John 13:30Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

It seems to me that the divine Evangelist did not say in vain that "having received the morsel, he went out immediately." Satan is strong enough to command those who have once fallen into his hands and submitted to him to commit evil at once. He even compels them, against their will, to do what pleases him without any delay. Perhaps, being always evil-minded and swift for wickedness, he feared that during a delay repentance might secretly appear. It might move a man to reconsider toward something good, remove the pleasure of sin from his mind like a kind of drunkenness, and draw one already captured out of the snare he had set. For this reason, I think, this evildoer forces those who have fallen under his power to hasten to do what pleases him, and to do it very quickly. So also after the morsel he immediately compelled Judas, as though already having him in his hands, to go at last to so godless a deed. He was most likely afraid both of repentance and of the power of the Eucharist. It might shine like light in the man's heart and move him instead to prefer a good deed. It might produce a sound thought in one already persuaded by the devil to betrayal. That the devil usually and always acts against us in this way we can learn from the types that have occurred. Pharaoh enslaved the Jews who were in Egypt. He commanded them to be oppressed without mercy by working clay and bricks, and by various forced labors. He gave them no time at all for the service of God. Among other things he said to the overseers of the works: "Let the tasks of these people be made heavy, and let them not concern themselves with vain things" (Ex 5:9). By vain things he meant their return to a free condition, their burning desire for it, their weeping over slavery, and their prayers for better times. He knew that, by practicing these things, they would gain no small benefit. Passing from the types to the knowledge of truer realities, we shall find that Satan urges very swiftly toward evil those who have fallen into his nets, have already come wholly under his power, and have submitted to his will.

Lord?" To this they received the answer: "He who has dipped his hand with Me in the dish will betray Me." Matthew alone adds that afterward Judas also asked the Lord, "Is it I, Rabbi?" and received an affirmative answer. Finally, John, while relating nothing about the questions of each disciple to the Lord, tells how John, who was reclining at that time on Jesus' breast, asked the Lord at Peter's sign and received the answer: "It is he to whom I shall give the morsel after I have dipped it." The conclusion of this history belongs to John alone. Clearly, the Evangelists relate different circumstances of this event. Luke, abridging the account, relates only the prediction of the betrayer and Jesus Christ's warning to him. Concerning the disciples, he relates their initial confusion and conversation among themselves. Matthew and Mark relate the questions each then put to the Lord, and the first, still general and unclear, indication of the betrayer, together with a warning to the latter. One may think that the fulfillment of this indication occurred at the same time as the fulfillment of the indication to John. Judas, trying either to be or to appear at ease and bold, addresses the Lord with the question, "Is it I, Rabbi?" and receives the quiet answer, "Yes, you." The disciples probably did not hear this last answer. They understood the Lord's words, "he who dipped his hand with Me in the dish," in the most general sense, as meaning "one of the Twelve," or "the hand of him who betrays Me is with Me at the table" (Lk 22:21). Then Peter turns to John and gives him a sign to ask Jesus who it is. If this happened during that part of the supper when the master of the house, having broken the bread, distributed it to those present, then the revelation of Judas as betrayer may be supposed to have occurred thus. Jesus Christ answered John: "It is he to whom I shall give the morsel after I have dipped it." This was the moment when He, handing out portions of bread in order, was to give a portion to Judas. Judas's agitated state and his effort to mask this inner condition made him move his hand toward the dish too early. The Lord was only just dipping His own hand into the dish with the morsel intended for him.

From the narratives of the Evangelists we know that on this Paschal evening Jesus Christ washed the Apostles’ feet, exposed the betrayer, instituted the Mystery of the Eucharist, and addressed the Apostles with His final farewell instructions.

At the beginning of the evening there were twelve Apostles. But, according to the testimony of the Evangelist John, during the evening Judas left.

The question is: when exactly did Judas leave? Was it before the institution of the Mystery of the Eucharist, or after it?

Did he eat that bread of which Jesus said, pointing to it, “This is My Body”? Did he drink wine from that cup of which Christ said, pointing to it, “This is My Blood”?

The Evangelists Matthew, Mark, and Luke, speaking very briefly in general about the Mystical Supper, mention only the exposure of Judas and the institution of the Mystery of the Eucharist.

They say nothing about the washing of feet and the farewell discourse of Jesus with the Apostles. Nor do they speak of Judas’s departure.

They end their narratives with the words: “And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives,” Mt 26:30; Mk 14:26. The same is found in Lk 22:39.

Therefore, if one relies only on the first three Gospels, one may conclude that all the Apostles remained with Jesus until the end of the supper.

One may conclude that, after it ended and they had sung a hymn, all went to the Mount of Olives. Only after that, Judas separated from them and went to the chief priests for the guard.

From this follows the direct conclusion that Judas was present at the supper from beginning to end. Consequently, he was present at the institution of the Mystery and received the Holy Mysteries from the hands of Jesus.

But in view of the obvious incompleteness of the accounts of the first three Evangelists about what occurred at the Mystical Supper, one must turn to the Gospel of John.

