The Guest at Dinner Gets Uninvited Holy Wednesday, April 4

The Lectionary text for Holy Wednesday is the story of Jesus introducing his betrayer at the dinner table. The story reads as a simple one, the disciples gathered about at dinner; Jesus warns them that he must fulfill another prophecy and he in turn tells them that someone is going to betray him, the prophecy even goes so far as to say how this person will be introduced, through the sharing of bread. While each of the disciples wonders who it is and then prompted by Peter, John asks, “who is it Lord?” Then the bread is dipped and Jesus hands it to Judas.

When I was reading this text and thinking about writing on it, John 13:21-32 was a story that I had heard and read many times, I knew the way that the story played out and where it was leading. Not exactly the same feeling that I've had when watching a movie and having that feeling that it was predictable. This morning, for some reason, the story sounded completely new and the part that seems most new to me is where after Jesus gives Judas the freshly dipped bread he says, “Do what you must do.” Judas leaves the group and they think that he is off to make preparations for the Passover feast.

It seems so often that when Jesus is telling people around him that he is revealing prophecy they seem to miss that part all together, this situation is no different. Jesus just gave the disciples the, “heads up,” that someone at the table was going to betray him, he tells them the method of identification and they see it fulfilled before their very eyes. They go so far as to say, “Who is it?” They never seem to catch on that when Jesus passed the crust of bread to Judas, that he had just pointed to the one. They don't even seem to grasp the notion when Judas picks up and leaves.
We don't hear much about Judas in the gospels, we know that he was the treasurer, (most likely a crooked one,) and that he was annoyed that Mary's expensive perfumed oil was not sold and was in his book wasted on Jesus. We know that he was at dinner with the disciples when he was, “fingered” by Jesus. We find out later that he was paid off for, “fingering” Jesus and fulfilling his end of the deal, making the prophecy come to complete fruition. We know too from scripture that remorse caused Judas to end his own life after having received his pay for pointing Jesus out to the soldiers who came to take Jesus away.

I don't watch a lot of contemporary television. I cannot deal with the stories anymore. Hospital rooms with heart monitors remind me of my father's last days in Methodist hospital, and it reminds me of his longing to die. I don't like to watch stories where there is drug dealing and prostitution, I can look out my front window and see that coming into my neighborhood in vivid living color. I don't like to see car chases, bombings, or any of the so called action films. I know, when it comes to TV, what do I watch? My answer, not much. (Just to make sure people don't think that I read all the time, I do love the movies and TV shows of the past when there was a moral lesson, a happy ending or when there was rejoicing in some manner for the goodness of life. I do sit in front of the, “tube.”) This story of betrayal and how it finishes sounds like a plot to a mob film to me, surely the Sopranos have an episode built on this very story line sans the salvation and resurrection at the end.

This narrative in the gospels is the gateway to where the story of Jesus' impending death begins to become really dark, the intense agony is not far away. The heartache that Jesus was feeling becomes more apparent, he is making steps through the feelings that we so often have, reminding us again that he has experienced our every pain and sorrow. At this point it doesn't feel like there is going to be any more miracles, he knows that even the Passover festival is not going to be what others are having, that it won't be a meal of friends being solemnly taught at the beginning, and then a fellowship filled with the warmth of family. Jesus knows that it is going to be different, after all, he's expelled a member of his family of choice. He knows what is ahead for him, he knows his hour is coming,