IT WAS NIGHT 

“It was night!”

If you hear those three words be scared -

be scared of that echo in your soul.

“It was night!”

That night - that Last Supper night -

Jesus said to Judas,
“What you are going to do, do quickly.”

“It was night!”

What was Judas going to do?

He was going to betray Jesus.

He did it for money - for 30 pieces of silver.

He did it because the reason he joined Jesus

had become unglued - unhinged - unconnected.

So that night Judas ran out into the night 

to get his silver coins

“It was night!”

Judas had heard and had seen

in the light of the lamps in the Upper Room -

Jesus washing his disciples feet - 
telling us this was an example - 
that we should wash each other’s feet.

He saw Jesus feeding his disciples 
with bread and wine

- with the last ounce of his body and his blood -

trying to be in communion with them 
in his whole being.

He might have missed Jesus last announcements

to love one another as he had loved them.

“It was night!

And after that meal 
Jesus stepped out into the night,

into the darkness - into a dark garden

where he made a last ditch plea to his Father,

“If it is possible, let this cup of suffering

slip away from me - but not my will, 
but your will be done.”

“It was night!”

And his disciples could not even spend 
one hour in prayer with him.

Then Judas came in the night 
with a band of soldiers and guards 
from the chief priests and Pharisees.

He brought them to the garden 
telling them the signal was a kiss -

- the kiss that he used to betray Jesus.

“It was night!”

And Judas fell down into a spiral 
of even deeper darkness.

He had become a petty thief 
silently stealing money -

money that was for the poor. 
His eyes slowly closed

out Jesus - the Light of the World. 
Instead he became night.

His soul became shut. 
He no longer was hearing

the story of the Prodigal Son
and the Lost Sheep

and the call to Lazarus 
to come forth alive from the grave.

He went back and threw the money 
that had clung to his hands 
for a few moments. 
They spilled - they crashed -

they rolled along on the stone floors - 
back at the Pharisees

and then Judas went out and hung himself.

“It was night!”

And Jesus felt that tragedy - 
that scream of Judas in the night.

Is that why Jesus vented those horrible words 
he once said, “It would have been better
if he had never been born.”

“It was night!”

It is night when we think that way,

when  we feel that way,

when we experience that kind of giving up -

that giving up of all hope

And hopefully when we feel that way -

that night we’ll drop that suicide rope

at the trunk of the Judas tree

and crawl our way to the Jesus Tree,

to Calvary and hold on for dear life

to feet of Jesus on the Tree of Life.

He is Light.

O O O O O O O

© Andy Costello Reflections 2013

This Reflection comes out of the gospel for today - Tuesday in Holy Week. It is the simple Greek text, "EN DE NUX " - "And it was night" John 13:30 b.