Tuesday of Holy Week

At the Supper, Jesus knows that he is to be betrayed by one of his own, and he knows which one.  He hands a morsel of bread to Judas Iscariot.  Fellowship is broken, Judas goes out and - the evangelist tells us, in a phrase of terrifying symbolism - that 'Night had fallen'.

It's interesting that whilst evil seems to have gained the ascendancy and the events of Jesus' passion and death unfold, there is a clear sense that Jesus remains in control somehow, a theme prominent in St John's Gospel.  Jesus knows in advance who it is who will betray him: he hands the bread to this individual.  Jesus speaks of the Passion as his glorification; to the casual onlooker, the whole business has not the slightest hint of glory about it; on the face of it, it is a miserable story of the cruel death of an innocent man.

But this innocent man, subject as he was to the judgement of Pilate, knows what is really going on.  He knows that Peter, of all people, will betray him three times over, just as he knew the identity of the betrayer.  And this innocent man, judged by the powers of darkness, is the One who actually brings God's righteous judgement to bear upon the world.  The one who is subjected becomes the one who subjects.  When people would look upon the crucified Christ, they would be confronted with a choice to make as to which side to place themselves on.

Whilst human beings were responsible for the arrest, judgement, suffering and death of Jesus, he gives his life willingly to show the depth of God's love for the world and for sinful human beings.  And whilst the Passion confronts us with a choice, the righteousness of God's judgement means that Peter, for example, - the one who repeatedly denied Jesus - can be restored to his place of pre-eminence among the Twelve and be the rock foundation upon whom Christ's Church would be built.  Because of the depth of the divine love, each one of us, regardless of what has been before, can be rehabilitated by God's righteousness.  We can, of course, choose to place ourselves elsewhere (like Judas), for God never compels anyone.  But if we turn to Christ in penitence and faith, and place ourselves under his righteous judgement, his grace will exonerate us and renew in us a sense that he is the One we must follow, and that the 'night' which 'had fallen' can be replaced by endless day.