As Judas slinks out the door and into the night, Jesus’ first act is to turn that treachery into triumph. The disciples who heard Jesus tell Judas to “Do quickly what you are going to do” (v.27) do not attach any particular significance to Judas’s departure. But Jesus recognizes that as the door closes behind his betrayer, the way to the cross has now finally been fully opened. Judas’ act of betrayal is not a death knell to Jesus’ mission and ministry. Rather, it is the first chord of a final triumphal march towards “glorification.”

The “hour” that Jesus had been announcing as imminent (John 12:33,27,31;13:1) is now at last here. It is the hour when the Son of Man will be glorified and through that action so will God be glorified “in him” (“doxa tou theou”). This “doxazo”(“to glorify”) is…