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Author: David Morey
John 14
Introduction
Jesus had just finished breaking the news to his disciples that the time was “now” for him to leave them and return to his Father, who their prophet Isaiah had taught was their Father also as his chosen people.[1] Events had been speeding up since Jesus had claimed to be God’s Son, intensified his pointed challenge of the hypocrisy of the religious authorities, healed a man blind from birth, who could not keep quiet about it, raised his friend Lazarus from the dead, witnessed by many who could not stop talking about it, and symbolically entered Jerusalem as the Messianic King of Israel – all resulting in the religious authorities locking in their determination to execute him along with Lazarus. From their panicked perspective, they were losing their viability to control the people with their onerous laws, while Jesus was gaining in popularity through countless miracles given in grace to the least. He had to be removed just as they had removed John the Baptist.
By journeying with Jesus, the disciples found themselves caught up in this mounting confrontational crisis, as the Father’s plan for their redemption by the death of his Son approached its peak. Jesus announced that he had to leave them and go on his journey into hostilities alone. This had the potential to make his followers feel suddenly abandoned, comfortless, and fearful of the events he had forewarned would come. “Now” was the time of his leaving. It had arrived. Now its potential impact was descending upon them. This was the time they needed his comfort above all other previous hostile challenges they had shared on their journey with him.
Words of comfort
Having announced that they could not go with him on the next difficult phase of his journey, Jesus was quick to calm any emotions and fears in his disciples, sparked by this sudden news of separation.
1 “Do not let your hearts be troubled.[2]
Jesus encouraged them not to respond with internal turmoil, but instead to trust him continually in the same way they placed their trust in the God of their nation. They had been taught in their synagogue plenty of examples from centuries past of their God always proving dependable to his words to their forefathers.
You believe continuously in God; believe continuously also in me.
Jesus urged them to trust continuously in him to the same extent they comprehensively trusted his Father. He presented himself to be just as dependable to fulfilling his words as the Father had proven to be over centuries. His interactions with them, and with a multitude of others over the past three years, would have shown the consistency of his love for all from the least to the powerful.
Eternal residence
In particular, Jesus quickly expressed that they need have no fears of his separation from them being permanent. His impending death was not an unavoidable disaster but a necessary temporary step to establish an eternal heavenly future for them. It was an essential act of eternal love. They could depend on that.
2 My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
That is what the disciples needed to hear in the face of the current upheaval of their relationship with Jesus. They would each have a guaranteed place in heaven. They were the purpose of his departure and would be the purpose of his return. His announced departure was the necessary separation step in his preparatory work to enable them being together with him eternally. That meant also being with his Father eternally.
The same is true for every individual ever born. God has done the preparatory work of eternal love by sending Jesus to suffer the full judgement for all the sins of all humanity for all time. Many rooms in the Father’s house will accommodate many people. Only God knows how many. That is certain. The only question we have to confront for our own sake is whether or not we will choose to dwell in the Father’s house in the room prepared for us, or be excluded from it eternally. The only other option available is to dwell in the eternal chaos and isolation produced by the collisions and betrayals of rigid, self-serving pride.
The Way
Jesus concluded his words of comfort with strong assurance,
4 You know the way to the place where I am going.”
In other words, “Rest easy. All is O.K. I am not springing some new surprise on you. I have taught you before the way to your eternal residence with me”.
The only catch was the spontaneous response of Thomas indicated that his, and possibly the understanding of other disciples, had not yet grasped the full measure of this ‘way’.
5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
That would normally sound logical, but it wasn’t considering the prior teaching Jesus had given them about both the Father and eternal life. He had explained the way he was headed in detail. Thomas made no instant connection of Jesus’ words of assurance with the previous instructions he had given on ‘the way’ of eternal life. For example,
“Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be judged but has crossed over already from death to life”. (5:24)
27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand”. (10: 27-29)
Jesus had taught Thomas that secure eternal life can exist now in the hand of Jesus supported by his Father’s hand. The way ends with the Father and the Son. They are our secure destination. We therefore seek to be with him and held by him. Insanity is best defined as seeking to choose some other destination than Jesus and his Father to be our life purpose and way. It is to choose not to listen to his voice showing the way and instead choose to follow other voices, of which there are many. Our mind can be flooded easily with many voices speaking to our emotional needs and titillating our mind to the extent that the voice of Jesus is drowned out. We exist in various states of uncertainty, insecurity and fear of missing out in life.
