Matthew 26:20-28
“Surely Not I, Lord?”
Cross-Examination Sermon Series #7
Maundy Thursday
April 8, 2004
 
	When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. And while 
they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”
	They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, 
Lord?”
	Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will 
betray me. The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man 
who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”
	Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?”
	Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”
	While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to 
his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.”
	Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, 
all of you. This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the 
forgiveness of sins.” (NIV)
	
	The scene has been played out in countless books and movies—a group of people 
are gathered in a room. No one seems to know quite why. Then someone stands up and 
says, “Perhaps you’re wondering why I called you all here tonight.” Perhaps the speaker 
toys with them awhile, gets them feeling comfortable and relaxed, but eventually he gets 
to the reason he has called them all there. Eventually he drops the bomb. Eventually he 
says something along the lines of, “One of you here is…a murderer!” 
	Everyone gasps as the speaker looks around the room. People look around the 
room to see if they can figure out who it is. People say to no one in particular, “Surely not 
I!” 
	The detective talks for awhile, walking around the room, unraveling the details of 
the case while at the same time—often unbeknownst to anyone—spinning a web around 
the guilty individual until suddenly he spins around and points directly at someone, gets 
right in their face, and exposes them, saying, “It is you!”
	Similar gasps must have been heard on that Maundy Thursday evening when 
Jesus dropped a bomb on them. He had been speaking for quite some time of the fact that 
he would be betrayed into the hands of evil men, arrested, and killed. But suddenly, 
without any real warning, Jesus speaks the unimaginable. Jesus says that the person who 
is going to betray him is one of the people in the room—yes, one of the Twelve, one of 
his inner circle. 
	This wasn’t the first time that Jesus had hinted at the fact that one of his disciples 
was something other than what they appeared. Early in his ministry, Jesus had said, “One 
of you is a devil” (John 6:70). John’s gospel even tells us at this point that Jesus was 
talking about Judas, who would betray him—but neither John nor any of the other 
disciples understood that at the time when Jesus spoke the words. Earlier on Maundy 
Thursday evening, as Jesus washed the feet of his disciples, he declared to them: “You 
are clean, though not every one of you” (John 13:10). But again the disciples—except for 
Judas—did not understand what Jesus meant and that he was talking about his betrayal. 
We would imagine that Jesus spoke in this veiled way to let Judas know that he was 
aware of Judas’s plan and to call him to repentance. 
	But this time Jesus was more direct—“One of you will betray me.” 
	The disciples were immediately filled with a combination of shock, sadness, and 
bewilderment. What an act of shameful treachery! To follow the Savior for 3 years, to sit 
down and eat with the Savior as a friend, to share a meal with him that very night, and 
then to turn around and hand him over to his enemies was a crime that was both shocking 
and sad to consider. It still shocks and saddens us 2000 years later—not merely because 
we know the results of that crime—crucifixion for Jesus—but simply because of the 
nature of the crime and the closeness of the individuals involved. Jesus, the perfect 
friend, betrayed by one of his friends, kissing him on the cheek at the same time as he 
was stabbing him in the back.
	It was also bewildering. Who could possibly do such a thing? Surely Jesus knew, 
and so they said to him, “Surely not I, Lord?” 
	Were they asking it in the certain manner of people who believe that they have 
nothing to hide, who believe that they are not only innocent of such a crime, but even 
incapable of such a crime because the crime is so beneath a person of their quality? 
	Perhaps. It’s certainly possible that Peter was thinking that way. Later that 
evening he would vehemently deny that he would ever fall away from—much less 
betray—Jesus, even going so far as to basically call Jesus a liar when Jesus insisted that 
all of them—Peter included—would fall away that evening (Matthew 26:31-35). 
	It’s certainly possible for people to think that way. I think we might be inclined to 
do so—especially knowing the nature of Judas’s crime—selling Jesus, the very Son of 
God, out for what amounted to the price for which you’d sell a slave. And not just selling 
him out, remember, but actually initiating the transaction—going to the chief priests and 
saying, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” (Matthew 26:15)
	Yes, knowing that, we might be inclined to think, “If those chief priests had made 
me that offer, I wouldn’t have had to think twice about it. I would have laughed in their 
faces and gladly accepted whatever consequences came my way! Surely not I, Lord!” 
