Reflections on Scripture | Tuesday of Holy Week

Join Msgr. Don Fischer as he reads and delivers a short reflection on today’s gospel, followed by 3 1/2 minutes of contemplative music and a closing prayer. Msgr. Don hopes that today’s reflection on the gospel will empower you to carry the Word in your heart throughout the day.

Choose either the video or audio below.

Gospel
John 13:21-33, 36-38

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."

Reflection

Evil is a very, very important thing to understand. It's a power. It's a force. And before Jesus was able to do what He's done for us through his death and resurrection, freeing us from his power. You see Jesus often encountering people that had Satan, Satan's influence written all over them. They were destructive and self-destructive, in particular. And Jesus wouldn't talk to the person, but talk to evil inside of them.

And so there is something in the Ministry of Jesus. It's clear that he's come to confront a power outside of us. Maybe we could say stronger than us until Jesus. And he gave his power over evil.

Satan entered into Judas at one moment of Jesus, offering himself to him. He refused to receive the Christ, the healer, the Savior. And it said then darkness came into the world. Darkness is sin, Grace. Jesus is light.

The Closing prayer

Father, your promise to redeem us is beyond our full imagination. Because we don't understand fully the work that the evil has in the world. Bless us with wisdom when it comes to evil. Bless us with wisdom when it comes to Christ. So we can see clearly the strength of Jesus shared with us as we deal with the darkness. And we ask this in Jesus name. Amen.

Reflections Archives

Kyle Cross