As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night. (John 13:30 NIV)
The story of Judas’ betrayal of Jesus is a sad one. How could a person who had spent three-plus years with Jesus as one of his most intimate followers, turn against him and betray him? It is hard to understand, and yet he did.
At the end of this account, John includes a curious detail. It was night. It is easy to pass over this as nothing more than John giving us some idea of the time of day. But since this is happening around the evening meal (John 13:2), that would seem somewhat redundant. Could John have had another purpose in sharing this little detail? I think it is likely that he did.
When John opened his account of Jesus’ life, he identified him as the Word. The Word who was with God, who was God, and who was the creator. He then identified him as the light of the world. The true light that shines in the darkness. Jesus is God’s light shining out in the spiritual darkness of our world.
And It Was Night
But Judas’ betrayal was a dark time. A time when the spiritual forces of evil were doing their best to put out the light that Jesus had brought. In fact, John says that when Judas went out, that it was night, a time of maximum darkness. The darkest time in the history of mankind was when the Son of God was betrayed into the hands of sinful men and then hung on a cross to die.
But shortly after that, the darkness was defeated, and the light shone back out into the world. Satan was defeated (Col. 2:15). And now the light of Christ can shine out from our hearts (2 Cor. 4:6). So let that light of Christ shine through you for all the world to see.