Thomas was clearly thinking of ‘the way’ leading to some undefined physical destination, which Jesus had not revealed. Knowing a defined destination is the first step in knowing how to chart a way there, whether or not the destination is a physical location, national, business or personal goal. A plan is needed. Thomas’ spontaneous response most likely was the result of him interpreting ‘the way’ in solely physical terms.
… we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”
In other words, “You have forgotten to tell us where you are headed!”
Clarification of the Way
Knowing the way to the Father is so crucial that Jesus then elaborated more about it so each disciple would be crystal clear about their eternal destiny using his words as a measuring stick to run across their current approach to life. This is the way according to Jesus:
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
An unavoidable exclusive relationship
Jesus presented the way as a relationship and not a religion, a person and not a philosophy or physical path. Jesus firmly declared that no one can by-pass him, in order to reach the Father and gain “the life”, i.e., eternal life. Jesus claimed to be the unavoidable and only way to the Father and all the love he wants to give us now and eternally.
Jesus essentially stated that he must be fully embraced, and not merely partially considered, as the unavoidable, exclusive way to the Father. On any matter that I reject him, and consider some other philosopher, religious leader or authority, including myself, to be presenting the more superior way for my life, I cancel out any possibility of gaining eternal life, because I have cancelled out the sole Creator of life, the unified Father, Son and Spirit, who eternally was the life, before and beyond all physical life, including mine, came into existence. It is critical therefore to be honest and precise to ourselves about any specific way in which we have cancelled Jesus and the Father from our life. Once cancelled, there is no other option available to eternal life. Jesus is the sole option available to find life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
No exceptions. No alternatives.
Knowing Jesus and the Father
Jesus needed to give the disciples more understanding and certainty of how the unified identity of Jesus the Son and the Father functioned, even though over the past 3 years he had taught much about the Father. Jesus now shifted their focus to recognising that the knowledge they lacked was not about the Father but about him. How was this so after sharing his journey with him for three years? Why was he implying at this stage of his departure that they still did not know him? Who was this Jesus whose journey through life they had chosen to share?
7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father as well.
Jesus stated that the disciples’ knowledge of him up to this current moment had not resulted in them knowing his Father, even though they had sacrificed much to journey with Jesus on his mission to spread his identity and message of salvation as far as he could in the short time of his life. They had shared many meals chatting around the table, engaged in the mundane essentials needed for their continuous journey together, watched him as they journeyed single out individuals seeking healing of body and soul, and handle the ever-present critics that sought to harm and silence him. They had watched a vast array of these interactions and how Jesus had responded to each one according to the posture of the person confronting him. Surely they came to know him just as we know our family members after several years. They most likely did. Yet, there is always more of your parent or sibling to know, especially when they are still coming to know themselves. Who am I? Who are they? How do they see me? If we knew our family fully, and saw our respective identities clearly, family breakdowns would be less rampant. Risk and chance are always present at the altar making wedding vows, because each person is still on their journey of fully discovering, appreciating, and maturing their identity, which means that the combined search for their married identity will continue after marriage as more of their individual identities are discovered in that setting.
Similarly, after 3 years journeying with Jesus, the disciples were still in the process of discovering his identity that reached into deity and also discovering their identity in relationship with this deity. The fact that at this departure moment Jesus was claiming that they still did not know him is therefore not surprising, but it may have caught the disciples by surprise. What more did they need to know about him that would enable them to know the Father? What more do I need to know?
Jesus then expanded the disciples need from knowing the Father to seeing him. What were they about to know about Jesus that would enable them to know the Father and see him?
7 … From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Philip responded enthusiastically that their simple desire was to see him. Many people since have had the same desire. Show me! Let me see you. That is all that I need to commit my life to you!
8 Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Seeing the Father in Jesus
The answer given by Jesus was the most significant fact of life any and every person needs to face, who wants to see the Father in eternity. Show me!
9 Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?
This is possibly the most pivotal statement John recorded in his journey with Jesus. No doubt he had to confront it as much as Philip, who had asked to see the Father. He recorded it for every reader on their journey to face. It provides the acid test to evaluate any person posing to be the way to eternal life, and evaluate our own efforts to get there.
Jesus claimed to be more than the unavoidable, exclusive way to the Father. He claimed to be an accurate and undiminished image of the Father. Their identities merged as one. To reject Jesus is therefore to reject the Father of all life. It is to place ourself in the position of no life. We may continue to exist physically, even with peak physical fitness, exercising intellectual rigour and helping to improve the life of others, but we remain dead, separated from the life of the Father that created all life, both physical and spiritual.
Seeing the Father living in Jesus
Jesus expanded further on this critical need for the disciples to understand that he was more than the way to the Father. He was indivisibly one with the Father. He was more than a reflection of the deity of the Father. He dwelt indivisibly in the deity of the Father. Moreover, that deity dwelt in him alive. Therefore, all the hundreds of words and miracles John saw on his journey with Jesus and selectively recorded were the Father in action, without exception. The words of Jesus originated in the Father as the Father’s work carrying his authority.
10 Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.
We either trust these claims of Jesus or reject them and easily know which is the case. Our need to believe in the indivisible unity of the Father and his Son Jesus is so critical to our eternal destiny that Jesus urged the disciples at a minimum to look at all the tangible miracles they had observed over three years, if they were struggling to understand how the identities of the Father and the Son functioned as one.
11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.
Available evidence
The evidence available to any person struggling with the identity of Jesus is large. Jesus urged any disciple struggling with understanding his identity to switch their focus from their mind to their eyes. Instead of attempting to conceive with their mind the relationship between the Father and him, he urged them at the last resort to switch their focus to what they had seen as the tangible, physical, witnessed evidence of his divine identity. The disciples had every miracle they witnessed over three years as extensive accumulated evidence available for believing the indivisible unity of Jesus with the Father. We have passed on to us some of those miracles recorded in their biographies of Jesus, plus the evidence that the resurrected Jesus later showed his disciples at length from their scriptures recorded over the span of the previous millennium, plus the myriad of miracles enacted by the Holy Spirit through them in the Name of Jesus since his ascension.
How many witnessed and recorded miracles do I need to believe that Jesus is in the Father and the Father is in him? One? Five? Twenty? When does the number move beyond chance? When will I have enough in order to trust in Jesus and become the next miracle of salvation from eternal death?
To ignore that evidence is both madness and dishonest. It exposes a resistant unwillingness to trust God for his plans for our life, remaining determined to run by our plans and emotion driven theories. To dismiss the evidence of God’s works is to attempt to be god according to what suits our fancy. Unyielding pride refuses to submit to the will of the Creator and trust in His love that has opened up ‘the way’ to him created by him, via an unavoidable, exclusive relationship of continuous trust in his Son.
Continuing the works of Jesus
Jesus continued to expand the disciples’ vision of their future on earth in a continuing partnership with him after his departure. Each disciple had, and currently has, the invitation and opportunity to add to the works of Jesus as evidence of his deity and love.
12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
We each have the opportunity to glorify the Father in the Son by doing the works he has set for us to do. Jesus committed to enact those supernatural works when requested in his name by any disciple, so that both his Father and he are glorified in each other, and not his disciple. Are my works his works being initiated by him to glorify him and his Father as the focus of my life, or are my works initiated by my pride that seeks to glorify me? It doesn’t take long to surface an honest answer to that question. Any avoidance of the question provides the answer. A simple prayer at the beginning of each day provides a test, “Lord, the primary desire I have for this day is to glorify you. Work through me to bring that to pass.”
The role of the Holy Spirit
The gift of obedience
Jesus had arrived at describing the exalted destiny of his disciples as ‘the way’. Fulfilling that destiny was contingent upon them keeping his commands, as it is for any person seeking to follow him.
15 “If you love me, you will keep my commands.
Jesus left this conditional statement open-ended about the certainty of a disciple’s love, but definitive in the actions that true love will produce when present, i.e., the love for Jesus may or may not be present,[3] but if it is, the disciple will definitely keep his commands [4]. Such obedience is the sign of a true disciple.
The gift of another advocate
Jesus would always be an advocate for his obedient disciples. However, he had just announced that he was leaving, and they could not follow. To expand his comforting words, he promised to ask his Father for an additional, ever-present advocate to help them obey his commands and recognise truth.
16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever—17 the Spirit of truth.
This supportive advocate would never leave them, as Jesus was about to. Instead, the advocate would continually and eternally help them recognise and understand truth.
An internal companion
The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him.
Jesus claimed that this Spirit of truth was invisible and unknown to the world. Academics of the day could search endlessly for truth but never find or interact with the divine Spirit of truth who revealed all spiritual truth. They were blind to his existence and ignorant of his identity. The average person is equally blind and ignorant. Our pride bristles at such an assessment of us. This situation has existed throughout the history of mankind. Without the Spirit of truth, I remain unable to see the spiritual truth that builds a spiritual relationship of oneness and love with my Creator. The best I will achieve is an intellectually or emotionally reasoned analysis of a non-physical existence to which I am headed, can’t see, yet where I will be some day. Do I wish to gamble my eternal existence on my intellectual analysis that is void of spiritual truth and fact?
With a strongly contrasting statement, Jesus expanded the disciples’ perception of themselves. He assured them that they already knew the Spirit of truth, because they were already in his company.
But you know him, for he lives with you …
How would their minds process this claim of Jesus? Had this Spirit of truth ever shown his face for them to see? Was he with them invisibly? How was he with them? Maybe he was when he spoke through Jesus, who lived with them. Maybe he lived with them without them realising, because he lived in Jesus, who lived with them.
But you know him, for he lives with you … and will be in you.
Jesus now completed explaining the circle of spiritual intimacy and unity with God by promising the disciples a day when God’s Spirit of truth, who was with them, would in the future live in them. At that moment, they would be restored to full unity with the Divine. To further reinforce that end objective of Jesus and his Father for each of them, Jesus continued to make clear what his future relationship with them would be like, when the Spirit of truth lived in them.
A divine unity
Realised by disciples
Jesus assured them again that his separation from them would not be a permanent abandonment. Their separation would end with his return to them.
18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.
His return to them would only be seen by them and give life to their spirit, which before was dead.
19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.
From then on, they would live empowered and instructed by the Spirit of truth. The world would be oblivious to the return of Jesus in this manner. His return to his disciples would be accompanied by an expanded realisation of divine unity that included them.
20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you.
Upon of the return of Jesus, the disciples would gain a new realisation of the expanded boundaries and operation of the divine unity they would now experience as follows:
- Jesus is indivisibly in the Father who is Spirit.
- The spirit of the disciple will be made indivisibly one with the spirit of Jesus, who is indivisibly one with the Father.
- Jesus will be indivisibly resident in the spirit of the disciple.
Energised by love
This new awareness by a disciple of their relationship with the divine is a relationship of love at its zenith of unity, energised by the love coming from the Source of all love. That is the future offered by Jesus to all who trust in him.
21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.”
Clearly, this is way beyond any efforts of self-improvement, or of attempting to firm up appealing eternal real estate, job satisfaction or social engagements. It is way beyond any religious effort or hope of attaining religious righteousness that is acceptable to the Judge of all. It is divine love promised to the one who loves Jesus and keeps his commands of love.
22 Then Judas (not Judas Iscariot) said, “But, Lord, why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?”
Did Judas ask this question because he could not grasp the privilege of love and position being offered to him by Jesus? What did Judas do to qualify?
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Therefore, the personal questions to ask ourselves that require honest assessment are:
- Do I, or do I not, want Jesus and his Father to be at home with all aspects of me?
- Am I committed to obeying all the teaching from Jesus, or is there a command he has given that I have chosen to continue to disobey? If so, am I still trying to argue that I love him?
24 Anyone who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me.
I cannot claim to love Jesus when I am consciously and continuously disobeying him in some specific way. His judgement is that I do not love him. His words originate from the Father. Therefore, to disobey the teachings of Jesus is to disobey the originating source of his teachings, and that is the Father who sent him.
Sustained by teaching and peace
25 “All this I have spoken while still with you. 26 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.
The disciples’ new awareness of their soon to be expanded relationship with the divine would continue to be sustained and clarified by teaching from the Holy Spirit of truth acting as their Advocate. In particular, the Advocate would provide them supernatural recall of the details of every word of Jesus shared with them over their three year journey together. As a result, we can read those words today as recorded by John.
For the disciples to take up the later commands of Jesus to go into all the world preaching his gospel of salvation through trust in him, they needed the assurance of peace as a supernatural gift from Jesus as well as the gift of the Advocate.
27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.
Jesus then concluded with his original words of assurance that his separation from them was temporary and he would be back. In his first sudden announcement of separation, he comforted them by assuring them that it was a necessary temporary step to create an eternal dwelling for them. Now in his repeated announcement of separation and return, Jesus focused on its essential result of their certain belief in him.
28 “You heard me say, ‘I am going away and I am coming back to you.’ If you loved me, you would be glad that I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I.29 I have told you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe.
Demonstrated by Jesus
30 I will not say much more to you, for the prince of this world is coming. He has no hold over me, 31 but he comes so that the world may learn that I love the Father and do exactly what my Father has commanded me.
Jesus had made the claim that the person who loved him kept his commands. He concluded this session of pre-crucifixion teaching pointing to himself as an example of loving by obedience. His love for the Father obeyed to the finest detail, exactly. This level of obedience was to be seen by the world, not just aspiring disciples. The Cross remains as the premier example of sacrificial love in every culture exposed to the good news of Jesus.
“Come now; let us leave.
Isaiah 9:6, 63:16, 64:8 ↩︎
ταράσσω (tarasso) to agitate back and forth, become stirred up inside, upset ↩︎
Jesus used a present subjunctive tense to describe the presence of authentic love., it may or may not be present. ↩︎
Jesus used a future indicative active tense to express the certainty of obedience by the one who loves him. ↩︎
John 13
- Introduction
- Demonstration of love
- Confrontation of Peter’s pride
- The lesson
- The betrayal of Judas
- The divine milestone
Introduction
Caption
John prefaces the next milestone of his journey with Jesus with a caption that summarizes four aspects of the mind-set he perceived was driving the final actions of Jesus before leaving his disciples for his execution.
1 It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
John’s observation that Jesus knew his hour had come was informed by the statement Jesus had made shortly before at the meal given by the family of Lazarus in his honour.
“The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified”. 24 Very truly I tell you, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. (12:23-24)
He knew that he had to die, in order for the Father to bring many to life, and the time was now. He was to become the Passover sacrifice by shedding his blood to bring many to life through all ages. He had fulfilled the Father’s commission. His mission had reached its consummation. Now was closure time. Now was the time to be glorified by his Father and glorify his Father. Now the towel around his waist would become nails pinning him to a cross, and water for cleansing the feet of a few become his blood to cleanse the souls of multitudes. Hence, John records the last essential acts to be completed by Jesus before surrendering himself to be executed by the authorities. They were:
- a demonstration of the extent of love required from every disciple of his;
- the confrontation of Peter’s pride;
- the betrayal by Judas
- critical teaching concerning his inseparable unity with his Father and his followers.
Demonstration of love
John summarised the extent of the love of Jesus by its target (his own) and duration (to the end). He then recorded a demonstration by Jesus to his disciples of the extent of this love.
Having loved his own[1] who were in the world, he loved them to the end.[2]
His own
Who were his own? The followers of Jesus were more than acquaintances. John certainly was. He had left everything to join Jesus on his journey and chosen to follow commands given by Jesus driven by love. He had demonstrated his love for Jesus by obeying those commands no matter what the cost. As a result, he had become a uniquely owned, private possession of Jesus, loved by him and his Father and privileged to receive insights into their relationship and purposes, as he later records:
Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them.” (14:21)
Likewise, the other disciples had become the separate possessions of Jesus. They also were loved by Jesus and his Father and no longer belonged to the world. They too were his own receiving insights to spiritual light and truth not available to intellectual reasoning.
The end
At the time of writing this record of his journey with Jesus, John had witnessed the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, and heard his promise to return again to rule all peoples. Therefore he had a comprehensive understanding of what it meant for Jesus to love to the end. At this point, however, in recording his journey with Jesus, he inserts the moment when Jesus sought to demonstrate the extent to which his love was prepared to go as the internal benchmark required of all who would choose to become his own.
Jesus chose the perfect timing to demonstrate the kind of the love that releases life in his kingdom. He chose a practice in his culture that would communicate vividly to any culture, through the centuries, across a range of childhood and adult ages. His demonstration of the nature of love that releases life, and the light of spiritual insight, remains relevant for all today.
Timing of the demonstration
2 The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.
Earlier would have been too soon for his demonstration of loving to the end. The seed of betrayal had already been sewn by Satan and would soon manifest. Mary had shown at the previous meal in honour of Jesus that she knew his execution by the religious authorities was imminent and prepared him for burial. Now her sacrificial demonstration of love was to be followed by a vivid demonstration of sacrificial love by Jesus himself.
Self-knowledge drives action
3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God;
John notes that Jesus operated from a clear knowledge base of his identity and purpose. It gave him an understanding of self against which to assess actions needed and their timing. Without a clear understanding of our identity and purpose, we often choose wrong actions at the wrong time. Our intent to love becomes easily fragmented and dissipated.
Nothing can destabilize or push into another agenda the person who knows without a doubt that God with his great love has forgiven them, given their disengaged spirit new spiritual life, given them his power and promised them an eternal destiny with him. Such a person can act with a sense of perfect timing without fear of failure.
With his strong sense of identity and purpose, Jesus was clear in his choice of timing.
4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.
A demonstration of the extent of how far his love was prepared to go could only be achieved with a full appreciation of his identity and mission. The demonstration of that extent was about to be encapsulated in washing the feet of each of his disciples.
Foot washing
5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
How far would the love of Jesus the heralded King and Messiah go to demonstrate the nature of love in his kingdom? His disciples needed a clear example to follow. The extent his love would go was a measure of the extent to which his pride would detach from his perception of his identity and purpose. Jesus would detach his pride fully. This was the challenge being demonstrated for every would-be disciple in the foot washing of his current disciples. How far am I prepared to detach my pride from my goals, social activities and religion to be able to hear the inner voice of God and obey him?
Peter struggled with this. How far would he allow his pride to be detached from his sense of self-identity and purpose? That would be the measure of how far he could follow as an effective disciple, just as Jesus was following effectively the commands of his Father.
Confrontation of Peter’s pride
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Peter clearly was caught by surprise. His understanding of Jesus was still in formation and had not grasped the servant nature of this man of miracles claiming to be the Son of God, nor the scope of his mission. Jesus later made that clear, but for now assured Peter that one day he would understand why his Master wanted to wash his feet.
“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
With pride fully engaged, Peter vehemently rejected the desire of Jesus. He did not merely deny the wish of Jesus with a “you shall not wash my feet”. He displaced “not” with “never”. He emphatically forbade Jesus to wash his feet.[3] “You shall never wash my feet!” His pride needed more failures to disengage from the growing sense of identity and purpose he was gaining from following Jesus. Being specially chosen with one other disciple to see the transfiguration of Jesus on the mountain and being given a new name Petros by Jesus (meaning a stone) had no doubt given him a sense of privileged identity and purpose. Jesus would later have to bring his pride into alignment with the humility needed to surrender fully to him. Peter had to wait until after the resurrection of Jesus to be restored to the place of humility needed to lead the witness of the early church with clarity about Jesus and courage needed to face fierce opposition.
For now, Jesus had to reject unequivocably the pride of Peter so that it would not subtly divert and later entrap Peter.
Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
Jesus never dealt in shades of grey adjustments and compromises. All or none is the measure every person must face if wanting to become a disciple of Jesus. That is what Jesus expected from Peter, whose response instantly showed his unreserved commitment to Jesus that would be seen again and again in his leadership of the early church.
9 “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”
In other words, “Then Lord, go all the way with your washing!” God later did go all the way with challenging tasks for Peter that ultimately led to his crucifixion.
The lesson
12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them.
Jesus made clear that his action was not solely to clean feet that had dirt from walking to Jerusalem on pilgrimage. It was educational – an example of action that brings personal blessing.
13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought[4] to wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
Jesus made it clear to the gathered disciples that if he, as their Lord and Teacher, had humbled himself to the role of a servant, every disciple is morally obligated to do the same for others. Then, when he explained that he had given an example they should do for others, he places the emphasis on their relative position rather than their action.
16 Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
It is critical to know where we fit in spiritual relationships. However, Jesus concluded his teaching by making the point that knowing where we fit as a servant or messenger does not bring the blessing of God. The blessing comes when give sacrificial love with our pride detached from our position as Jesus had demonstrated. In God’s kingdom, actions speak louder than words! Jesus now switched to the actions of Judas.
The betrayal of Judas
Prophesied
It was time for Jesus to focus on Judas in his journey to death for the sins of the world. He needed to continue developing his disciples to be witnesses of this divine destiny. They had already been alerted to his imminent death by the action of Mary to prepare him for burial and heard his rebuke of Judas for objecting to the waste of a potential money source. The anticipation of his death was strong. Jesus, therefore, needed to make it clear to the disciples that they were not the subjects of a prophecy about his betrayal that he was about to reference to authenticate his divine mission.
18 I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture: ‘He who shared my bread has turned against me’.
Jesus drew from a Psalm of David, who was betrayed by a close associate when stricken with an illness, and used it prophetically to authenticate his identity.
“Even my close friend, someone I trusted, one who shared my bread, has turned against me”. (Psalm 41:9)
19 “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am who I am.
Belief in his divine identity was the primary objective of Jesus for his disciples. For them to continue his mission in the face of life-threatening opposition, they needed to grasp undiminished that the man they had followed for three years was in fact the Creator and Lord of all. “I am who I am”. Their mission to make him known to the uttermost parts of the earth would be supported by the following spiritual reality:
20 Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”
Jesus claimed that the presence of God stretches unbroken from his frontline disciple, back to his Son, back to the Father himself. The acceptance of his disciple is the acceptance of Jesus, which is the acceptance of God himself. Likewise, the reverse is true: the rejection of his disciple is the rejection of God himself.
Spiritually distressing
21 After he had said this, Jesus was troubled[5] in spirit and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”
John observed and recorded the deep agitation of Jesus that accompanied his announcement of being surrendered up by Judas to the religious authorities baying for his death. What caused the deep agitation? Was it the hurt of betrayal by one who had been with him for three years journeying on the road sharing life experiences together: enjoying nature, jostling in pressing crowds pushing for their loved ones to be healed, and as invited guests to meal tables in private homes? Or was it the dark cloud of impending physical and spiritual agony beginning to cast its horrific shadow over him? Either way, Jesus was not just shaken up in his emotions. He was deeply agitated in his spirit.
…one of you is going to betray me.”
22 His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant.
Characteristically, Peter could not handle the suspension of undefined events and marshalled John to draw more specific detail about the identity of the supposed betrayer.
23 One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him. 24 Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”
Young John, who habitually rested his head on the chest of Jesus as they reclined around the meal table, complied to Peter’s request and became the first-hand witness of the interaction of Jesus with the betrayer among them.
25 Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26 Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
John saw this enacted out in front of him, watched the body language and facial expressions of Judas and concluded:
27 As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.
Jesus remained in control of his destiny. Judas had lost his.
So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.”
John filled out the intense scene with more comments on the reactions of the disciples.
28 But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. 29 Since Judas had charge of the money, some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival, or to give something to the poor.
30 As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out.
At this dramatic turning point in history, it is instructive to notice that Satan’s timing was ‘now’. He did not wait after a Judas accepted his temptation. He moved him to action immediately. His victims’ actions and their fall is immediate and swift with no room for reflection and resistance of their will.
John added the following observation, which seemed to display physically what was happening in the soul of Judas. He had left the light.
And it was night.
Alternatively, John may have inserted this observation to capture the descending spiritual darkness approaching Jesus in his crucifixion for the sins of the world. Either way, every reader can relate to this dark night of sin that has descended on their own soul at some time in their life.
The divine milestone
Shared glory
Jesus now made clear that the departure of Judas was more that the exit of a dinner companion determined to initiate a seismic betrayal. His action was accompanied by a heavenly change within God himself. Firstly, Jesus was glorified by the decision of Judas to leave and carry out the betrayal.
31 When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him.
In what way was the Son of Man glorified by this milestone event? Possibly it was because Jesus had set up the last action that would assure his assassins would be able to find, identify and capture him to be executed. This was the last action he needed to take for his enemies to capture him and his Father’s will be fulfilled. He remained obedient to the Father’s will to the end. This was the moment of his glory.
“Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him.
How was God glorified in this final action of Jesus to set Judas on his path of betrayal? We see in this action, and the consequential actions of the crucifixion to follow, the love of God for his creation being prepared to go the whole distance of sacrificing himself to provide a clear pathway to eternal life. In those actions, God was, and continues to be, glorified in Jesus to his creation for all time.
United glory
32 If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once.
Jesus then made clear that glory does not reside in either the Father or the Son but in both. Their unity results in instant, interchangeable, united glory. When I seek to glorify Jesus in my witness of him, I am instantly glorifying his Father, who instantly glorifies the Son in him in oneness with his Father.
Divided journey
Jesus now presented to the disciples his departure to a destination currently inaccessible to them.
