Here he accepts the decisions that have to be made, here he sets his face to face the consequences of the decisions he has made.
Jesus,
working for the sake of others,
not
just for himself or what his donors or backbenchers might think.
He
knows the cost of what was coming,
And
it all starts with betrayal.
With
Judas, one of his closest followers.
Nobody at the table understood why.
Nobody was sure quite what they had just witnessed.
A restless Jesus blurts out the shocking words.
What did he mean?
How could he mean one of those present?
Mesmerised, many eyes watch him dip the bread,
watch his hand stretch out,
watch Judas receive it
to find he has been possessed
by a force beyond himself.
Jesus instructs him to act quickly.
Is he buying food for the celebration?
Giving alms to the poor?
There is no understanding around the table.
Judas walks out into the night.
He would never be back.
He would never live it down.
He went out into the night
to join a sinister dance of shadows
that would wring the light from the moment,
where in dark and dangerous places
deals would be done,
where betrayal and denial would be owned by no one
And in the midst of it all
Jesus still loves and lives to a rhythm
that even as it dances so close to death,
is not of the darkness but of the light.
May we hold onto the light, O Jesus.
May we hold on to it tight.
(inspiration from this poem was drawn from Spill the Beans Issue 38 Holy Week)
