was a traitor.  Of that moment John makes special note.  Having told us that at the beginning of the supper “the devil ... put into the heart of Judas ... to betray,” he says, “After the sop, Satan entered into him.”  As he saw Judas, with a heart of stone and without a trembling hand, coolly take the morsel from that hand of love, he realized that the evil one had indeed taken possession of him whose heart he had stirred at the feast of Bethany.

It must have been a relief to John when he heard the Lord bid Judas depart, though “no man at the table knew for what intent.”

“He then having received the sop went out straightway,”—­out from that most consecrated room; out from the companionship of the Apostles in which he had proved himself unfit to share; out from the most hallowed associations of earth; out from the most inspiring influences with which man was ever blessed; out from the teachings, warnings, invitations and loving care of his only Saviour.  “When Satan entered into him, he went out from the presence of Christ, as Cain went out from the presence of the Lord.”  As John spoke of the departure, no wonder he added, “It was night.”  His words mean to us more than the darkness outside that room illumined by the lamp which Peter and John had lighted.  They are suggestive of the darkness of the traitor’s soul, contrasted with the “Light of the World” in that room, to whose blessed beams he then closed his eyes forever.  Night—­the darkest night—­was the most fitting symbol for the deeds to follow.  Possessed by Satan, Judas went out to be “guide to them that took Jesus.”  To them, two hours later, He who was the Light of the World said, “This is your hour and the power of darkness.”

It was when “he was gone out” that Christ called the disciples by a new name, and gave them a new commandment.  In both of them John took a special interest which he showed long after.  That name was “Little Children.”  The word which Christ used had a peculiar meaning.  This is the only time we know of His ever using it.  It was an expression of the tenderest affection for His family, so soon to be orphaned by His death.  When John wrote his Epistles, he often used the same word, whose special meaning he had learned from his Lord, to show his own love for his fellow-Christians.

The new commandment was this—­“That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”  The command itself was not new, for it had been given through Moses, and repeated by Christ, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”  But Christ gave the disciples a new reason or motive for obeying it.  They were to love one another because of His love for them.  As John grew older he became a beautiful example of one who obeyed the command.  In his old age he urged such obedience, saying, “If God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”