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Transcript 393A
Why Didn't the Other Disciples Suspect Judas?
HC: Good evening. Welcome to Open Forum.
CALLER: Why didn't Judas and the other disciples know that it was Judas who was going to betray Christ? It seems to me that it was clear enough for them to know, from Matthew 26.
HC: The question is, in the light of Matthew 26 how is it that the other disciples did not recognize that Judas was about to betray Jesus?
Two things must be kept in view here. And incidentally, the later language indicates that the other disciples had no idea what Judas was up to. They had no idea at all. First of all, the idea that one of their own would betray Jesus was absolutely an impossible idea. It was altogether foreign to think that one of these twelve, who had been the dearest friends of the Lord Jesus Christ, and insofar as the other disciples were concerned, Judas was just as much one of them as they themselves were, there was no indication of any kind that would point to him as being a little bit different from the rest, the very idea was a preposterous idea.
Secondly, it isn't necessarily true that the disciples caught the drift of the conversation. It's one thing for Jesus to say these things. And remember, Jesus earlier had talked about the fact that He would be crucified, and that He would rise the third day. And that didn't register, either, with the disciples. It was only after He rose from the grave that this meant anything to them. Jesus therefore was saying many things that had double meanings as well because He spoke in parables. And so there were many things that He said that the disciples did not understand at all.
And my guess is that at this point they didn't have any idea what Jesus meant, that He meant it just as literally as He was speaking. Secondly, the idea was so preposterous that even if they thought He meant what He said they couldn't understand how it related to the present situation in any sense. Therefore, while they may have entertained it momentarily academically, or intellectually, it certainly made no sense insofar as being a reality.
Thirdly, there's no assurance here that when Judas said, "Master is it I?" that all the disciples heard him. Judas may have spoken very quietly "Master, is it I?" And Jesus of course had Judas totally in view. Jesus is God, and knew the hearts of all. And so He would have caught even the small voice of Judas, if indeed he spoke in a small voice.
CALLER: And He responded by saying, "Thou hast said."
HC: "Thou hast said." And the disciples just did not catch the interchange. You know, frequently at a dinner conversation, if there is something private going on between two individuals, they may make a certain statement and nobody else catches it, do they? Because their thinking isn't aligned to it. And certainly the disciples' thinking was not aligned in any sense to the idea of a betrayal.