Tuesday of Holy Week -- April 19, 2011
John 13:21 – 38
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
The longer I live, the more I realize that each of us lives a large part of our lives in the “night.” I look back on the days when I thought I knew a whole lot and realize how little I actually knew. I could even say that I didn’t know much of anything until I admitted that I didn’t know much of anything!
So much of my life has been spent stumbling in the darkness, wandering and bumbling. Often I thought I could see, and then only in hindsight realized that I was walking in darkness. At other times, I knew the darkness around me was deep, so I had to rely on a kind of intuitive “night vision” and the guidance of those with better sight than I had to see me through the difficulty.
Jesus had his own night, here the descriptive statement for the setting just after Judas left to betray him: “And it was night” (v. 30). Of course, the “night” was a statement about the time of day; but even more, in the symbolic lexicon of John’s Gospel, “night” was also a statement about the spiritual atmosphere. It was nighttime of the spirit. The betrayal was conceived when spiritual darkness cloaked the scene.
From my human vantage point, I find it amazing that Jesus walked through this “nighttime” without a hint of bitterness or resentment, without belittling Judas or “making him pay” for what is to come.
I can tell you it wouldn’t happen that way with me. I can ramp up the anger or the passive-aggressiveness or the resentment. Any or all of them might bubble up from my insides. It would be an ugly scene.
Jesus walked through the scene without malice or any apparent anger. Throughout the scene, Jesus seemed to speak out of a center that is foreign to me.
Jesus did not play the victim. He did not look for persons and situations in the outer world to blame. He did not allow his outer circumstances to determine his responses.
This is the fruit of an inner life that is connected deeply to God, an inner life that is borne of a quiet center and works its way out into action.
So this is how Jesus embodies God’s life in the world.
After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor. As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.
When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
The longer I live, the more I realize that each of us lives a large part of our lives in the “night.” I look back on the days when I thought I knew a whole lot and realize how little I actually knew. I could even say that I didn’t know much of anything until I admitted that I didn’t know much of anything!
So much of my life has been spent stumbling in the darkness, wandering and bumbling. Often I thought I could see, and then only in hindsight realized that I was walking in darkness. At other times, I knew the darkness around me was deep, so I had to rely on a kind of intuitive “night vision” and the guidance of those with better sight than I had to see me through the difficulty.
Jesus had his own night, here the descriptive statement for the setting just after Judas left to betray him: “And it was night” (v. 30). Of course, the “night” was a statement about the time of day; but even more, in the symbolic lexicon of John’s Gospel, “night” was also a statement about the spiritual atmosphere. It was nighttime of the spirit. The betrayal was conceived when spiritual darkness cloaked the scene.
From my human vantage point, I find it amazing that Jesus walked through this “nighttime” without a hint of bitterness or resentment, without belittling Judas or “making him pay” for what is to come.
I can tell you it wouldn’t happen that way with me. I can ramp up the anger or the passive-aggressiveness or the resentment. Any or all of them might bubble up from my insides. It would be an ugly scene.
Jesus walked through the scene without malice or any apparent anger. Throughout the scene, Jesus seemed to speak out of a center that is foreign to me.
Jesus did not play the victim. He did not look for persons and situations in the outer world to blame. He did not allow his outer circumstances to determine his responses.
This is the fruit of an inner life that is connected deeply to God, an inner life that is borne of a quiet center and works its way out into action.
So this is how Jesus embodies God’s life in the world.
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