IT  WAS  NIGHT

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for this Tuesday in Holy Week  is, “It Was Night.”

Until recently the Greek, “En de nux” – was translated in the New American Bible, “It was night.”

Then someone or the team that made changes in the latest New American Bible translation added the word “and.” So we heard this morning, “And it was night.” [John 13:30]

This might sound picky, picky, but I wished they didn’t put that “and” in there.

I say that because our best English teacher in the seminary told us about the gift Ernest Hemingway gave to American writing.  Give short  - exclamation point like sentences. So, “It was night” is perfect. I consider  whoever changed this was not into good dramatic English or how this would sound in church. I assume they were into trying to come up with a good translation of the Greek.

It was also pointed out to us when studying New Testament Greek and the Gospels, that the Gospels in Greek had many, many, many  long sentences with the Greek word “kai” – “and” in them. Surprise! John 13:30 does bit have a “kai” in it.

So I don’t know the mind or methods of the translators of this text.

That’s life. Be prepared not to get one’s way.

THE THEME

John presents a powerful message in this part of the Gospel of John.

Jesus is at supper for his last supper. Judas has already planned on having Jesus arrested and killed for money.

Jesus, at supper, that night, is about to enter into the dark – into evil – into night. He’ll be arrested – kissed with a betrayers lips – beaten – whipped – mortified – made fun of – crowned with thorns.

Night means – people have left the light. Night means darkness and sin.

We’ll find this all through Paul’s thoughts. People do the sneaky things in the dark – in the night. [Cf. Romans 1;21; 11: 8-10; 13:12.]

Dante in his Inferno – Hell  - considers hell as darkness – in the dark… Hell is going “Into the eternal darkness, into fire and into ice.”

Luke calls this period near the end of Jesus’ life: ‘This is the hour of darkness.”  [Luke 22:53]

We hear on every Good Friday – that it got very dark that afternoon – when Jesus died on the cross.

The metaphor of hell is not just fire. The metaphor of hell is very much darkness.

The sinner is often pictured as being sneaky – slipping around in the dark - stealing – sinning – not wanting to be seen.

How many men – who are addicted to porn – are sneaking and surfing around in the Internet – in the night – not wanting to be caught – and sometimes the light goes on and they are caught.

Break-ins, happen in the night.

People who steal – try to keep others in the dark.

Robert Frost’s poems can often get into dark stuff.  He uses this metaphor a lot. He writes, “And fire and ice within me fight / Beneath the suffocating night.”  In his 1928  poem, “Acquainted with the Night,” he writes, “I have been acquainted with the night.”

CONCLUSION

These are a few words to reflect upon. We are all acquainted with hiding our sins and sinning in the hide – in the night.

Christianity is all about coming out of the dark, Jesus coming out of the cave and the shadows, and experiencing the dawn.

As John says in his prologue to Jesus: “The light shines in the darkness , for the darkness does not overcome it.”

This week, this coming Thursday and Friday and Saturday are all about darkness – as we wait for the arrival of Easter – and Jesus rising from the dark of sin and death. Amen.