John 13:2

‘And during the supper, the Devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.'

‘And during the supper.' John will, from this point, deliberately play down the fact that it is the Passover meal, even to the extent that he does not describe the instituting of the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion). That this is deliberate is clear. He was well aware that the early church was very familiar with the facts of that Supper. He thus wanted to concentrate on the fact of Jesus' preparation of His disciples for their witness to the world. He wanted the time to be seen as the time when Jesus revealed inner truths about the future, something of which the early church was less aware. But all are aware of the shadow that lies behind it.

The Lord's Supper was well established by this time and constantly celebrated. Through it the truth about His sacrificial death constantly came out. The history of it would have been imbedded in the minds of all Christians. So, as always through his Gospel, John wants rather to bring out spiritual truths rather than physical enactments. He is concerned to stress the spiritual benefits arising from His death. This event clearly occurred late on in the Supper, probably after the Passover meal had been eaten. Certainly Judas would not have left unless the meal was over. (The alternative reading ‘after supper' is equally strongly attested).

‘ The Devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him'. (Compare Luke 22:3) To ‘have a devil' was constantly used in various mouths to signify the Devil's influence in men's speech and behaviour (Matthew 11:18; Luke 7:33; John 7:20; John 8:40; John 8:49; John 8:52; John 10:20), and Jesus had earlier said of Judas (incognito) that he ‘was a devil' i.e. was submissive to the Devil's control (John 6:70). Thus here the idea of the Devil's control over Judas continues.

The idea of a supernatural lord of evil (the Devil, Satan, the Evil One) was widespread among the Jews, and it was he who, according to Jesus, had put Him to the test at the commencement of His ministry (‘the Devil' and ‘Satan' Matthew 4:1; ‘Satan' Mark 1:13; ‘the Devil' and ‘Satan' Luke 4:1), whilst Jesus Himself testified to the power of ‘Satan' when He pointed out that He had come to break his power (Matthew 12:24; Mark 3:22; Luke 11:15 - ‘Satan' in all cases). Compare also how in Matthew 13:39 the weeds were the sons of the Evil One, and the one who sowed them was the Devil.

In Matthew 13:19 ‘the Evil One' snatched away the seed sown by the sower, while in Mark it was ‘Satan' (Mark 4:15). When Peter tried to deny the need for the Messiah to suffer Jesus addressed him as ‘Satan', i.e. as being used as Satan's tool (Matthew 16:23; Mark 8:33). So the working of a powerful supernatural lord of evil was widely acknowledged, and confirmed by Jesus Himself, seen often as working through his minions, described as ‘evil spirits, devils, or demons' (e.g. Luke 13:11 with 16). Scripture elsewhere depicts Satan as presenting himself as ‘an angel of light' (2 Corinthians 11:14) and there is nowhere any idea of horns or forked tails. Such ideas are false and dangerous as belittling the idea. Thus Satan, the Devil, was at work throughout Jesus' ministry and was now seeking to have Him destroyed.

However, it should be noted that what now happens does indicate that Satan did not understand what God was doing, and was, without realising it, conniving in his own destruction. There is something ironic about his haste to get Jesus to the cross which would turn out to be the cause of his own defeat. So it is clear that while he was aware of Who Jesus really was, he was not aware of the means that He would use to save men. While he must have been aware of what Jesus had taught he clearly could not conceive of such divine self-giving. It was totally outside his understanding and beyond his comprehension. Thus he was prompting Judas to betray Jesus to the authorities, thinking thereby to foil His purpose, only for it in the end to be revealed as bringing about God's purposes. We must not think of Satan as all-knowing, or as omnipresent, although he does have many agents.

‘Judas Iscariot' - Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas was the weak link among the Apostles (John 6:70). But we must remember that Judas, at least to begin with, was his own master, and that Jesus gave him every chance to think again. What he did was of his own choosing. In the end, however, money turned out to be more important to him than his belief in Jesus, and this should be a grim warning to us all. There may also have been in Judas' mind the thought that he could spur Jesus into Messianic action, but the fact that he took money for his betrayal is against such an idea. Any Messiah would hardly be expected to look well on someone who had taken money in such a fashion, and who had done it in order to betray Him.

Later he genuinely regretted his action. The paying back of the money to the Temple treasury, where it would then be held separately to be repaid to the contractee, and if not claimed would be used for public works, was a recognised means of cancelling a contract when the other party refused to accept the money back (Matthew 27:5), and it is quite possible that at that stage he could have repented and been forgiven. But his remorse was such that instead he took his own life.