We enter here upon the fifth of those sections into which we have seen that the Gospel is divided; and the section extends to the close of chap. 17. The scene and the circumstances of the actors in it are altogether different from what we have witnessed in chaps, 5 to 12. There is a transition from... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:1. Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour was come that he should pass out of this world unto the Father, haying loved his own which were in the world, loved them to the full. IN THIS VERSE WE HAVE FIRST A CHRONOLOGICAL NOTICE, AND NEXT A DESCRIPTION IN THREE PART... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:2. AND A SUPPER BEING BEGUN, THE DEVIL HAVING ALREADY PUT IT INTO HIS HEART THAT JUDAS ISCARIOT, SIMON'S SON, SHOULD BETRAY HIM. It is important to notice the exact parallelism of this verse to the preceding, both in the note of time, and in the circumstances of the scene. (1) The chronologi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:3. JESUS KNOWING THAT THE FATHER HAD GIVEN HIM ALL THINGS INTO HIS HANDS, AND THAT HE CAME FORTH FROM GOD, AND GOETH UNTO GOD. We have now that state of mind in Jesus which leads to the act about to be described. ‘Knowing' takes up again the same word in John 13:1, and has the same meaning,... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:4. HE RISETH FROM THE SUPPER, AND LAYETH DOWN HIS GARMENTS, AND HAVING TAKEN A TOWEL GIRDED HIMSELF. How wonderful the act when compared with the circumstances (mentioned in the previous verse) by which it is introduced! In the fullest consciousness of the glory of that work of redeeming lov... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:5. T HEN HE POURETH WATER INTO THE BASON, AND BEGAN TO WASH THE DISCIPLES' FEET, AND TO WIPE THEM WITH THE TOWEL WHEREWITH HE WAS GIRDED. It is impossible not to mark the minuteness with which each separate part of the wonderful work of condescension he would describe is here recorded by the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:6. HE COMETH THEREFORE TO SIMON PETER: HE SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, DOST THOU WASH MY FEET? If the narrative of the actual foot-washing begins here, and John 13:5 is to be regarded as a general description of what is now related in detail, we must infer from the words before us that our Lord beg... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:7. JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID UNTO HIM, WHAT I DO THOU KNOWEST NOT NOW; BUT THOU SHALT LEARN HEREAFTER. The Great Teacher now takes in hand the task of instructing the warmhearted but impulsive disciple in the true nature of the act performed by Him, and His reference to the future prepares the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:8. PETER SAITH UNTO HIM, THOU SHALT NEVER WASH MY FEET. Peter is too much amazed to comprehend at once the lesson of the previous words of Jesus. He does not even heed them; and his impulsiveness, checked for a moment, leads him to break over the barrier that has been opposed to it with grea... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:9. SIMON PETER SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, NOT MY FEET ONLY, BUT ALSO MY HANDS AND MY HEAD. Peter sees that in whatever way the result maybe produced, suffering Jesus to wash his feet will bring him nearer to his Master, will make him to be more ‘with Him.' The thought of the hands and the head as... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:10. JESUS SAITH TO HIM, HE THAT IS BATHED NEEDETH NOT SAVE TO WASH HIS FEET, BUT IS CLEAN EVERY WHIT: AND YE ARE CLEAN, BUT NOT ALL. The ground of the figurative language hardly needs explanation: he who has just been cleansed in the bath has only further to wash his feet as he proceeds from... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:11. FOR HE KNEW HIM THAT WAS BETRAYING HIM: THEREFORE SAID HE, YE ARE NOT ALL CLEAN. What a contrast to the eleven do these words present: they full of faith and love, ‘clean;' Judas with his heart full of evil passions, at that very moment his treachery not a thing of the future, but of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:12. WHEN THEREFORE HE HAD WASHED THEIR FEET, AND HAD TAKEN HIS GARMENTS, AND HAD SAT DOWN AGAIN, HE SAID UNTO THEM, PERCEIVE YE WHAT I HAVE DONE TO YOU? Again three particulars introduce the words of Jesus: and the frequent recurrence of this structure throughout these verses harmonizes well... