And it was night

Arguably one of the most dramatic lines in the Bible* from John 13:30. Jesus has just given Judas a piece of bread that has been dipped in a dish (is it possible for there to be black humor about the Eucharist? If so, it's here) and "So, after receiving the piece of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night".

I was originally looking for another quote from John but I came across this one and I remembered the first time I had heard it read aloud and how it sent shivers down my spine. If this done in a play or a film I would hope for an immediate black out, with an ominous voice in the background. This is perhaps the wrong way to think about it, since without Judas' betrayal none of this would be possible; however, the lover of creep and macabre in me enjoys the suspense, the rush of adrenaline that comes with this passage.

I intend to take some time this summer to look at how night is used in the New Testament. Not darkness, dimness, or day (for comparison) but the word night alone. I may stretch to the other words but for now only that one. John's usage is very specific, I believe that the authors wanted that sense of candles being blown out, especially with the way John juxtaposes light and darkness throughout the book.

It makes me think of the dark night of the soul and about Judas in those moments. Rumi might say that the dark night of the soul is not something to be feared because as long as you are longing for G-d then that means He is speaking to you. Rumi phrases it more eloquently in a poem wherein he writes that a man is crying out to G-d and G-d responds "every time you called out my name it was me whispering "I am here" " (I paraphrase here). So when Judas goes out into the night, out away from the light, which is assumed here to be Jesus, is he experiencing the dark night of the soul? He is doing the bidding of G-d, what has to be done in order to redeem mankind.

And then I think of John's description of Judas eating the bread is that the moment he consumed it "Satan entered in to him" (13:27). Again there is this example of Satan as henchman of G-d, entering Judas...perhaps because it was something Judas could not do himself? But the writers paint Judas in a very poor light in the book of John, claiming that he stole from the poor box (12:6 - one my favorite parenthetical inserts in the Bible).

John is a confusing text and there is more to think on in all these matters.

*New Oxford Annotated Edition

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In other news, I had my first day of work today at the Huntley Bookstore. I think I am going to like it there, even the green aprons. The people are friendly and the hours I have for this week allow me to sleep in every day I have work. On Wednesday, I am going with Brenda and Christian down to the San Diego Zoo.

I found out three of the courses I will be taking next semester at CST:
Basic Aspects of the Study of Hebrew Bible 8:30am - 11:20am Tuesday
History of World Christianity 1:00pm - 3:50pm Wednesday
World Religions in Dialogue I 1:00pm - 3:50pm Thursday

That's nine credits. I need to do 12-13 in the semester. I am not sure what my next class will be because I don't know how registration works yet but I have some ideas of what I would like to take. I am interested about the Hebrew Bible course because it sounds similar to what I did at SLC. The books are different, though.

More to follow in the coming days