Then Judas Iscariot, who was one of the twelve, went to the chief priests in order to betray him to them. When they heard it, they were greatly pleased, and promised to give him money. So he began to look for an opportunity to betray him.

On the first day of Unleavened Bread, when the Passover lamb is sacrificed, his disciples said to him, “Where do you want us to go and make the preparations for you to eat the Passover?” So he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go into the city, and a man carrying a jar of water will meet you; follow him, and wherever he enters, say to the owner of the house, ‘The Teacher asks, Where is my guest room where I may eat the Passover with my disciples?’ He will show you a large room upstairs, furnished and ready. Make preparations for us there.” So the disciples set out and went to the city, and found everything as he had told them; and they prepared the Passover meal. (Mark 14:10-16)

For Jesus, the future was not the undiscovered country. He always knew what was coming. Jesus knew where he wanted to celebrate his final Passover with his disciples and told his disciples how to find that place. Jesus knew what the future held, whether it was when and where a man would be carrying a jar of water, or when and where he would be betrayed. Judas looked for an opportunity to betray Jesus. But Jesus already knew the betrayal would come. As Jesus prepared for the Passover, he also prepared to become the Passover lamb.

After three years with Jesus, the disciples had learned to do whatever Jesus said. They did not argue with him. They did not ask him how he knew there would be such a man carrying a water jar. They simply went and did just as Jesus asked. Meanwhile, Judas, who knew what the other disciples knew about Jesus, did not consider that a man who could predict the course of a man with a water jar, could doubtless predict Judas’ course as well. Judas acted, in his betrayal of Jesus, as if Jesus were merely a human being, an ordinary man who could be trapped by circumstance.

Eleven of the disciples believed Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God. One had decided otherwise. They all saw what they believed. And their actions demonstrated their beliefs.

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