John 13:19Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Thus, when Isaiah spoke with the Jews, he presented proofs of the power of God and exposed the nothingness of demons. He pointed to the prediction of the future as the greatest testimony to divinity. Christ, who had worked so many miracles, also sets this forth as no small sign of His divinity. He often concludes His discourse in this way: “I tell you now, before it takes place, that when it does take place, you may believe that I am He.”

What connection do the present words have with the preceding ones? Until now He has been speaking about the betrayer, and now He adds: "He who receives the one whom I send receives Me." There is a connection, and a very close one. The Lord said that He would be betrayed. He said that He would leave them, and that afterward they would disperse, be scattered, and endure many afflictions. Therefore He comforts them in two ways. First, through Himself. He showed them what He Himself would suffer and what He had done to the betrayer by washing his feet and admitting him to the table. If they keep this in mind, they will easily endure every affliction. Thus one way is that the Lord comforts them by what He did for His enemy, healing him to the end, and by what He Himself would suffer.

I am making, He says, a most necessary explanation before the time of fulfillment concerning what is about to happen soon. It will strengthen the hearers and bring no small benefit if they learn the purpose of the event. I am not accustomed, nor do I love, to spend words on needless explanations. But I consider it necessary to implant in your hearing what will be of no small benefit to you if it reaches your knowledge. Therefore "I tell you now" about what is already ready to happen. I give you knowledge of what has not yet been fulfilled, so that when it happens in deed, you may compare the fulfillment of the event with My prediction. Then you will believe that I am the very One concerning whom divine Scripture revealed this.

That is: “I am He of whom it is said in Scripture: ‘He who eats bread with Me will lift up his heel against Me’” (Ps 40:10).

So that, when this Scripture is fulfilled, you may believe that I am the One of whom this prophecy was spoken.

Having finished this work of humility, the Lord again reclined at supper with His disciples and explained the intention of His action. "If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, then you also ought to wash one another's feet. And blessed are you when you do this." But the thought of Judas again made Him add: blessed, but I do not speak of all of you. I know whom I have chosen. Yet even in this case the word of Scripture is not broken, but fulfilled. It is written: "He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me." Jesus repeated such hints so that the disciples would not waver in their faith when one of them became the instrument of betrayal. They were not to think that their Teacher Himself had been deceived in them. The Lord may also have explained this reason in order to awaken the conscience of Judas.

According to Luke the Evangelist, Jesus Christ accompanied His instructions on humility (25-27) with an indirect answer to the disciples' dispute about primacy. Because they had faithfully and steadfastly followed Him until then, despite all the persecutions against Him, He gave them all a promise of blessedness in His Kingdom: "that you may eat and drink at My table in My Kingdom." He also indicated that the first degrees of blessedness in this Kingdom belonged to them. And that they would be especially near the Lord the King: "and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." John the Evangelist adds that Jesus Christ immediately limited this promise.

But I do not speak of all of you, for I know that the Scripture will be fulfilled, which says: “He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me” (Ps 40:10). Therefore I tell you this now, so that when it comes to pass, you may understand that this was said of Me in Scripture.

“Before it has come to pass,” that is, the betrayal. “You may believe that I am He,” that is, that I am the Messiah, whom you call Teacher and Lord, although I shall be betrayed to suffering by My disciple. The disciples could have been scandalized by the Lord’s actions toward the betrayer, as though He depended on the will of the betrayer-disciple. The Lord points out to them the action of God in this matter, long before foretold by the psalmist. Thus He presents the matter so that Judas’s deed will serve only to strengthen their faith in the Lord.

Judas had shown no repentance for his malicious design against Christ, even after the honor and love shown to him. By his presence he constrained Christ. He was unworthy to take part in the Mystery of Holy Communion and in Christ's intimate farewell conversation with His disciples. Wishing to move Judas to leave the company of the holy apostles, and at the same time not wishing to name Judas directly as the betrayer, Jesus Christ addressed all the apostles and said: One of you will betray Me. The disciples were troubled and perplexed as to whom Christ meant. Nearest to Jesus, reclining on His breast, was John. The Evangelist John, out of modesty, does not name himself in his Gospel (13:23).

By pointing beforehand to His future enemy, who shared the table with Him, the Savior shows that the choosing of the friend-enemy did not occur through any mistake. The fulfillment of His prediction concerning the act of the friend-enemy was meant only to confirm faith in His divine mission. The Jews, representatives of the children of this world, believe this mission so little.

Until now the Lord had suffered and grieved silently in His deeply loving human soul over the betrayal and the betrayer. But now the salvation of the other faithful disciples depended on their being assured that the Lord "knew from the beginning who they were that did not believe, and who would betray Him" (Jn 6:64). The Lord's announcement that one of the disciples would betray Him was an act of His love toward the remaining faithful disciples. It was so that they might believe that He is the One whose name is I AM (Ex 3:14), that He is identical and one with the God of the Covenant, Jehovah, Who orders the salvation of mankind and unites heaven with earth.