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:13. YE CALL ME MASTER AND LORD: AND YE MY WELL; FOR SO I AM. It was in the full consciousness of the dignity belonging to Him that (John 13:3) Jesus had entered upon this scene. It is in a similar consciousness that He now urges its lesson. The word used for ‘Master' is John's Greek renderin... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:14. IF I THEREFORE, THE LORD AND THE MASTER, HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET, YE ALSO OUGHT TO WASH ONE ANOTHER'S FEET. The order of the titles which Jesus assumes to Himself is changed in this as compared with the preceding verse. The object appears to be to give prominence to that title of ‘Lord' in... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:15. FOR I GAVE YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YE ALSO SHOULD DO EVEN AS I DID TO YOU. What the giver of a commission does may well be done by the servant to whom the commission is given. It is important to observe that the act spoken of is only that of ‘washing one another's feet.'... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:16. VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, NO SERVANT IS GREATER THAN HIS LORD; NEITHER ONE THAT IS SENT GREATER THAN HE THAT SENT HIM. How often does Jesus speak of Himself in this gospel as the ‘Sent' of God! It is impossible to dissociate this usage from the words here, so that the same word is... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:17. IF YE KNOW THESE THINGS, HAPPY ARE YE IF YE DO THEM. Simple as might appear the duty to which the disciples were called, Jesus knew that it was a hard and trying task. He connects therefore a promise of blessedness with the actual performance of the duty.... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:18. I SPEAK NOT OF YOU AIL. At this point Jesus again turns to the thought of Judas, yet not with the view of simply repeating what He had said at John 13:10. It is contemplation of the blessedness first spoken of that fills His mind, and pity for that disciple who was not only to separate h... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:19. FROM HENCEFORTH I TELL YOU BEFORE IT COME TO PASS, THAT WHEN IT IS COME TO PASS, YE MAY BELIEVE THAT I AM. These words can hardly mean that Jesus would henceforward tell them events that were to happen in order that, when the events did happen, they might see that He had been a true prop... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:20. VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO YOU, HE THAT RECEIVETH WHOMSOEVER I SEND RECEIVETH ME; AND HE THAT RECEIVETH ME RECEIVETH HIM THAT SENT ME. The difficulty of tracing the connection of these words with the rest of our Lord's discourse at this time has been felt by all commentators. Let us obse... [ Continue Reading ]
The leading idea of this section is the expulsion of Judas from the company of the disciples. We have already seen that before the chapter begins the world is shut out, and Jesus is to be alone with ‘His own.' But Judas is of the world, the last remnant of it left in the apostolic company, the last... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:21. WHEN JESUS HAD THUS SAID, HE WAS TROUBLED IN SPIRIT, AND BARE WITNESS, AND SAID, VERILY, VERILY, ETC. All the expressions of the verse indicate how deeply the spirit of Jesus was moved, the ‘troubled in spirit,' the ‘bare witness,' the ‘Verily, verily.' Compassion, however, is not the le... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:22. THE DISCIPLES LOOKED ONE ON ANOTHER, IN PERPLEXITY OF WHOM HE SPAKE. From the parallel passages of the earlier Gospels (Matthew 26:22, etc.; Mark 14:19; Luke 22:23) we learn that they expressed their perplexity to one another in words. To John, hastening always to the main figure of the... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:23. THERE WAS RECLINING AT MEAT IN JESUS' BOSOM ONE OF HIS DISCIPLES. It had been originally enjoined that the Passover should be eaten standing (Exodus 12:11), but after the return from the captivity the custom had been changed; the guests now reclined upon couches. The reason for the origi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:24. SIMON PETER THEREFORE BECKONETH TO THIS ONE, AND SAITH UNTO HIM, SAY WHO IT IS OF WHOM HE SPEAKETH. Peter, as usual the first to act, is the spokesman of the rest. Nothing is said to explain why either he or any other of the apostolic band should have supposed that John would know what t... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:25. HE LEANING BACK THUS ON JESUS' BREAST, SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WHO IS IT? Nothing can be more graphic than the account here given of the movement made by John. He had been reclining on the bosom of Jesus: he now throws back his head upon His breast, looking up into His face that he may ask... