John 13:28-31 - It was night

13:28-30

“No one at the meal understood”. The rest of the disciples presumably hadn’t heard John’s private conversation with Jesus, and it may be that John means “no one, except John, understood. However, it could also be that John, at that stage, did not understand why Jesus wanted Judas to do his deed quickly.

The others reasoned that Judas was being sent out to buy some stuff for the Festival or to give to the poor, since Judas was in charge of the money bag.

“And it was night”. This could be a simple statement of fact, or it could be a more meaningful comment on the state of affairs that were now unfolding. Evil was being allowed to have its way, or so it thought.

13:31

Judas has now gone, so it is just the “real” disciples left. “Now the Son of Man is glorified”. We need to appreciate that the prime purpose is to bring glory to Christ and to bring glory to the Father. Now  modern man baulks at this idea, we think it is arrogant of God to want glory, so let’s look at this a little more closely. First, glory includes moral excellence and significance. One of the root meanings of the word in Hebrew is “weight” in the sense of significance. So the cross demonstrates the moral excellence of God. Two of the key ways in which it does this are (i) it demonstrates God’s goodness and justice; and (ii) it demonstrates God’s mercy and love. The cross also demonstrates the significance of God. Throught the cross and resurrection the effects of sin are undone, we are made righteous, we are forgiven, we are justified. The power of death is defeated.