“The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.”
My Notes
What Does Matthew 26:24 Mean?
Jesus is at the Last Supper. He's just announced that one of the twelve will betray Him. And now He speaks a sentence that holds two theological realities in unbearable tension.
"The Son of man goeth as it is written of him" — the betrayal is prophesied. It's written. The crucifixion was planned before the foundation of the world. Psalm 41:9 predicted the familiar friend's heel. Isaiah 53 predicted the suffering servant. The entire trajectory of Jesus' life — including the betrayal that leads to the cross — was scripted in advance. The Son of man goes according to plan. God's plan.
"But woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed" — and yet. The betrayer is held responsible. The fact that the betrayal was prophesied doesn't excuse the betrayer. Judas wasn't a helpless puppet acting out a predetermined script. He chose. He calculated. He negotiated the price. He led the soldiers to the garden. The sovereignty of God and the responsibility of Judas coexist without canceling each other.
"It had been good for that man if he had not been born" — the most devastating sentence Jesus speaks about any individual in the Gospels. Better never to have existed. Better the void than the destiny awaiting the one who handed the Son of God to His executioners. The woe isn't hypothetical. It's a judgment pronounced by the very person who will be betrayed.
The tension is the theology. God's plan required the cross. The cross required a betrayal. The betrayal required a betrayer. And the betrayer is fully, personally, eternally accountable for his role. The plan doesn't erase the guilt. The prophecy doesn't excuse the sin. Both are true simultaneously. And Jesus holds both in the same sentence without flinching.
Reflection Questions
- 1.How do you hold together God's sovereignty (the cross was planned) and human responsibility (Judas is guilty) without collapsing one into the other?
- 2.What does 'it had been good for that man if he had not been born' tell you about the severity of betrayal from the inside — from someone close?
- 3.How does knowing Jesus served Judas (washed his feet, gave him bread) while knowing the betrayal was coming change the way you understand His love?
- 4.Where might you be sitting at the table of God's presence while harboring something in your pocket that contradicts it?
Devotional
God's sovereignty and human responsibility are both true at the same time. That's the uncomfortable center of this verse. The cross was God's plan — written, prophesied, foreordained. And Judas's betrayal was Judas's choice — deliberate, calculated, damnable. You can't collapse one into the other. You can't say "it was God's plan, so Judas isn't guilty." You can't say "Judas chose freely, so God didn't plan it." Both statements are in the same sentence, from Jesus' own mouth.
This matters for how you think about the worst things that happen in your life. The betrayal that shattered you — was it God's plan or the betrayer's sin? Yes. Both. The person who hurt you is fully accountable for their choice. And God, somehow, was working through that choice to accomplish something you can't yet see. The two realities don't cancel each other. They coexist, and the coexistence is the mystery you'll never fully untangle.
"It had been good for that man if he had not been born" — Jesus says this while washing Judas's feet. While serving him bread. While knowing exactly what's coming. The woe isn't spoken from a distance. It's spoken across the table to the man who will betray Him within the hour. Jesus knows. And He still serves. And He still pronounces the woe.
The warning is for anyone who uses the proximity of God's presence while planning to betray Him. You can sit at His table and carry coins in your pocket from the chief priests. You can eat His bread and plot His demise. But the woe is waiting. Better not to have been born than to participate in holy things while your heart is engineering treachery.
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Then Judas, which betrayed him,.... Or that was about to betray him, as the Ethiopic version reads it: he had taken a…
As they did eat ... - The account contained in these verses is also recorded in Mar 14:18-21; Luk 22:21-23; Joh…
good for that man if he had not been born A familiar phrase in the Rabbinical Schools, used here with awful depth of…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture