John 13:27-30, And It Was Night

27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”  28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him.  29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.  30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night. 

From the beginning of his gospel, John uses light to describe Jesus, even calling him the Light of the World, and darkness to describe evil. In verse 1:4 he writes, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” But will it? Judas, who is identified early in the gospel as the one who will betray Jesus, is on the move to snuff out the Light of the World. The day is ending, and a demonic darkness begins to envelop Jesus and his disciples in the upper room in Jerusalem. While eating his final dinner with his disciples, Jesus confronts the demonic in love. After washing his feet, sharing a meal with him, and giving him a morsel of bread dipped in wine, he addresses Judas directly, almost giving him an order: “What you are going to do, do quickly.” It is as if Jesus waits until the last second to send Judas away and must keep his schedule to die at the very time the Passover lambs are being sacrificed at the temple. 

Judas stands at the precipice of witnessing the greatest act of divine love in history at the cross, and instead of following and loving Jesus until the end, he uses his position and privilege for homicidal purposes, taking Jesus one step closer to the cross. He leaves the last supper with Jesus and heads out to meet the high priest and his minions to report on where they can arrest Jesus in the darkness of Gethsemane outside the walls of the city. It is night indeed. 

In prayer, consider the love Jesus had for Judas and ask the Lord to assist you in loving and serving difficult people in your own life.