John 6:71
“Now he spoke of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, for it was he who would betray him, being one of the twelve.”
What does John 6:71 mean?
John is stepping back for a moment to explain something his readers might have wondered about: when Jesus talked about someone eating his flesh and drinking his blood in the preceding verses, who exactly was he referring to when he mentioned betrayal? The answer is Judas, identified here with the kind of detail John often includes, reminding us that Judas was a real person with a family background, not just a name in a story. This parenthetical comment shows us that even as Jesus chose twelve close followers, one of them would ultimately turn against him, yet Jesus moved forward knowing this truth. It's a sobering reminder that proximity to Jesus doesn't guarantee faithfulness, and that even in God's plan, human choices to reject him are real and consequential.