Readings for the Day:
Sermon:
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Jesus ends today's Gospel by saying that "the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in Him."
We will read these same words tomorrow night in the Gospel reading, but this reading of them gives context.
Jesus has told the disciples that one of them will betray Him, and He has told Judas to go and do what he must do quickly.
The betrayal of Jesus is seen as a necessary part of the Passion story. It reflects the very truth that we don't want to admit, that humanity is so fallen that even one of Jesus' closest followers would betray Him.
The betrayal by Judas reminds us that we often betray God, that we fail to follow the path that God has set out for us.
God didn't have to come and do this. One more betrayal out of so many, by His own people no less, would be more than enough for the rest of us to say "no, I'm done." But God doesn't. God takes on one more betrayal. God still goes about the work to rescue us and bring us back to Him.
We don't often talk about Judas in church. It's hard for us to look at him. It's really because Judas is a mirror to us of our own faults and our own failures to follow God.
That doesn't stop Jesus, though. So even in the midst of the betrayal of our Lord, we have hope. We have hope in Jesus' love for us, and that hope is what will carry us to Easter.