“Not All Are Clean”

“Jesus said to him, ‘The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.’ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are clean’”. (John 13:10-11)

In this passage, Jesus was referring to the cleansing of salvation never needing to be repeated (but still need to be washed daily in sanctification, see Philippians 3:12-14). But Jesus said that not all of the disciples in the room were truly clean, knowing Judas was going to betray Him. This is the first indication that Judas was never a genuine follower of Christ to begin with because He explained that the cleansing of salvation only had to be done once, and in that same breath He said “Not all of you are clean” — saved, in other words. When Jesus was at the table with The Twelve He said that one of them would betray Him. While the disciples were looking at each other wondering who that was, Jesus took a piece of bread, announced that He’s giving that morsel of bread to the one who would betray Him, and gave it to Judas. This was a cultural gesture that demonstrated camaraderie which was extended to Judas one final time. At that point, John 13:27 tells us that Satan entered Judas Iscariot to which Jesus said to the posessed Judas, “What you are going to do, do quickly” and He dismissed Judas from the table. At this point the disciples completely missed the answer to their question that Jesus gave to them through this string of happenings because in John 13:28-29 it said that “no one atthe table knew why he said this to him. Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, ‘Buy what we need for the feast’…” The remaining disciples in the room were clueless, and still, the contrast between Judas and Simon Peter is vast. Which we soon see in the next section.

After Jesus commands His disciples to love one another, He foretells Peter’s denial of Him before the new day began. Sure enough, in John 18 that became reality. We know that Satan had possessed Judas Iscariot which is not something that can be done with a true follower of Christ (see 1 Corinthians and Romans 8:38-39). We also know from 2 Corinthians 7:10 that a true follower of Jesus would have godly sorrow (sorrowful over grieving God with a desire to turn back to Jesus) which leads to genuine repentance of the heart, but worldly grief is of the devil and brings forth death. When Judas returned the moneybag given to him by the Pharisees for his betrayal, he said that it was earned by betraying innocent blood (Matthew 27:4). It was impersonal. He was remorseful over the fact that his betrayal of someone innocent would mean that person would be arrested and crucified, but there was no grief over betraying Jesus, the person he called Master. By contrast, after Peter denied Jesus three times we see that Peter, with a contrite heart, was utterly brokenhearted for sinning against his Master.

“And Peter remembered how Jesus had said to him, ‘Before the rooster crows twice, you will deny me three times.’ And he broke down and wept.” (Mark 14:72)

In Luke 22:31-34 we see that Peter was “sifted” like wheat. Satan wanted to have his way with Peter and successfully tempted him, but Jesus intervened by interceding for Peter’s faith which led him to be granted true repentance over his repeated denials and turned back to Jesus (see Acts 3:19). Jesus restored Peter’s apostolic ministry in John 21. This is evidence to us of Jesus’ unwavering care towards His own and God’s sovereignty over all circumstances.

Questions to ask yourself:

  1. Have you noticed your contrite heart when you’ve realized you’ve sinned against God? How did the fruit of repentance appear in your life?

Prayer Prompt:

Thank The Lord for His intercession for us that keeps us sorted with the wheat and not the tares. Ask God to continue to reveal more of His heart to you in ways that bring you closer to Jesus.