Judas left the Upper Room and made his way to the Chief Priests. They did not want to take Jesus when surrounded by a crowd. Judas knew Jesus would be in the Garden of Gethsemane later that night with just His disciples. And Judas knew exactly where they would be. He coordinated with them how he would lead them to Jesus in order to arrest Him. He would earn his thirty pieces of silver.
After Judas went out into the darkness to betray Him, Jesus had a lot of things to teach the remaining eleven disciples. He knew His time with them before His crucifixion was running out. He’d told them many times about His upcoming death, but they still didn’t understand.
“I am with you a little while longer. Where I’m going, you can not come,” explained Jesus. “Love one another, even as I have loved you.”
“Lord, where are You going?” asked Peter.
“Where I go, you cannot follow Me now; but you shall follow later,” answered Jesus.
“Lord, why can I not follow You right now? I will lay down my life for You,” Peter declared.
Jesus looked at Peter. He knew what Peter couldn’t know yet.
“Will you lay down your life for Me? Truly, truly, I say to you, a cock shall not crow until you deny Me three times,” said Jesus.
The words of Jesus must have come as a shock to Peter. At that moment, Peter could not envision a circumstance where he would deny Jesus. He didn’t know that in just a few hours, Peter’s cocky, self-assured courage would vanish and be replaced by bone chilling fear. And that Peter would deny Jesus three times.
Jesus knew His words were causing fear and confusion in the hearts of His disciples. So, His next words were words of comfort that would resound through the ages. Words that would be repeated and memorized for centuries by confused and hurting people.
“Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And you know the way where I am going,” said Jesus.
His men still didn’t understand. They stared at Jesus. They wondered where Jesus was going and why Jesus was going. Finally, Thomas said out loud what all of them were thinking.
“Lord, we do not know where You are going, how do we know the way?” said Thomas.
“I am the way, the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me,” said Jesus.
Jesus had much to teach them in the time they had left before His crucifixion.
Carla Killough McClafferty