Judas ate too: An essay on the love of Christ

Judas Iscariot was one of Jesus’ twelve disciples and is infamous for betraying his master. He betrayed him to the corrupt authorities who ultimately took Jesus away to be condemned and killed.

The Bible verse of Judas ate too

What’s weird about this is that Jesus knew he was going to do it—but despite that he still invited Judas to be one of his disciples. He washed his feet along with all the other disciples in an act of love and humility. And on the very night in which he was betrayed he took bread and wine, blessed and hallowed it, and gave it to his disciples saying, “take, eat, this is my body” (1 Corinthians 11:24). Judas was there with the rest of the disciples. The traditional understanding is that this bread and wine were types of Christ’s own body, fed to his disciples to fill them with his life. It’s hard to imagine something more intimate than that. And Jesus invited Judas into this most intimate of gatherings and fed him freely, even though he knew Judas was going to stab him in the back.

Even though it’s very well-known, I think the meaning of Jesus’ reaction to Judas’ inevitable betrayal is still under-appreciated. It’s one of the most powerful images in the New Testament for understanding what it really means to be a part of Christ, as well as how Christ loves us and how we therefore must practice love towards others.

“Following” Jesus is not enough

I’ve always thought it was a little weird when people describe themselves as “followers” of Jesus or put a lot of emphasis on “believing” in Jesus. Believing in Jesus like you believe in Santa Claus barely counts for anything; as St. James observed, “even the demons believe” in God (Jam 2:19). Jesus himself said that not everyone who called him “Lord” will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but only those who do “the will of the Father” (Matt 7:21). Later, St. Paul explains that the righteous are not those who hear the law of God but those who actually do it—the ones who put it into practice (Rom 2:13). So clearly we have to do more than believe in Jesus in our minds. As for “following,” we follow things all the time: from sports teams to television shows to people we like on social media. You can “follow” someone in this sense by sitting on your couch; it’s not much better than doing nothing.

Clearly we have to put our beliefs into practice in some way, and Judas certainly did. He was one of Jesus’ disciples. He abandoned his former life and followed him around the country for years: working, sleeping, traveling, and eating with him. Much more than just following someone on social media, Judas followed Christ in his journeys, he sacrificed anything else he might have done to devote all his waking hours to Christ’s life and ministry. He knew Christ was real. He saw him perform miracles. He witnessed his power firsthand. And yet he did the unthinkable: he betrayed Christ in exchange for money, and sent him to his death.

This betrayal tells us that to follow Christ must be something even deeper than literally following him around. And that’s really saying something, because Judas was a real, active part of Christ’s life and ministry. Judas seemed to both believe in Christ and put that belief into practice by following him. But it wasn’t enough, because both belief and action are two steps in what is really a three-step process.

First, you must believe something, for example, that eating a healthy diet is good for you. Then you must act on that belief, by avoiding junk food and buying healthy food. But the ultimate purpose of that action is to become a certain kind of person—in this case, a healthy one. Or, to take a negative example, let’s say you think that it’s okay to lie (belief), so you lie whenever it’s convenient (action). Now you are a liar (becoming). We do have to believe in Jesus, and we have to put that belief into action, but the goal of both is ultimately to become a certain kind of person. In this case the goal is to become part of Christ, something that Judas didn’t succeed in doing.

Love others like Jesus loved Judas

So what is Jesus’ reaction to this man who said he loved him and devoted his life to him and then ultimately betrayed him to death? Jesus loved Judas. Earlier in the gospel, Jesus says to love your enemies, to pray for those who persecute you, and to do good to those who hate you (Matt 5:44, Like 6:27). He doesn't treat Judas any differently—even though he knows Judas will stab him in the back.

Now the big question: do we love others like this? If you look at our culture as a whole, I think it’s pretty clear that we don’t. On the contrary, our culture almost seems obsessed with judgment and condemnation. In our everyday language we talk about who is “a good person” and who is “a terrible human being.” In politics, almost all the discourse is about condemnation, about identifying who is good and bad so we can feel justified in hating them. And the world of social media is a savagely judgmental landscape where anyone who does anything wrong—as well as those who hold opinions we think incorrect—is condemned in the harshest terms. If you’ve followed any social media “drama,” you know that there have been instances where people have been bullied so badly on the internet that they commit suicide—which was then celebrated by the people who did the bullying.

This kind of judgement is insanity. Only God is really in a position to judge, as he alone has perfect understanding. So for us to condemn others in this way is like trying to push God off of his throne and declare ourselves to be God—at least, that’s how one monk put it. But here’s something very interesting: because God has perfect understanding, he actually knows how woefully insufficient and flawed we are—even better than we do!  With this perfect understanding, Jesus seems to be the person most qualified to condemn others. Yet his response was to love us. Just as he knows our flaws and sins better than anyone else, he also responds to our failings with a pure, selfless, and perfect love. Jesus knew that Judas was going to betray him even before they met—but he called Judas to be one of his disciples anyway. Jesus loved him, washed his feet, and invited him into his life through communion.

All of us are Judas

It’s easy to identify with the “good guys” in stories. After all, we all want to see ourselves as perfect, good, wise, and beautiful. But we often have more in common with the villains than we’d like to admit. We’ve all been Judas at one point or another. You don’t have to betray someone to death to be a Judas—any betrayal, any cruelty, any disloyalty, however small, is a way that we deviate from the good. And because God is the good, is in fact goodness itself, whenever we step out of the good we betray God. We all do it, all too often.

Once you realize this fact, it’s easy to become filled with anxiety or feel pulled toward depression. But you have to go farther: you must internalize the fact that God loves us with a perfect love despite knowing how insufficient we are. This fact opens the door to an infinite amount of hope, because no matter how badly we fall short, we can’t diminish God’s love for us or his desire to call us into participation in his life.

There is a famous line in one of the Psalms where the speaker asks God, “if you should keep an account of our sins, who could stand?” (Psalm 130:3; LXX 129:3). And of course the answer is that no one could stand—everyone would be condemned. But the speaker goes on to add, “but with you there is forgiveness”. God sees our sins but still loves us. This beautiful reality is a constant theme throughout the Bible and one of the most powerful elements in Christianity. Once we internalize this truth, we can avoid Judas’ error: we can accept the love of God in a way that fills us up and flows over into loving and forgiving others—no matter what they do or have done to us.