Night Work

After receiving the piece of bread, he went out immediately. And it was night.

(John 13:30, HCSB)

John’s Gospel makes the clear contrast between the work of the Light and the work of the Darkness. Jesus has just identified His betrayer and allowed him to do his work. The writer of John’s Gospel wants to clearly show the contrast between God’s work and Satan’s work. Judas exits the scene into the night. The scene amplifies the impact of the dark work he is about to do by noting that outside it has turned night.

Halloween is an event which celebrates the night. Have you ever seen an event, film, or show which depicted Halloween in the daytime? The reason is because it deals with the night. People go outside as it turns into night in order to celebrate Halloween.

Night work is not for Christians. Instead, we are called to be people of the “Day.” People who do evil are people who do “night work.” People are normally expected to work in daytime and sleep at nighttime. So when the Gospel mentions that Judas is leaving and that it is night, the scene points to the night work of evil.

To be a witness for Jesus Christ means to work in the light for everyone to see. Light exposes sin, and lets us see the truth. For someone to decide to do “night work” in the darkness, they want to hide their work, hide their sin, because what they do is evil.

Judas will go out and conspire to betray Jesus. He will sell Jesus out. He will turn His Savior over to the powers of darkness. The same thing happens when we engage in “night work.” When we work with the powers of darkness, we conspire, we betray, we sell out our faith. Instead of doing night work, Christians should share the light, while there is still daytime.