Purity of the Congregation
“Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said…” -John 13:31
In the verse above we see the departure of Judas from the other eleven disciples: he was going out to betray Jesus. And, upon his leaving, Jesus immediately began teaching His remaining disciples some of the deepest and most meaningful spiritual knowledge that He had uttered thusfar. (See John chapters 14-17 for His valuable lessons.) And so almost as a cause and effect between the wickedness of Judas and the holiness of Jesus, we read that: “when he was gone out, Jesus said…”
I believe Jesus’ revelation to His disciples was brought about by two reasons: first, an urgency on Jesus’ part: since Judas was already on his way to betraying Him, Jesus knew He had to give His disciples His last departing instructions before He would be taken away and crucified.
The second reason why I believe Jesus chose to share such significant and relevant knowledge with His disciples was because of the departure of Judas. In other words, it was the purity of the congregation.
While Jesus was in the midst of the traitor, He used some restraint in His spiritual teachings, and ended some of His messages cryptically, with phrases such as: “ye are clean, but not all…” (John 13:10b), implying that one of them (Judas) was not clean.
Yet when that evil man Judas left, Jesus was much more at liberty to share the deep spiritual secrets that were on His heart with His true and loyal followers. He stripped back His encrypted parables, and spoke such staggering spiritual insights to His disciples, that by the end of His lessons (found in John chapters 14, 15, and 16) that He received a response of near astonishment:
“His disciples said unto him, Lo, now speakest thou plainly, and speakest no proverb. Now are we sure that thou knowest all things, and needest not that any man should ask thee: by this we believe that thou camest forth from God.” -John 16:29-30
All this came about, at least in part, from the absence of Judas. For that would be as casting pearls before swine, or giving that which is holy unto a dog. But to His true followers, God is longing and reaching out to show Himself, and share His heart with those that are pure in His sight.
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy place? He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully. He shall receive the blessing from the LORD, and righteousness from the God of his salvation.” -Psalm 24:3-5
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