33 “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.
Their journey with him had reached a fork in the road. He was going on his own journey without them. They would be left behind. Jesus instantly instructed them on what their focus should be until seeing him again.
The new commandment
Jesus wanted their focus in his absence to be on keeping their identity clear to their society as his disciples by living according to a new commandment from him. This was it, and remains so today:
34 “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
What was new about this commandment? God’s emphasis on love certainly was not new to the Jews as his chosen people. It was present in the early revelations of himself to them over a millennium ago. God had reinforced them at critical times of the creation under the leadership of Moses that they were to love him with all their being and their neighbour as themselves. (e.g., on the cusp of their entry into the Promised land, Deuteronomy 6:5; 30:16). David had extolled God’s love on several occasions. (e.g., Psalm 103:8, 106:1, 107:1, 108:4, 118:1, 145:8) Their God was the God of love. That is who they worshipped.
Jesus had already instructed, when asked, that the greatest commandment was the two-fold love of God with our whole being and the love of our neighbour as ourself. (Matthew 22:39). Clearly, the commandment to love was not new to the Jews. Hence, what was new about this command as claimed by Jesus at the time the clock had begun ticking for his imminent betrayal, arrest and execution?
What was new was the recent demonstration by Jesus of the nature of the love governing his kingdom. With the washing of their feet by him fresh in their minds, Jesus now commanded that the love needed to wash their feet was to be the mandatory benchmark of their love for each other at all times.
14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
What Jesus had previously instructed using the present subjunctive tense, “should wash continually” he now sharpens to a firmer requirement by adding the personal pronoun, “yourselves”,
34 As I have loved you, so you yourselves should love one another.[6]
It would not be theological precision or articulation that would make it clear to their society that they were the disciples of Jesus. It would be their demonstration continuous, sacrificial, towel-around-the-waist love for each other. Where has that demonstrated love of God’s kingdom failed to be the benchmark of love in every marriage breakup and division of Christian groups since Jesus humbled himself in sacrificial love? How far is my love prepared to go in sacrifice? What limits have I imposed with my pride? Without exercising the love demonstrated by Jesus with a towel around his waist washing the feet of those he loved, including Judas, the world cannot see the nature of Jesus in his followers, but only a collection of religious organisations prioritising their dogma above maintaining love for each other.
As I have loved you, so you yourselves should love one another continuously.
By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another continuously.”
Peter’s unprepared devotion
Peter was a man of the heart and action. He could not stand the thought of not following Jesus on his journey.
36 Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”
Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.”
Having assured Simon that their separation would not be permanent, Jesus had to modify Peter’s instant response with realism about his pride. He would have to learn to diminish it to lead the disciples after Jesus physically became permanently absent. It had already refused to have Jesus wash his feet. Now it boasted again, driven by deep affection:
37 “Lord, why can’t I follow you now?.” I will lay down my life for you.”
38 Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!
Time would soon reveal three times that Peter’s pride could not survive the threat of physical danger. Once could be explained away with an excuse. Three times could not. Three times or more reveals an engrained habit sustained by pride not faced. Each person who wants to follow Jesus has to go through an honest evaluation of their pride.
“Before the rooster crows, will you disown me three times?”
Idios, meaning ‘uniquely one’s own, private and separate’. ↩︎
Telos, meaning ‘end’ was derived from ‘tello’ meaning to set out for a specific point or goal. In this case, it conveys the completion of a chosen purpose. Jesus loved his own to that completion. All would be saved. ↩︎
Οὐ μὴ Peter uses Οὐ, which objectively denies categorically a thing or action, and combines it with μὴ, which subjectively negates the possibility of idea or action. The combined effect is to vehemently communicate rejection of a proposal or action. ↩︎
Jesus used the present indicative active tense of opheiló , meaning obligated and indebted, to indicate that the sacrificial love shown by him is a continuous obligation for every disciple and not optional, based on their own personal indebtedness. Then, when instructing that his disciples should follow the example of love he had given, he placed his emphasis on their subjective need to respond by intensifying the subject “you” and coupling it with a subjunctive tense to signal their response was not guaranteed. ↩︎
John describes the agitation of Jesus as more than surface. This was deep emotional agitation with emotions being shaken back and forth to the extent the John took notice. ↩︎
NIV translation makes this even firmer: “As I have loved you, so you must love one another.“ ↩︎