The setting is the Last Supper—the final meal Jesus will share with his disciples before his crucifixion. And “he” is Judas. Jesus has just informed the disciples that one of them will betray him (v. 21). In that tense, bewildering moment, Jesus says to Judas, “What you are about to do, do quickly” (v. 27). Judas receives the bread from Jesus and exits the scene. The disciples are clueless. They completely misunderstand that his abrupt departure will lead to Jesus’s betrayal.

John provides a poetic pivot point: “And it was night” (v. 30). It is then that Jesus declares, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.”

Strange words. Why now? How will this “Son of Man” be “glorified” by what is to come in the next hours? Jesus will be arrested, mistreated, mocked, scourged, and crucified—all because his friend betrayed him. In his darkest hour, only one of his disciples (John) would stay with him to the very end. This is an unusual definition of glory.

A look at the full scope of John’s account of Jesus’s life can help us. Working backward and forward from this point in the story, we see that Jesus spoke plainly and often about glorification.

In John’s record of that eventful week leading up to the resurrection, he tells how two of Jesus’s disciples informed him that some Greeks wished to see him. That’s when Jesus replies, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (12:23). It’s another unexpected response, but this Son of Man provides more information. “Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? ‘Father, save me from this hour’? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour” (v. 27). Again, Jesus points to the immediacy of the moment by saying “now.” This “hour” clearly unsettles him. And yet he concludes, “Father, glorify your name!” (v. 28).

One year earlier, Jesus had told his disciples, “I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me” (John 6:38). Fulfilling his Father’s will would mean his death. It’s how the Son of God would glorify his Father. His people are part of that glory—those saved through Jesus’s life, death, and resurrection. And surprisingly, another part of that glory is the role of those who played a part in bringing about his death—including Judas. That which was decidedly inglorious contributed to the glory, as his death was a necessary step in his glorification.

Jesus had cautioned those who opposed him: “As I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe” (v. 36). Judas was among those who chose not to believe.

Judas is a tragic but essential part of the story. He had seen and heard. He had taken part in Jesus’s mission and miracles. And at history’s most critical moment, he had gone out into the night. Judas missed out on the master class Jesus gave his disciples the night before his crucifixion.

The theme of glory is a prominent feature of that evening, which Jesus committed to portraying. Jesus had told his disciples, “I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son” (John 14:13). Then, on their way to the Mount of Olives, he told them, “This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples” (15:8).

Later that night he would pray, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you” (17:1). Jesus also prayed, “I have brought you glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began” (vv. 4–5).

He continued, “Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world” (v. 24).

The tragic story of Jesus’s crucifixion is incomprehensibly also one of glory. His life and the hate he so often endured, his betrayal, and his death all made his astonishing resurrection that much more glorious. And it was all for the glory of his Father.

We’re in the story, too, whether we realize it or not. Where do we stand? Is it with the often clueless but ultimately believing disciples? Or is it with those who would go out alone into the night and miss the glory?