As is known, John supplemented what the first Evangelists omitted, and passed over in silence what they had recounted in detail.

The Evangelist John narrates that during the Paschal evening Jesus washed the Apostles’ feet and spoke to them about humility on that occasion.

He says that afterward came the exposure of the betrayer and Judas’s departure, Jn 13:30.

The first three Evangelists also related the exposure of Judas. Therefore, if John speaks of the same thing, it is certainly in order to explain that the first Evangelists omitted Judas’s departure.

In making this correction, he had to indicate precisely the time of his departure.

Then, saying nothing about the institution of the Mystery, which the first Evangelists related in detail, John passes directly to the farewell discourse.

He begins his account of it with the words: “When he,” that is, Judas, “had gone out, Jesus said...,” Jn 13:31.

Thus, from comparing the accounts of all four Evangelists, it becomes evident that Judas was present at the washing of feet.

It is also evident that he departed immediately after he was exposed and after Jesus addressed him with the words, “What you do, do quickly,” Jn 13:27.

It is also evident that he was not present at the farewell discourse.

Now let us try to determine exactly when the institution of the Mystery of the Eucharist took place.

Reading the Gospel of John, Jn 13:1-30, one comes to the indubitable conclusion that the exposure of Judas followed the instruction on humility.

Jesus had spoken this instruction in connection with the washing of feet performed by Him, since this exposure is inseparably connected with that instruction and serves, as it were, as its continuation.

Therefore, if the institution of the Mystery could not have taken place between the washing of feet and the exposure of Judas, one must conclude that it took place either before the washing of feet or after Judas’s departure.

The Evangelist John says that the washing was performed during supper, and that for this Jesus rose from supper, Jn 13:2, 4.

But what occurred at the very beginning, while Jesus had not yet risen from supper to wash the feet?

The answer to this question must be sought in the Gospel of Luke. There it is said that there was a dispute among the Apostles over which of them should be considered the greatest, Lk 22:24.

This dispute could not have arisen over their taking places at the table. They were not reclining with Jesus for the first time, and probably took their places according to an established custom among them.

Nor could they have disputed about seniority in the Kingdom of the Messiah, since such a dispute had already been resolved by Jesus.

Most likely, this dispute arose over which of them, in the absence of a servant, should perform the duties of a slave that evening and wash the dusty feet of those participating in the supper.

This is also proven by the following words of the Evangelist Luke. He testifies that, addressing the Apostles because of this dispute, Jesus said among other things: “Who is greater, the one who reclines, or the one who serves?

“Is it not the one who reclines? But I am among you as One Who serves.”

The words “but I am among you as One Who serves” were obviously spoken after Jesus had washed the Apostles’ feet. The washing itself was performed after the Apostles’ dispute.

But whatever the cause of this dispute may have been, in any case one must recognize that the Apostles began disputing at the very beginning of the evening.

It could not have arisen after the washing of feet, since after the example of humility shown by Jesus, such disputes could not have occurred.

Nor could this dispute have arisen after the institution of the Mystery of the Eucharist, since this Mystery made all the Apostles equal.

If the very beginning of the supper was occupied by the Apostles’ dispute, after which the washing of feet had to follow, then the order is clear.

Immediately after the washing of feet came the instruction on humility. After this instruction came the exposure of the betrayer and his departure.

It is therefore evident that the institution of the Mystery could not have occurred at the very beginning of the supper, before the washing of feet.

Consequently, the Mystery was instituted after the departure of Judas.

The following consideration also leads to this conclusion.

Christ could offer, under the form of bread and wine, His Body and His Blood, and say, “Do this in remembrance of Me,” only to those who believed in Him.

He could say this only to those who would build on earth the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of love and goodness.

They would unite all who enter it by the celebration of this Mystery of union with the Founder and constant Guide of this Kingdom.

But Judas no longer belonged to this Kingdom from the time he conceived the betrayal of his Teacher. Therefore it was not fitting for him to be present at the institution of this Mystery.

Thus the order of everything that happened at the Mystical Supper is as follows: the Apostles’ dispute, the washing of feet, and Jesus’ instruction concerning the Apostles’ dispute and the example of humility shown by Him.

Then came the exposure of Judas the betrayer, his departure from the supper, the institution of the Mystery, and the farewell discourse.

From this comes the undoubted conclusion: Judas was not present at the institution of the Mystery.

Yet the moment of this handing over, or of the Lord's allowing Satan to take the man who had given himself to him, came when the Lord gave Judas the bread. This we have already had occasion to indicate in Chrysostom's words on verse 27. Therefore it is indicated here that "having received the bread, he went out." Judas is dismissed forever, eternally, from the face of the Lord. From this moment begins the Lord's intimate discourse with the disciples. The Lord's community was purified by the casting out of the unworthy person. The lamps of the world remain, which are to be kindled from the Source of eternal Light. Those remain to whom the Lord said: "You are My friends. I no longer call you servants. But I have called you friends" (Jn 15:14-15). To these close ones He says: "Jesus said: Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him."