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| Q: | In our Bible Class we discussed the Lord's Supper and the belief of administering communion to those who share the same doctrinal beliefs with us. It was then asked why did Jesus give Judas bread and wine? John 13:18-30 was given as strong reference that Jesus did indeed give Judas the Lord's Supper. Our pastor refuted that and said, "the reference in John is just the Passover meal and is not the account of the Lord's Supper." True? | ||||||
| A: | You ask a much debated question. John 13:18-30 is not the account of Christ's institution of the Lord's Supper. In fact, the evangelist John does not record that event in his gospel. You'll note that while these verses mention Judas receiving bread from Jesus, they do not record Jesus distributing wine. These verses do, however, tell us that Judas was there in that upper room for at least part of the Passover meal, that Jesus exposed Judas as the betrayer by giving him a piece of bread, that Judas then immediately left the room, and that some of the other disciples did not understand why he was leaving. Matthew, Mark, and Luke all tell us that Judas was at the Last Supper table, but none of them explicitly tells us that Judas received the Lord's Supper. The closest one to doing that is Luke. He first records Christ's institution of the Supper (Lk 22:19,20) and then Judas' presence at the table (Lk 22:21). But it is Luke's inspired style to write things in thematic rather than strict chronological order. In other words, Luke may well have been finishing one thematic "thread" (the institution of the Lord's Supper) with 22:20 before starting another (the betrayer) with 22:21. Because the preponderance of the gospel evidence seems to indicate that Judas had left the room before Jesus distibuted the Lord's Supper, I would say he was not there. The question remains: What if he was there? Rather than an example that would militate against the scriptural teaching of close communion, I would see Judas' presence there as an example of someone who received the Supper in an unworthy manner and thus sinned against the body and blood of the Lord (1 Cor 11:27). | ||||||
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