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:26. JESUS THEREFORE ANSWERETH, HE IT IS FOR WHOM I SHALL DIP THE SOP, AND SHALL GIVE IT TO HIM. The use of the definite article with the word ‘sop' can leave no doubt upon our minds that it is the well-known sop of the Paschal Supper. The sauce in which it was dipped does not belong to the o... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:27. AND AFTER THE SOP THEN SATAN ENTERED INTO HIM. After the sop had been given, Satan took such full possession of the traitor, that he is no longer only Judas, but one possessed by Satan. JESUS THEREFORE SAITH UNTO HIM, THAT THOU DOEST, DO MORE QUICKLY. Judas may now be addressed as ‘doi... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:28. NO ONE OF THOSE RECLINING AT MEAT PERCEIVED FOR WHAT INTENT HE SAID IT UNTO HIM. From these words the inference is generally drawn that the conversation between Jesus and John must have been in an undertone; otherwise the disciples would have known the meaning of what had been said. The... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:29. FOR SOME THOUGHT, BECAUSE JUDAS HAD THE BAG, THAT JESUS SAID UNTO HIM, BUY THOSE THINGS THAT WE HAVE NEED OF FOR THE FEAST; or, THAT HE SHOULD GIVE SOMETHING TO THE POOR. On the ‘bag' here spoken of, see on John 12:6. The first supposition made, that Judas might have gone out to purchase... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:30. HE THEREFORE HAYING RECEIVED THE SOP WENT IMMEDIATELY OUT. Again nothing is said of the sop's being eaten. AND IT WAS NIGHT. It is impossible to mistake the symbolic meaning of these words, which thus become important as illustrating the general character of the thought and style of th... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:31-32. WHEN THEREFORE HE WAS GONE OUT, JESUS SAITH, NOW IS THE SON OF MAN GLORIFIED, AND GOD IS GLORIFIED IN HIM; AND GOD SHALL GLORIFY HIM IN HIMSELF, AND SHALL STRAIGHTWAY GLORIFY HIM. In the going out of Judas Jesus sees the disappearance of the last trace of the world from His presence.... [ Continue Reading ]
Judas has now gone out; Jesus is alone with the disciples whom He loved; and the last disturbing element has been removed from the midst of the little company. But the hour is come when the servants must be left without the immediate presence of their Master, and when they are to take that place, am... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:33. LITTLE CHILDREN, YET A LITTLE WHILE I AM WITH YOU. For them there is separation from Him, and the thought of its nearness lends more than ordinary tenderness to the words of Jesus. He calls them ‘little children,' a term found nowhere in the New Testament, except here and in the First Ep... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:34. A NEW COMMANDMENT I GIVE UNTO YOU, THAT YE LOVE ONE ANOTHER; EVEN AS I LOVED YOU THAT YE ALSO MAY LOVE ONE ANOTHER. The new commandment is love, such love as Jesus had Himself exhibited, and as had been His ‘glory' (John 13:31); and this love to one another they would need, that in an ev... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:35. BY THIS SHALL ALL MEN KNOW THAT YE ARE DISCIPLES OF MINE, IF YE HAVE LOVE ONE WITH ANOTHER. The expression ‘disciples of mine' is worthy of notice. It seems to show that the meaning is not exhausted by the thought of that language so often quoted in connection with it, ‘Behold how these... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:36. SIMON PETER SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WHITHER GOEST THOU AWAY? JESUS ANSWERED. WHITHER I GO AWAY, THOU CANST NOT FOLLOW ME NOW, BUT THOU SHALT FOLLOW AFTERWARDS. Peter has not been able to apprehend aright the truths _of_ which Jesus has been speaking. We need not wonder at it; and, had he u... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:37. PETER SAITH UNTO HIM, LORD, WHY CANNOT I FOLLOW THEE EVEN NOW? I WILL LAY DOWN MY LIFE FOR THEE. Peter sees that in the words,' Thou canst not follow me now,' there lies the meaning that he is not yet morally prepared for following Jesus. His self-confidence is hurt by the suggestion; an... [ Continue Reading ]
John 13:38. JESUS ANSWERETH, WILT THOU LAY DOWN THY LIFE FOR ME? VERILY, VERILY, I SAY UNTO THEE, THE COCK SHALL NOT CROW TILL THOU HAST DENIED ME THRICE. For a similar repetition of Peter's own words in the answer of Jesus, comp. chap. John 21:17 and the commentary. The words of Jesus fix with sole... [ Continue Reading ]