Tuesday in Holy Week, April 12, 2022

John 13:21-33, 36-38

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at Jesus’ side. So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?” Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor. So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.  When he had left, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once. My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”  Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.” Peter said to him, “Master, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”

While reading or hearing the Gospel reading for today’s Mass we ought to keep in mind that the Apostles — including Judas — expect the Lord soon to proclaim himself as king and call for rebellion against the Romans.  This is the person Judas thinks he is handing over to the Pharisees.  This is the person for whom Peter says he will lay down his life.  When the Lord says, “Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you”, Peter concludes that the Lord is going to a hidden place to make final preparations for the uprising.  Peter, who understands himself as the leader of the Apostles based on the Lord’s declaration to him, earnestly desires to be part of this.  He does not want to be left out.  He felt it very bitterly when the Lord told him that he would betray him that very night, and thought that the Lord’s belief that he would do so was the reason he could not go with the Lord now.

“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.”  The Lord’s exclamation here comes as a burst of relief.  With the departure of Judas to meet the Pharisees, the Passion begins.  It was for this that the Son of God came into the world, so that we might be freed from sin and death.  It is an exclamation of triumph, not of defeat, as would be expected if any other human had realized he was about to be betrayed to his mortal enemies.  In all that the Lord suffers following this betrayal, we see the triumph of his obedience to the Father and love for us over the worst torments the devil could concoct.  May we, in our obedience to the Father throughout our lives share in the Lord’s Triumph.