John 13:22Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

See verse 21. And what then? All the others look at one another, while Peter, always ardent, makes a sign to John.

“The disciples looked at one another in perplexity.” Each knew himself to be pure and found no guile in his thoughts. Yet he regarded the Lord’s word as more trustworthy than his own thoughts. Therefore all of them grieve and are perplexed. For the declaration was made by Him who is not false, and they were certain that it would surely come to pass.

Astonishment and fear together fall upon the disciples, and they look at one another, receiving from these words a double apprehension. Each one, naturally concerned for his own soul, was in no small fear. Yet because of the concern belonging to all in common, they were no less troubled for the others. They believe that what was said must certainly be true, for they know that the Savior's word cannot prove vain. Yet they consider it dreadful and unbearable for one numbered among the disciples to fall into such impiety. Each examines his own conscience and seeks carefully to learn upon whom the lot of destruction must fall. They also ask why or how Satan would prove so strong as to seize even one of those nearest to Him.

Although the disciples loved their Teacher reverently, the frailty of human feeling still bound their relations with one another. Each man's conscience was known only to himself. Since he did not know the conscience of his neighbor, each was so sure of himself that no one was sure of all, and all were not sure of each.

They were filled with the purest love for their Teacher, yet human weakness still set them in suspicion toward one another. Each, of course, was at peace concerning his own conscience. But since he was not at peace concerning another's conscience, each was sure of himself, yet sure of neither any one of the others nor all of them together.

Jesus Christ did not yet wish to reveal the wretched man before all, still awaiting his repentance.

But when the Son of Man set before Himself how one of these very disciples, who had enjoyed His special love, would deny Him and become the instrument of His enemies, this thought troubled even His spirit. He spoke more clearly: "One of you will betray Me" (Jn 13:21).

Such a disclosure brought all of them into amazement. How could there be a betrayer from among them? Who was this betrayer?

The Lord continued: "The Son of Man goes as it is written of Him." But He added, "Woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would have been better for that man if he had not been born" (Mt 26:21-24).

The disciples fell into despondency and looked at one another. All asked, "Is it I?" The Lord was silent.

In the account of the revelation of Judas as the betrayer, there is the following difference among the Evangelists. Luke, who relates this history very briefly, says that after Jesus Christ foretold the betrayer, the disciples "began to question one another, which of them it was who would do this."

John also points to this circumstance, saying that "the disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom He spoke" (22). Matthew and Mark, however, do not mention this circumstance. They state that the disciples were greatly saddened and began to say to Him, each of them, "Is it I, Lord?"

The Exposure of the Betrayer and His Departure

The words of Jesus made a crushing impression on the other Apostles. Among the chosen twelve there was a betrayer. It was dreadful. None of them would have believed it, had Christ Himself not said it.

In horror they looked at one another, wishing by their searching glances to draw a confession from the betrayer. But Judas kept silent. Then they began to speak among themselves, wondering which of them could be capable of such baseness. Yet this too led nowhere.

Grieved, they began one after another to ask Jesus, "Is it I, Lord?" "Is it I?" But their questions remained unanswered.

The disciples did not pay proper attention to this indication. After the washing was finished, they took their places at the supper.

The Teacher took the middle and chief place. John reclined at His right, and Judas Iscariot seems to have reclined at the Savior's left. He had brazenly taken this place himself, claiming some advantage over the other disciples as keeper of the common purse.

Peter's place was apparently at the edge of the next couch, to the left of Judas. When the supper began, the Savior explained to them the meaning of His action. It was a visible lesson in the humility with which they must treat one another.

“They looked at one another.” The same movement again occurred among the disciples as at the first announcement of the betrayer before the washing of the feet (Lk 22:23). They looked at one another in perplexity, hoping to learn more precisely from their faces of whom the Lord was again speaking as the betrayer. Earlier, saddened, they had asked the Lord, “Is it I? Is it I?” Judas also asked hypocritically, and for a short time he succeeded in concealing his design from the others. The Lord’s answer to him was, in all likelihood, spoken quietly, for him alone. Now, however, the matter was somewhat different, as the following narrative shows.

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 share in the Mystery of Holy Communion and in Christ's intimate farewell discourse with the disciples.

Wishing to move Judas to leave the company of the holy Apostles, yet 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, not knowing whom Christ meant. John was nearest to Jesus, reclining at His breast. In humility, the Evangelist John does not name himself in his Gospel (13:23).

"And they began to question among themselves, which of them it was who would do this" (Lk 22:23).

It is not hard to notice that the disciples' effort to discover the betrayer in St. Luke is not the same as what we see in St. Matthew and Mark. According to those Evangelists, when they heard the Savior say that one of them would betray Him, each feared for himself and asked Him, "Is it I, Lord?"

In Luke's account, however, they seek to know which of them would do such a thing. There the appeal is to one's own conscience. Here the appeal is to the company.

St. John Chrysostom, on John, Homily 72, part 2, observes concerning this verse that fear fell upon the Apostles. "For although they were conscious of no evil in themselves, they were perplexed, because they trusted the words of Christ more than their own thoughts."

Distrust of oneself, when faced with the possibility of falling, is a beautiful and right state of soul. Whoever is sure of himself, thinking he will not fall, will certainly fall. Whoever looks upon his own strength with distrust stands on guard and, with God's help, can struggle against the enemy.

We know the striking example of the fall of the great Apostle Peter, who was certain that he would not forsake his Lord.