Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.

Reclining at table with his disciples, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified,

“Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”
The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant.
One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,
was reclining at Jesus’ side.
So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant.
He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him,
“Master, who is it?”
Jesus answered,
“It is the one to whom I hand the morsel after I have dipped it.”
So he dipped the morsel and took it and handed it to Judas,
son of Simon the Iscariot.


After Judas took the morsel, Satan entered him.
So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”
Now none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him.
Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him,
“Buy what we need for the feast,”
or to give something to the poor.
So Judas took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.


When he had left, Jesus said,
“Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself,
and he will glorify him at once.


My children, I will be with you only a little while longer.
You will look for me, and as I told the Jews,
‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?”
Jesus answered him,
“Where I am going, you cannot follow me now,
though you will follow later.”


Peter said to him,
“Master, why can I not follow you now?
I will lay down my life for you.”
Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me?
Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow
before you deny me three times.”

When I meditated on this reading (Jn 13:21-33, 36-38), I couldn’t help but marvel at the way Jesus used the betrayal of Judas and Peter’s denial of Him to get the same result—to “glorify the Son of Man, and glorify God within Him”.

While Judas is the big betrayal, there’s Peter to deal with as well. When Jesus says He is going where His friends cannot follow, Peter says he wants to go too, and he wants to go with Him now. Jesus tells Peter he will go, but just not now. It’s hard for Peter to understand that he has to deny Jesus and has to stay because there are still things he has to do. Peter tells Jesus, “I will lay down my life for you.” And he will, but not just yet. And Jesus knows this too. He knows that Peter will deny Him—MUST deny Him--so he can finish what he needs to do here. And when the time is right Peter will die for Him, as Jesus died for all of us.

If Judas hadn’t made his horrific decision, none of this could have been set in motion. If Peter hadn’t made his decision, the church wouldn’t have been established. These decisions seem selfish, but they are necessary for the necessary outcome. If Jesus hadn’t made the hardest decision of all, we wouldn’t have Easter. Jesus had to be betrayed by His friends, and His friends had to betray Him in order for the Son of Man to be glorified. And God knew before they were born who they all were and what they all were capable of, just as He knows all of us and our capabilities.

All of this means we don't have to be perfect to follow Christ. We are called to follow Him as we are, in all of our imperfections. In turn, we shouldn’t expect others to be perfect, including the leaders in our Church. We are called to look at everyone in the world, including ourselves, and see past the imperfections, the moments when we just don’t get it, and see the Christ in them. That is what Jesus did. He saw past Peter’s blemishes and denials and saw a man who would take the Church (with guidance from the Holy Spirit) from a small group of disciples to a worldwide following. He saw the beauty beneath Peter’s outer shell, and He sees beyond our shells too. He sees us for the beautiful children we are and He loves us. Shouldn’t we share that same love for one another?