‘And supper being ended.’ The Greek word translated there as ‘ended’ is a very flexible and elastic word. In fact, in several other places in the New Testament it is translated as something having begun. So the translator has to decide from the context whether it is a terminating word or even an ongoing word. And here there is a mistaken conclusion, there is no doubt. How do we know? When we look at verse 26 – ‘Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped’, we see that supper is still in progress. Some actually translate it, Supper being begun. Some avoid the issue by saying, At suppertime. But supper being ended is a bit misleading to us.
Why does it not say, ‘having put into the mind of Judas’? Well, no doubt that would be true also, but it was in his heart. Judas was by this stage filled with contempt for the Lord. That is a matter of the heart. Perhaps the previous chapter verse 32 had been the last straw for Judas, when Christ had said – ‘And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me.’ Perhaps that was when it dawned on Judas. He is going to die. He is going to walk into the hostility of the Pharisees. He intends to be a martyr. Why have I wasted my time following him for three years? I would have been some great one in his court, and he is going to die. Everything will be lost, and I will be in danger because as soon as they have executed him, they will be after his principal disciples. And so he schemes to betray him. It will, he thinks, save his skin.