Notes on the Gospel of John: Chapter 13

Here begins an particularly poignant scene with Jesus and His Disciples, His close friends. John stays with the Last Supper far longer than the other Gospel writers and from Chapter 13 to the beginning of Chapter 18, we see Jesus giving final teaching and final lessons to His friends, His disciples.

One of the clear messages of Christ that strikes me in Chapter 13 is one about love.

The theme begins in Verse 1 with: “Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.”

Then there is the famous scene where Jesus washes His disciples feet -- the Messiah washing the feet of the common man. Peter’s reaction is priceless. At first he wants no part of it and is appalled that Jesus would even deign to do such a thing then, once Jesus basically tells him that if he doesn’t let him wash his feet, he will be dis-owned, Peter asks Jesus to wash his whole body. I love that reaction.

One of my favorite verses in all of scripture is John 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

This is both a beautiful passage as well as a convicting one. How many of us as professed Christians truly practice this exhortation from Christ? How many of us show the kind of love that enables others to understand that we are Christ’s disciples?

In the midst of this, of course, there are two disturbing moments – the realization by Judas and others that he is, in fact, the betrayer and Jesus’ prediction of Peter’s denial. It is this scene with Judas that has sparked the oft-used phrase: “The devil made me do it.”

The question remains: Is John’s intent here to show that Judas had no control over his actions or is his intent to show that Judas, who was a believer, now had to make a choice and the choice he made allowed Satan to enter into him.

Amen.