The Conversation Stopper

"And as they did eat, He said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me."  Matthew 26:21

What a topic to bring up in the middle of a meal!  It is easy to imagine the food getting stuck in some of the disciples throats or their jaws dropping when Jesus said that.  Why did He do that in such a dramatic way?  That is not how He typically did things.  He was the one that repeatedly asked people not to publish the miracles He had performed for them  That being the case this conversation stopper was more than uncharacteristic it was strange.

But Jesus was working under a handicap, He was trying to reach a heart of stone.  Christ would do anything to save Judas from committing the worlds vilest crime.  Shock and awe, that was His first strategy.  He shocked Judas by revealing the treachery,  all the time hoping to awe him to repentance.  When that did not work He tried the fear factor, He said, "The son of man goeth as it is written of Him, but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed!  It had beed good for that man if he had not been born."  Matthew 26:24

For three years Jesus had been trying to win Judas' heart by love, but now in these last few moments left to them both He did not remonstrate with Judas for his betrayal.  Instead Jesus pulled out all the stops in His last ditch attempt at saving the traitor.  That is beyond understanding.  That is an amazing love!