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Reflection for Holy Wednesday – April 8th 2020

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

John 13:21-32
21 After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. 23 One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; 24 Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus 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.27 After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some 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. 30 So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. 32 If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.

John 13:31 “So after receiving the piece of bread, Judas immediately went out. And it was night.” AND IT WAS NIGHT.

Night/darkness are important themes in the Gospel of John – 1:4 the light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it. It is in the shadow of darkness that Nicodemus makes his approach to Jesus (3:19). It is when darkness falls that the frightened disciples are on board the boat and, in that darkness, Jesus comes to rescue them (6:17). It is in darkness that Mary comes to the tomb (20:1) and, in triumphant and declaratory mode, Jesus proclaims himself as “The Light of the World” (8:12) and so no-one need walk in darkness.

Right now we know what it is to be increasingly facing darkness – for many brave souls it is the constant choice between staying healthy or serving others, for lonely souls it is the confrontation of a dark and stark isolation; and for some it is the darkness of death (compounded by the circumstances of isolation) as loved ones die and others are left behind to mourn and grieve in ways previously unimaginable. It is dark and we deny that at our peril and sanity. And yet… for John the darkness is a statement not of being but rather one of passage – Nicodemus endures the darkness, makes his passage through it and discovers the light of salvation; Mary endures the darkness, makes her passage through it and discovers the light of resurrection.

John reminds us that there is a greater energy than this new darkness of viral terror, and this divine light will triumph.

And a postscript. With hindsight we must wonder why the disciples did not take hold of the situation and demand from Jesus the obvious question… “Who is it, Lord?”. Even Peter, usually brash and blustery, pleads with the beloved disciple to ask the question. Maybe Peter was afraid of the answer?

Tonight a piece of bread is dipped in the dish and Judas will betray. Tomorrow a rooster will crow and Peter will deny. And the next day? “Lord, who is it?”
You see, there is no darkness (not even betrayal) that need have the final word… following our passage today Jesus immediately talks about love…
As the refrain in Genesis 1 has it… “there was evening and there was morning, a new day”.
Lord in our lives, local and familial, national and global, dispel darkness and grant us a new day. AMEN