John 13:30

He then having received the sop went out straightway: and it was night.

The spiritual overtones of many of the expressions found in this Gospel are magnificent. See concerning "sop" under John 13:27.

And it was night ... What a commentary is this upon the situation confronting the Lord on this last night with his disciples before the crucifixion. The traitor was on the way to the high priest; within the hour, plans would be made for soldiers to take him; the Sanhedrin switched their strategy and would stage a formal trial, doubtless presuming upon what they hoped would be effective testimony from Judas; the Shepherd would be apprehended and the sheep scattered; suborned witnesses would spin their lies in exchange for temple gold; Caiaphas, who had already determined to kill Jesus, would pretend to be shocked and rend his priestly garments contrary to the law; and, for an hour, the wicked hypocrites would prevail. Even resolute Peter would falter under the questioning of a girl; and before the night ended runners would fan out over the dark city to summon a formal meeting of the Sanhedrin; which body would put out, so they thought, the Light of all nations; but instead they put out the Light of Jerusalem and plunged their city into a darkness from which it would not emerge for twice a thousand years. "And it was night!"

He ... went out ... is another expression with connotations greatly in excess of the denoted fact that Judas left the sacred company. Sin always casts the sinner out. The parents of all living sinned and were cast out of Eden; Jacob sinned and lied against his brother and his father's sightless eyes and went out that night to rest his head upon a stone; Gehazi sinned and lied to Elisha and went out a leper white as snow; the prodigal son sinned and lusted after the wine shops and bright, lights of the far country and went out from a loving father to be a swineherd; Peter sinned and denied the Lord and went out into the darkness to weep; Judas sinned and betrayed the Lord and went out to a suicide's death and eternal infamy. On and on the record of sin repeats the monotonous tale, "Out, out, out ..." Always out! And the present day is no exception. Sin enters men's hearts, and then they go out: out from the homes of father and mother, out from the love of wife and child, out from the sacred fellowship of the church, out from the Bible school, out from the prayer meetings, out from the study of the word of the Lord, out from the tender devotions of the family, out from every decent and uplifting influence, out from hope and salvation; and, finally, when sin is done with the sinner, it casts him out into eternal darkness and remorse. When sin is permitted to have dominion over a man, his epitaph has already been written, "And he went out!"