Tuesday of Holy Week
(Isaiah 49:1-6; John 13:21-33.36-38)
It may sound outrageous to say that Jesus is in control of
the process leading to his death.
Nevertheless, John’s gospel clearly indicates this. Not only does he gather his disciples for an
apparently premature farewell meal, but – more critically – he signals the
actions resulting in his betrayal and, ultimately, his crucifixion. In today’s passage Jesus predicts that one of
his disciples will betray him, shows whom he is, and then dismisses the
betrayer to do what he would do.
The passage also glimpses the cosmic struggle that will end
in Jesus’ paradoxical “triumphal death.”
It says that Satan enters Judas. Satan
is the great adversary, the prince of the world, the one whom the Son of God came
to defeat. “World” here means the
consolidation of sin that often characterizes this planet. Jesus will defeat Satan by allowing himself to
be sacrificed in humility. From then on,
pride, greed, even self-preservation will no longer reign over divine love.
We have come to the middle of Holy Week, the most solemn
time of the year for Christians. We are
to use it to reflect on our own lives. Now
we not only thank God for sending His Son as our hero and model. We also ask Him to help us exterminate the vestiges
of Satan’s worldly power that cling to us.
