🦁 Lent 6-7

Readings: Isaiah 50:4-9a; Psalm 70; Hebrews 12:1-3; John 13:21-32.

Reflection

Good morning. This is Tim Tribble, broadcasting from Sacramento, California. Today's readings come to us from Isaiah chapter 50 verses 4 to 9, a Psalm 70, Hebrews Chapter 12, verses 1 to 3, and the Gospel of John, Chapter 13, 21 to 32. Today's reading in John Stills actually happens tomorrow. So this is the Last Supper. 

So they are gathered together in here as we read an air in a dining room known as a trickling you and you can look that up it's t r i c i in r u m. But the reason we're mentioning this is in our culture, we don't do this. So we sit in chairs around a table in the Mediterranean. At that time they did Roman style dining. Many Jews adopted the Roman style of dining. The account of the Last Supper. John 13, suggests that Jesus and the disciples were following his custom in a modified form. The Last Supper was not a convenient meal, but a Passover, and there had to be room for all of Jesus's inner circle. 12. There was, of course, no entertainment. So that might be the case that the four couches were arranged around the central table. Unless this could happen, four persons reclining per couch were men. The 13 diners were reclining as they ate, and John is said to have been learning, leaning against the breast of Jesus, who was naturally in the position of a superior John's position next to Jesus suggests he was Jesus's closest friend, which is implied in the narrative, the text and shout in chapter 23. And this comes from the RSV cultural background Study Bible. 

So they're basically reclining there on their left elbow and they're kind of stuck together around the table. And we start off with Jesus being trouble and telling everyone one of you is going to betray me. 

Now the significance of that is in that culture at that time and still kind of at this time too, if someone has betrayed the victim of the betrayal, is considered to have be a poor judge of character, not how to know how to choose your friends can't don't trust the right people. You know that stuff that we've all heard. 

So everybody's like, well, wait a minute, Simon Peter, this is Peter, the one who's going to deny him three times before the court grows twice. Who's going to do that? He wants to know. So he asks John, who is the one next right next to Jesus? The John turns around to ask him, Lord, who is it? 

And instead of calling him out by name, Jesus took bread and it would have been unleavened bread. It would have been dipped in bitter herbs with a mixture that later rabbis called Charas, which probably included nuts and spices. And he departed in and openly and hands it to Judas, which honors Judas because the superior in the room the number one this is you know in in the hierarchy of dining and yacimovich. So this is the guest of honor, if you will, in our vernacular hands. This bread to Judas. So this honors Judas. And then turns around and tells him, Go deal. The Satan entered him, then he turns around, You just go do what you need to do quickly. Let's get this over with. 

And that was Judas on the Simon Iscariot. But no one understood what was going on. No one got the other way. All Judas, you know, he's the money guy. Maybe, you know, you got to go buy some more stuff for the Passover meal. 

Maybe, you know, just tell me all we need to go make a donation to the poor. They don't understand that Judas is leaving. Has nothing to do with their money. That Judas is going to the High priest. And for 30 pieces of silver is going to finger Jesus so that they can arrest him, beat him, torture him, condemn him and crucify him. 

And then after Judas left, 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 glory him at once. So this is the concept that they are moving out and God is glorified, reveals His glory within the deep revelation of glory. It is in the context of the cross. 

So Jesus is glorified in God. God is glorifying Jesus because what is about to happen, The ball is now rolling. The stage has been set on the Thursday, which is tomorrow. We will have Maundy Thursday and the Episcopal tradition and other liturgical churches and some others. There's an evening service and then we wash the feet. It varies and how it's done. Some places the priest does it. 

Sometimes they pass it around and you wash the bowl, the foot of the person next to you, that type of thing. There's various ways of doing that. It's a very humbling experience and it's something that Jesus does and we'll talk more about that tomorrow. But this is again, the humanity of Jesus coming down. And he's troubled because he knows what's going to happen to him. He knows every detail of everything that's going to happen, but he knows the asked to do it for the glory of God and that he has been sent as the perfect sacrifice for the New Covenant. The new commandment to love God with all your heart and all your mind and all your soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. 

So it's the hardest thing to do because there are and we all know this. I sure do. Every day I run into people that really, really make it hard to love them. But that's what we are called to do. And Jesus love was for everyone. His death on the cross was for everyone, not just a select few. This is for everyone who believes Jesus is there and the forgiveness of the God's grace is there for us. So as we continue on to our Holy Week journey today on Wednesday, think about Judas Iscariot had to do his job. The stage is set and we're moving forward to Jesus being sacrificed for the New Covenant. Amen.