“A celebratory meal—cruelly interrupted”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Wednesday, April 13, 2022
John 13:21-32 (Forward, p. 74) CEV p. 1120
What a bummer! It was a special time, a sacred, intimate time alone with the select group of His disciples. It was the Passover, a meal that remembered Israel’s identity as the people of God and celebrated its release, its deliverance, from slavery in Egypt. But here, it was to be so blatantly and cruelly interrupted.
Jesus and His disciples would have been seated in groups of three, positioned on couches in something of a horseshoe shape. The disciple John was seated beside Jesus, probably on His right-hand side, as befitting ‘the disciple whom Jesus loved’, Jesus’ favourite disciple. So, who was on Jesus’ left side? It appears that it was not Peter, for Peter, it is mentioned, has to motion across to John. So, could Jesus easily give the piece of bread to? The person on His left, of course, who turns out to be Judas. If this be true—and it does fit in with the prophecy of Psalm 41:9—it just reveals something of the terrible irony and pathos of the situation. The very person who broke bread with Jesus would be the one to betray Him. Someone that Jesus had come to depend upon—after all, Judas was their treasurer—and trusted with all His heart, would now turn against Him.
But, in a sense, it was Jesus who ‘interrupted’ this sacred meal. He did so by sharing the news of His betrayal, announcing it before it would happen. And, in a sense also, by so doing, He released Judas. He enabled him to perform ‘this dirty deed.’ Jesus knew the future, knew what Judas was about to do but didn’t try to stop him. He left it to Judas to make his own decision, to exercise his own free will, as He does with each of us. Jesus knows fully well the disastrous and ill-fated decisions that we make constantly, and yet still allows us, permits us to carry them out—even though they may hurt others and ourselves—and ultimately, Himself.
As it turns out, Judas would not be the only one to make disastrous and ill-fated decisions that night. The three disciples that Jesus chose to accompany Him in His lonely prayer vigil in the garden would fall asleep on Him. The majority of the disciples—all except Peter and John—would turn tail and run for their very lives once the authorities and their guards showed up. And even the seemingly intrepid Peter who followed the guards into the High Priest’s garden, would deny even knowing Jesus, not just once but three times. Surely they were all overcome with remorse over what they had done. But all of them except Judas stuck with Jesus and the others anyway. In spite of their remorse, they wanted to find a way back. Only Judas despaired and shut the door to ‘that way back.’
And isn’t that, when it comes down to it, what the Last Supper, that Passover meal, was all about. Jesus was providing a ‘way back’, a way back from our sin and disastrous choices, a way back from sin and its shame and guilt, a way back from the cruel stranglehold that they have over our lives. And so this meal, so sad that night, had a lasting and glorious meaning and heritage for all of us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Forward notes: “After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, ‘Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me’” (verse 21).
“Another name for today is Spy Wednesday, in reference to the betrayal by Judas. In today’s reading, Judas lies in wait, but the moment will come soon when he will point out Jesus to the authorities, a moment that cascades to the crucifixion of Christ. It appears Judas’s motivation is money—thirty pieces of silver. From a Christian perspective, Judas’s betrayal is the most traitorous act in all of history.
“Once at a worship service, a minister asked those of us in attendance if we thought Jesus forgave Judas. The minister went on to say that he believed Jesus forgave Judas because Jesus forgave and forgives everyone. And that in Jesus’s redemption, maybe Judas too is somehow redeemed. Even in the moments when we commit acts that betray God, Jesus Christ is still redeeming us.”
MOVING FORWARD: “Do you think Jesus forgave Judas? Spend some time today reflecting on what it means to forgive and to be forgiven.”
A concluding note or two: there are actually two interconnected questions here, such that the one doesn’t necessarily necessitate the other. I think that our author’s question is fairly straight-forward. From the witness of the Scriptures it seems that Jesus forgives everyone. But then, there is the second question: did Judas forgive himself? That is, did he accept Jesus’ forgiveness? It would appear not.
There is Godly grief, Godly sorrow, which leads to repentance and new life, and then there is worldly grief or worldly sorrow, which leads only to death (2 Corinthians 7:10). And it is death that Judas chose! I have no doubt that Jesus would have forgave him—and actually did so—but that Judas saw his guilt, his deed, as so evil and so reprehensible, as to be beyond God’s mercy and love and forgiveness. And so he took it upon himself to mete out by his own hand that final penalty and punishment that he felt he so richly deserved. Indeed, he did deserve it, but failed to realize that it had already been paid for, for himself and for all others, once and for all. He did something that was totally unnecessary. He tried to pay a price, a debt, which had already been paid. Such is the sadness of the whole terrible business.