4th Thursday of Lent (March 19). And it was night

Prepare to Listen.  The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?
 
Prayerfully Read John 13:21-30
21After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”  22The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking.  23One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining close to his heart; 24Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking.  25So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”  26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.”  So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.  27After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.”  28Now no one knew why he said this to him.  29Some thought that, because Judas had the common purse, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor.  30So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out.  And it was night.
 
Prayerfully Wonder
Jesus had just washed the disciples’ feet, commanded them to wash each other’s feet, and hinted about being betrayed by one of the (13:12ff).  No response, so he got blunt, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.”  In uncertainty they wondered who it could be.
 
Afraid to ask, Peter turned to “the disciple whom Jesus loved,” who was closest to Jesus.  Instead of a name, Jesus gave a sign—the one to whom he gave the dipped bread.  Such an act was sign of special friendship.  It’s as though Jesus wanted to convey to Judas that, no matter what he chose to do, he still loved him.
 
Judas, despite hearing Jesus’ words, rejected Jesus’ love and willfully took the bread.  Satan entered him and Judas immediately left.  Jesus did nothing to stop him from submitting to Satan’s plan.  Judas had made his choice; Jesus accepted that.  Urging Judas to act quickly, which confused the others, meant that Jesus, not Judas or Satan, remained fully in control of his destiny.  He would lay down his life of his own free will at the right time.
 
The narrator ends the story with a powerful symbolic sentence: “And it was night.”  As Culpepper writes, “That is all John needs to say about Judas’ fate.  He left the light and went out into the darkness.”[1]  In John, night is not merely a contrast to light, but a symbol of evil, of all that opposes God.  Going into the night, Judas had made his choice.  He chose evil over good, darkness over light.
 
Imagine being at that meal.  How might you react to the way Jesus allowed Judas to choose evil?  Why do you suppose the disciples remained so confused and uncertain?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, your compassion even for a Judas is amazing.  Keep me within your love and light, living in ways that don’t betray you.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Stay in the light.
[1] Culpepper, R. Alan.  The Gospel and the Letters of John.  Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press.  1998, p. 208.