specificity that only left out the name, who it was that would betray him. Then, according to a simple reading of the text, immediately following this statement, Jesus “dipped the morsel, He took and gave it to Judas.” Then, if that wasn’t clear enough to those sitting at the table, Jesus said, “What you do, do quickly.”
Now all of this is pretty much old news to those of us who grew up in the church and have heard this story every year from the time we were children. And sometimes that’s the problem. We are so familiar with something that it no longer has meaning or provokes thought. As the saying goes, “Familiarity breeds contempt.”
Let’s move along with the story. This is where it gets interesting to me as I thought about it yesterday.
We have here in this story of the last supper a perfect example of why context is important, why paying attention is important, why critical thought is important, why our minds are important, and finally how easily we can be deceived if we, even for a moment, lose sight of what Jesus says. How we feel about what He says is of much less importance, especially while He is still speaking.
“Now no one of those reclining at the table knew for what purpose He had said this to him. For some were supposing, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus was saying to him, “Buy the things we have need of for the feast”; or else, that he should give something to the poor.”
What? Wait a minute, what?! After Jesus had made a couple of very specific statements and followed those statements up with a specific action, how is it that all of those at the table who heard and even participated in this conversation totally, utterly, completely missed what was going on!
Had they been talking among themselves on other unrelated subjects just before Jesus made the statement that one of them would betray Him, so they were caught off guard? Were they somehow tired from some other activity that day so they just weren’t fully engaged mentally when Jesus told them of the coming betrayal? If we could get into the mind of the twelve, we would probably come up with twelve different answers to the question.
It is not my intent here to come down hard on the disciples as if they are unique in how they responded to the situation. In fact, it is my intention to point out just the opposite.
How many times (sometimes in one day) do we miss what God is saying to us, either by writ or by the circumstances we find ourselves in? Since the beginning we have been vulnerable. It is a fascinating subject. I don’t think we can just attribute it to a short attention span, though that is most like true as well.
Eve, who only knew two people at the time of the first sin, one of them God, was vulnerable to the suggestions of a perfect stranger or at the very least, one with whom she had not had the extensive contact as she had with God and Adam. Scripture doesn’t tell us whether or not Eve (and/or Adam) had any previous contact with Satan, but the Genesis narrative doesn’t even suggest that she struggled with the decision. Of course, we don’t know that for a fact, but we do know that, with only one rule on the table, it certainly seemed that she did not need a lot of persuasion to break it.
How do we connect the two narratives? They really are the same. Eve set aside what God had said and followed her own desires. The disciples did the same. They set aside what Jesus had just said, literally moments before to construct their own narrative.
The lesson I get from this is that we are vulnerable. We are vulnerable to our own nature, which we know from multiple teachings and examples in Scripture to be sinful.
We get further evidence of our nature in Scripture by the type of instructions we are given. We are told to be vigilant, pay attention, beware, resist, fight, consecrate, prepare, keep sober, fix our hope on, do not be conformed, die to self, continually put to death the flesh, purify your souls, the path is narrow few enter, endure, watch out, put aside, choose this day who to serve, think on these things, don’t be deceived, meditate, ponder, keep seeking the things above. These are all actions that do not come natural to man. We had to be told. We have to continue to be told. We are a creature led by feelings unless we take control. We are more naturally lead by our feelings than by our knowledge. To do what we know to be right takes effort. The more we practice doing right, the easier it becomes. We often have to do so in spite of our feelings. It is also a fact that we can, if we will, take mastery over those feelings. And, in fact, we are commanded to do just that.
The disciples were simply the same as we are. We are the same as they are. We are needful of continual reminders to “Have the mind of Christ”. Pay attention!
To be continued…