	Yes, it’s possible that the disciples were saying “Surely not I, Lord?” in such a 
manner—but isn’t this also possible? Isn’t it possible that the disciples were truly asking 
the question with some fear and doubt in their hearts? After all, as they looked around the 
room they didn’t see anyone who stood out as overwhelmingly sinful and evil. But as 
they looked inside their own hearts, they saw someone overwhelmingly sinful and evil. 
They saw an individual who was petty and prideful enough to have just gotten finished 
arguing about which of them was the greatest. They saw someone in whom fears and 
doubts had raged simply because of a storm at sea. They saw someone in whom all 
manner of foolishness and weakness existed and occasionally emerged for all to see. 
They realized that there was little or nothing that they were incapable of in the way of 
wickedness. Isn’t it possible that they realized that to ignore the Lord’s warning and to 
act as if they could never be guilty of such a crime would have been the height of 
ignorant arrogance? 
	As they considered what Jesus had said in the past about one of them being 
unclean, they knew that it certainly could have applied to them and their pettiness. As 
they considered what Jesus had said in the past about one of them being a devil, they 
knew that it certainly could have applied to them and some thoughts they had had—
thoughts that could only have come from the devil. And so as they considered what Jesus 
had just said about one of them betraying him, who was to say that didn’t apply to them 
also? After all, Jeremiah had said that the heart was “deceitful about all things” 
(Jeremiah 17:9)—and that certainly applied also to their hearts.
	Eventually Judas himself asked the question, saying “Surely not I, Rabbi?” and 
Jesus answered with words which must have broken his heart: “Yes, it is you.” These 
words must have broken his heart not only because as a human being Jesus felt the pain 
of being betrayed by one who had looked him straight in the face and lied to him but also 
because he knew that Judas was in the grip of Satan.
	As Jesus answered Judas, he must also answer us, looking at us directly and 
saying, “Yes, it is you.”
	It is—and we had better be reminded of it every time we look at the Ten 
Commandments. Every time we hear God’s law preached, we ought to hear it say to us, 
“Yes, it is you. Yes, it is you who has betrayed Jesus for 30 minutes of pleasure. Yes, it is 
you who has planned a betrayal, planned a sin—and then gone out and done exactly as 
you planned. Yes, it is surely you who has been one of Jesus’ disciples, even looked him 
the eye on Sunday mornings, and then walked out the door and betrayed him within 
minutes.” And every time we hear the Bible speak of God’s justice and God’s 
punishment, every time we hear someone preach about hell, we are reminded of what 
awaits those who betray Jesus—we are reminded of the truth in Jesus’ words: “But woe 
to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been 
born.”
	Yes, it is you—and it’s too late to say or do anything to change it. What can you 
say? “Sorry” doesn’t cut it. What can you do? It’s too late for “I’ll do better in the future” 
to make a difference. There’s really nothing to say or do when Jesus says, “Yes, it is 
you.”
	But tonight, to disciples hanging their heads and--instead of asking “Surely not I, 
Lord?”—confessing, “Yes, it is I”, Jesus speaks again. He says, “Take and eat; this is my 
body.” Then he takes the cup of wine and says, ”Drink from it, all of you. This is my 
blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.” 
	To hearts that are troubled at the realization that not only is it possible that they 
have betrayed the Lord, but it is a fact that they have done so, Jesus comes with a special 
reassurance of forgiveness. He gives us the very body and blood by which he has paid for 
our sins of betrayal. Yes, it is truly he who comes to us tonight in the Lord’s Supper and 
speaks of the new covenant, the new promise, the promise of “the forgiveness of sins.”
	How can he make this promise to traitors such as ourselves? To be a traitor is still 
one of the worst things you can do—and therefore is punished accordingly—with death. 
Isn’t that what those who are traitors towards Jesus deserve? It is indeed. And because 
Jesus took our sins upon himself, that is exactly what he suffered—the punishment 
befitting a traitor, the punishment befitting a betrayer. Therefore our record is clean in 
God’s eyes.
	Do you doubt it? Are you tempted to say, “Surely not, Lord! Surely not for 
someone as faithless as me!” Come to the Lord’s Supper tonight and let him look you in 
the eye and say, “This is my body given for you…This cup is the new covenant, which is 
poured out for you” (Luke 22:19, 20). Let him look you in the eye and say those words—
“Yes, it is you”—but now let him say them with an entirely different meaning. Tonight 
he says, “Yes, it is you. It is your sins for which I paid. It is you for whom I gave up my 
life—so that you might live forever.” Amen.