“You are not all clean,” he said,
but he was beyond the range within which the eleven could hear and
comprehend his words. “You are not all clean,” his words echoed
clearly in the wilderness, but only the one whose heel was lifted up
against him heard and comprehended those words, because he alone was
in that wilderness where Jesus was calling. The spirit of the words
of Jesus was not, “Now you have done it,” but the spirit of his
words was, “Come.” They were the words of the good shepherd.
His sheep heard his voice and came, and
Jesus washed the heel that was lifted up against him. Thereafter, his
sheep followed him to the finish. When Judas heard the voice of Satan
within him again, he heard it as the voice of a stranger. Satan was
opposed to those things which Jesus said must happen at Jerusalem.
God, not Satan, delivered his son for the life of the world.
I offer this understanding of the foot
washing only in my own name.
Jesus forgave Judas but that doesnt mean he repented. The bible still refers to him as the son of perdition.
ReplyDeleteJesus conceded to a certain group that they were the seed of Abraham (John 8:37), but he said that their father was whose deeds they did. (John 8:41) Speaking thus figuratively, we are the sons and daughters of whom we serve, whose deeds we do.
ReplyDeleteThe destruction of the temple of the body of Jesus was a thing of God. (Consider John 2:19-22 together with Matthew 16:21-23.) Jesus chose Judas to play a role in that destruction. (John 13:18) Jesus chose and sent him (John 13:16-26, Matthew 26:25) to serve as guide for those who would arrest him. (Acts 1:16) Jesus spoke of that service as eating bread with him. (John 13:18) It is for this service in the destruction of the temple of his body that Jesus called him the son of perdition. (John 17:12) Again, that destruction was a thing of God. The son of perdition is a son of God.
Jesus washed the feet of his disciples in response to the trespass against him. By that washing, Jesus cleansed Judas of the devil which put it into his heart to lift up his heel against him. To deny this fact is to deny the cleansing power of a washing by Jesus. After the washing, Judas had no desire to deliver Jesus to the chief priests. Moreover, after Satan entered him the second time (John 13:27), Judas, like Simon Peter before him (Matthew 16:21-23), was opposed to the idea of Jesus being delivered to the chief priests. In contrast with Simon Peter, however, Judas denied himself per instruction of Jesus (Matthew 16:24) – he overcame Satan.
Prior to the foot washing, Judas was a devil (John 6:70,71); he was not truly a follower of Jesus. After the foot washing, Judas became a follower of Jesus. This change in the life of Judas, if we can see it, reveals to us the success of Jesus in saving him, of raising him up at the last day. (John 6:39) We do not need a statement that Judas repented in order to know that Jesus saved him, in order to believe Jesus was successful in his mission to save that which was lost. (Matthew 18:11-13)
I offer these ideas only in my own name.