In the Beginning: The Book of John

(John 13:21-30 [HCSB])

21 When Jesus had said this, He was troubled in His spirit and testified, “I assure you: One of you will betray Me! ”

22 The disciples started looking at one another uncertain which one He was speaking about. 23 One of His disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining close beside Jesus. 24 Simon Peter motioned to him to find out who it was He was talking about. 25 So he leaned back against Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, who is it? ”

26 Jesus replied, “He’s the one I give the piece of bread to after I have dipped it.” When He had dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son. 27 After Judas ate the piece of bread, Satan entered him. Therefore Jesus told him, “What you’re doing, do quickly.”

28 None of those reclining at the table knew why He told him this.

29 Since Judas kept the moneybag, some thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 After receiving the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night.

And it was Night

For Judas, and many more that have chosen the darkness, they are going out into the night … a real and perpetual darkness. Have you ever been feeling depressed, and even when you went outside in the sunshine, things did not seem any brighter?

On the contrary, the contrast was even more depressing? This must have been the suffocating spiritual darkness Judas knew when he went out to give Jesus over to the authorities: he went out into the literal night time in complete spiritual darkness. There must have been a terrible foreboding, especially knowing that Jesus was aware of the plan, having ushered him out and away from his friends. How completely and utterly alone he must have felt ...

Even Jesus was troubled by the unfolding of events: deeply and emotionally stirred by the prospect of His own death and the betrayal of an associate.* This suggests that our Lord was not ok with all of it, even though it was ordained by His Father, and required (even for the likes of Judas). Jesus was not a robot who went to the cross without concern or reservation; He was very human and understood well the concept of physical pain.

We note in verse 30 that Satan entered Judas after he had eaten a piece of bread dipped in oil or wine, offered by Jesus Himself.

In eating the bread Judas seemed to trigger a rite of unholy communion … an invitation to possession by the Devil. It seems that Satan requires an individual to be complicit with him; his work requires a willing accomplice.

Many will go into the night … maybe most. And yet, Jesus comes bearing Light .

Choose wisely.