John 13:21-32
At supper with his friends, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and declared, “Very truly, I tell you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he was speaking. One of his disciples— the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him; Simon Peter therefore motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. So while reclining next to Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?” 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. After he received the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “Do quickly what you are going to do.” Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 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. So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.
When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him. If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once.”
Reflection by Tom Lewis, MDiv
This truly is a difficult family dinner. When I was a child, families still commonly ate together. We even had seating assignments, surely to keep the four siblings from creating disturbances. Nobody left the table without saying, “Excuse me,” and taking plate and flatware to the sink. Meals were an orderly requirement of participation in the family life. An offender of the Code of Eating could be dismissed and sent out from the table.
The disciples are lying on their left sides on the floor in a circle (with apologies to Rembrandt). John is in front of Jesus, and Judas is behind Jesus. They take morsels of pita bread and dip them in a common sauce bowl in the middle of the circle. Jesus feeds the beloved disciple in front of him. In an announcement that shakes the group to its core, Jesus talks about betrayal. He gives the Beloved Disciple the sign by feeding Judas, and Judas is sent away from the table.
That Judas goes out into the night is significant in John. Nicodemus first comes to Jesus at night, because he hasn’t yet understood what Jesus is about. When Nicodemus comes to help with Jesus burial, he comes in the daytime, having tried to protect Jesus from being arrested by the Chief Priests and the Pharisees, Nicodemus becomes a disciple, and comes back to the table.
There will always be difficult dinners in any community. Likely and hopefully, not many are about life and death. Our own community can be at odds, but we always come to the table, accepted, having been cleared of all offenses by the promises in baptism, and God’s unending commitment to every one of us. Every time we come to the table, we celebrate Easter with the joy of the true wedding banquet. Suddenly, we are at Cana, where there is enough wine and our joy is complete.
