Isaiah 50.4-9a; John 13.21-32

Have you noticed those streets where the house numbers jump from 11 to 15? Of course, the superstition about the number 13 has arisen from the act of betrayal we see the beginning of in tonight’s Gospel reading.

Yesterday we were thinking about Jesus the light. Tonight our thoughts turn to the dark deed of Judas. There are those chilling words. “And it was night.”

In the reading we have just heard, we see two types of friendship. We see the close intimate friendship between Jesus and the disciple whom Jesus loved, supposed by many to be John, although nowhere is he explicitly identified as such and it’s one of those things theologians still disagree on.

But we know he had a place of honour next to Jesus at the meal. Simon Peter was obviously further away since he signals to this other disciple to find out what Jesus is talking about.

Imagine how the disciples must have felt. Here they were having supper with their friend Jesus, a close tight knit group, when Jesus himself declares that one of them is a traitor. We can picture Simon signalling to this unnamed disciple - go on, find out what he’s going on about?

And the disciple whom Jesus loved, eager for an answer himself, whispering to Jesus - who is it?

It’s the one to whom I give this piece of bread was the reply. I imagine that only this close disciple heard these words, since when Jesus speaks aloud to Judas, the others don’t have a clue what Jesus is talking about.  But Judas and Jesus know that the night time has come.

This is a different type of friendship, a friendship that has lost its way.

Judas faces no simple task such as preparing for the Passover or offering money to those in need, as the others expected. This is the beginning of the end.

There cannot be a much deeper betrayal than that by a friend. Judas was one of the trusted twelve, a man of potential.

Here’s what the local management consultants might have said about Jesus’s choice of disciples.

Dear Sir, 
Thank you for submitting the CVs of the twelve men you have selected for leadership positions in your new organisation. All of them have now taken our battery of tests; and we have not only run the results through our computer, but also arranged personal interviews for each of them with our psychologist and vocational aptitude consultant.

The profiles of all tests are included, and you will want to study each of them carefully.

It is the staff opinion that most of your nominees are lacking in background, education, and vocational aptitude for the type of enterprise you are undertaking. They do not have the team concept. We would recommend that you continue your search for persons of experience in managerial ability and proven capability.

Simon Peter is emotionally unstable and given to fits of temper. Andrew has absolutely no qualities of leadership. The two brothers, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, place personal interest above company loyalty.

Thomas demonstrates a questioning attitude that would tend to undermine morale. We feel that it is our duty to tell you that Matthew has been blacklisted by the Greater Jerusalem Better Business Bureau. James, the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddeus definitely have radical leanings.

One of the candidates, however, shows great potential. He is a man of ability and resourcefulness, ambitious, and responsible. We recommend Judas Iscariot as your controller and right-hand man. All of the other profiles are self-explanatory. 

How easy it is to take a detour from the right path! How easy to let it all go wrong.

Holy Week is a good time to assess our friendship with Jesus, and where it is going, to look at the sort of intimacy we have. Will our friendship withstand the temptation to betray him - by our words, our actions or even our thoughts?

The closer we keep to Jesus and the further we allow ourselves to be drawn away from the temptations rooted in self-interest the deeper our friendship will become.

Walking with Christ in his suffering, sharing in this life-giving eucharist, following the way of the cross, we know that we are never alone, but that his hands are waiting to welcome us as intimate friends.