John 13:21-35 Into Darkness Last week we looked at one of the most famous scenes in the New Testament, Jesus washing the disciples feet, and today we go to another one, the betrayal. John s gospel does not have Judas kissing Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane as the sign of betrayal, like the other gospels, but rather the drama between the two is in the upper room, where he receives the food from Jesus and goes out into the night to betray him. It is perhaps remarkable that, as John tells the story, only Judas eats- so different from the other gospel accounts with the sharing of the loaf and the cup, and the words of institution. But the morsel that Jesus gives him has become for him not the food of grace and life, as we may think of the Lord s Supper, it is rather the food of anger or pride or- well, perhaps we can add our personal adverbs here: what meals have you eaten alone, in stressful times, or after a great disappointment, or after the loss of a dear friend? Wasn t that a lonely meal of bitterness and hurt? Wasn t the food tasteless, or did it almost make you sick as you chewed and swallowed? Who can know the thought of Judas as he eats this bite alone? I think we can be sure, though, he wasn t happy. In fact, we may wonder what all the disciples were thinking. Don t you imagine they had come to the meal with Jesus glad they could all be together during the Passover festival,
making jokes and filled with the excitement of that special religious and social occasion when people from all around the Mediterranean had come to Jerusalem to celebrate. Why just the other day they had met a group from Greece! How could they have expected something so out of the ordinary this Passover, something so dramatic this night as the strange foot washing and now these incomprehensible words one of you will betray me. And now, suddenly, where was Judas going? As we read the story we mustn t let ourselves think that Jesus coerced Judas to betray him or tricked him somehow. There was nothing magical in that bit of food, but only what he brought with him, some dark notion he had already let germinate inside him. Verse 2 informs us that Judas had already chosen the dark path: the devil had put it in Judas heart to betray Jesus. So, we may discuss the idea of betrayal- we might think that somebody had to betray Jesus or he would never have been crucified; we may ask if Judas was chosen or predestined from the beginning to betray Jesus; we may wonder when Jesus knew Judas was the betrayer, and if he had selected him as a disciple for that very reason. It is deep theology to try to understand the will and the workings of God, and these are not uninteresting questions, but not very helpful. The best we can do is to focus on Jesus who knows God s call on him, that he is the chosen and predestined one to
show God s love for all humankind; and that he calls all people to him even though some may betray or deny him. Perhaps we would do well to realize that the face of the betrayer may not be one marked by evil, but could be a face we might all recognize or like; perhaps a man or woman, well-meaning at the start, who turns to the darkness of greed or pride or self-righteousness. Could even be any of us, if not as betrayer then maybe as one who denies, like Peter. We ll talk about him a little later. Right in the middle of the second half of chapter 13 is that short but ominous phrase in verse 30, it was night. And we are made to think of darkness, the time for evil deeds and the darkness of a heart turned away from God. It is the hour of evil. And yet, Jesus next words, in verse 31, are unexpected ones, perhaps even exultant words as one commentator has suggested, Now is the Son of Man glorified, and in him God is glorified. Now, Jesus time is gone for turning back. He has dismissed Judas, sent him out to do the evil he has chosen. Now, at this last moment, Jesus has yielded himself to the will of God, and within this context of treachery and suffering and death, Jesus knows God s glory will be revealed, and even more so set against the darkness. We can t help but think of those words from the first verses of the gospel, the light shines in the darkness and the
darkness has not overcome it. And we remember the words about Jesus found in John s prologue, we have beheld his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father. Yes, we may think of Jesus, God s Son, as majestic or glorious. But Jesus is not glorious here as a king or a creator, but as a foot washer, and as a man who loves others with selfless love, and as the one who followed God s will into the darkness of his ultimate hours. If Jesus is exultant now, it is because he realizes that his obedience gives glory to God, and his obedience shines all the more clearly in the darkness of evil that we see in his betrayer and those who hate him, and in the uncertainty of his followers. But here is perhaps the most powerful way to understand these moments, this last night, and his final, agonizing hours the next day: that God s glory is not seen so much as brilliance set against dullness or nobility set against commonness or even as brightness over against darkness, but as kindness displayed beside cruelty, as humility compared to pride, and as selfless love over against ambition. Because Jesus obedience even to death has revealed the very nature of God. So for all the things we may try to say about God, about God s might and eternity and purity-god s otherness compared to our frail humanity, God s all knowing, his omnipotence and omnipresence; and the word we more usually employ to define
all these in one is glory ; but the most accurate word to describe God would be love: the truth about God, and what we see revealed in Jesus, is God s humble, selfless love. This is how we know God, when we understand Jesus obedience. It is this kind of love Jesus shows the disciples and into which he is leading them, with the foot washing and his teachings this last night. But they are not yet ready- Peter is proof of that. Where I am going you cannot come verse 33, and in verse 36, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later, Jesus tells them. They re not ready yet. But in verse 34 he gives them the commandment that lies at the very heart of their relationship with him, and at the very center of their life together, Love one another as I have loved you. It is the humble love he showed them as the servant who washed their feet, and the self-giving and sacrificial love they will see on the cross and will come to understand when he is raised from the dead. It is a command to his church today, to all of us; not to be the church victorious, not to try to live above all the struggles of life, not even to have all the religious answers, but it is the one way to show all the world that we are his, by the love we have for one another (verse 35); to be light in the darkness, to love with Christ s love in the midst of an uncaring world, to show God s glory by loving as our Lord has loved us.
As we read chapter 13, we can t help but notice Peter s place right in the middle of everything. He is almost like the child that doesn t understand the deeper meanings of events and actions and words, but who still can t stand to be ignored. So he blurts out to Jesus You will not wash my feet! and at supper he motions for the mysterious beloved disciple to ask who it was that would betray Jesus- and I think we should understand Peter s thought here as, Find out which one of these losers it is, and at the end of the chapter, in verse 37, after Jesus has said, You cannot follow where I am going, Peter declares, Why can t I go! I would die for you! He has a child s confidence, born from the lack of experience, or born out of a false sense of self. And it will require testing, and his utter failure, to put him on the right track. Someone has written that the words of Peter in these passages represent the attitudes of all the disciples. But he also speaks and acts for all of us, who gauge our ability and knowledge and spirituality far too high; and who cannot understand real love and humility until we are profoundly humbled and forgiven. So let us seek to find the true measure of goodness in his perfect love, and love like that.
And let us give thanks for the man of light who has come into the darkness looking for us and bringing God s unending love to the world.