Matthew 5:43-48...

I was reading John 13 this morning. I have been continually amazed by what I read of Christ’s relationship with His Father. We get a glimpse into the mind of God the Father through these conversations and revelations of the incarnate Christ. This morning I was amazed by something else. I was amazed by what is not written.

The Amplified Bible puts it this way:

1[NOW] BEFORE the Passover Feast began, Jesus knew (was fully aware) that the time had come for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. And as He had loved those who were His own in the world, He loved them to the last and [a]to the highest degree.
2So [it was] during supper, Satan having already put the thought of betraying Jesus in the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son,

3[That] Jesus, knowing (fully aware) that the Father had put everything into His hands, and that He had come from God and was [now] returning to God,

4Got up from supper, took off His garments, and taking a [servant's] towel, He fastened it around His waist.

5Then He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the [servant's] towel with which He was girded.

Jesus as “fully aware” that the time had come. He was under no illusions of what was about to happen. He was under no illusions about who was going to make that possible and yet, he loved them to the last and highest degree and then he did the unthinkable.

He washed the feet of Judas Iscariot.

I can somehow find easier to comprehend that Christ could love and even die for all the sinners in the world. All those who ever spat in His face, for every atheist, child molester, unsaved church member and politician. All of that is very cerebral and detached and hypothetical in a way. But Judas. Judas was part of a twelve man group. A close knit apprenticeship of how to be like Christ. Christ has poured prayers and tears and hours of teaching into that man, knowing that he would betray Him. Knowing that Satan had already put this thought into Judas' heart, He made Judas a part of this last lesson.

He washed the feet of a traitor, an eleventh hour turncoat, a disgrace. He loved him to the last and to the highest degree.