Real trouble

You will have noticed how rigorously these Holy Week readings have focused on Jesus.  On what he is going through for us. That is the challenge of meditating during Holy Week. And it was one of the tough reminders for my Easter pilgrimage in Jerusalem, that with all the new experiences to store up and share the whole point was to be on pilgrimage with Jesus - seeking to experience his journey.

Traditionally, Wednesday's Holy Week theme is that Judas Iscariot is revealed as the one who will betray Jesus. We are not only to enter into the pain of Jesus, but into his trust in the Father. It is hard to imagine the  ordeal Jesus goes through with Judas.  Today's reading is John 13: 21-27, 30:

After saying this Jesus was troubled in spirit , and declared, "Very truly, I tell you one of you will betray me. His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant....the disciple whom Jesus loved 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.".....So after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.

The bitter sorrow of a chosen apostle, at one time so close to Jesus, choosing to betray him cut through Jesus - 'troubled in spirit' is strong language. The possibility of betrayal catches most of the disciples by surprise. Who could do such a thing?   But Jesus knows who and though there is still time to stop Judas (has Simon got his sword with him?)  these poignant verses give us so much to think about.  Why Judas did this and what it means that 'Satan entered into him' remain dark mysteries.  But what matters today is to focus on how Jesus responds to the awfulness of this personal disloyalty as he gives Judas bread and speaks his last words to him - perhaps even a last challenge not to do it.  One commentator says: In that moment the Lord condemned Himself to death.  Humanly speaking the Cross is now inevitable; his doom is sealed; and He has sealed it. Anyone who has been hurt by a friend's disloyalty should wonder how Jesus endures this awful pain and keeps trusting in his Father's will.

Lord, slow me down to sense how this bitter betrayal from one of your own.will inevitably lead to the Cross.  Help me to see your enduring such pain is  part of the great cost of Easter, paid for me.