John 13

A question arises: if Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas was going to betray Him, how could Judas be considered guilty This same issue also arose concerning the Jews who did not believe in Jesus (see John 12:37-40 and comment). Even though Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, Judas, like the unbelieving Jews, was nonetheless held guilty. He was responsible for his behavior. Judas was like the Pharaoh of Egypt whose heart was hardened so that God’s glory and power might be manifested (see Romans 9:14-21 and comment).

19 Jesus warned His disciples several times that one of them would betray Him. If He had not told them in advance, their faith would have been completely shattered when they saw Judas, one of their own fellow disciples, come with soldiers to arrest Jesus. Having been warned, the disciples at least would know that it had all been according to God’s plan from the beginning (see John 14:29 and comment).

20 See Matthew 10:40; Mark 9:37; John 12:44-45 and comments.

21 Jesus was troubled in mind by the knowledge that one of His own disciples was going to betray Him. Again He told His disciples about His betrayal. Up to then He had only told them that a close colleague would be the betrayer (verse 18). Now He said that it would be one of the Twelve.

22 When they heard this, the disciples were amazed. Surely none of them would betray Jesus deliberately! They supposed that He meant that one of them would betray Him by accident, without realizing it. “Surely not I?” each one asked (Mark 14:18-19).

23-26 The disciple whom Jesus loved was John, the writer of this Gospel (John 21:20,24). Jesus had a special love for John. of all the disciples, John had the closest relationship to Jesus. Therefore, Peter told John to ask Jesus which of the disciples would be the betrayer.

Jesus told John that He would dip a piece of bread in a dish of sauce and give it to the disciple who would betray Him. Then Jesus dipped the bread and gave it to Judas (see Mark 14:20-21).

27-28 Jesus did not want to tell everyone who the betrayer was. That is why He told John by means of a sign—by dipping the bread. But even John didn’t fully understand the sign. He understood that Judas was to be the betrayer, but he didn’t realize that Judas was going to betray Jesus that very night! Otherwise, he surely would have tried to stop Judas.

29-30 Therefore, when Judas went out, John and the other disciples simply thought that Judas had some business to do for Jesus. He was the treasurer of the group of disciples (John 12:6).

Judas went out into the darkness. For Judas, spiritual night had fallen indeed!

31 After Judas had gone out, Jesus began to give His disciples some of the most important teaching He had yet given them, which teaching John now relates for us beginning with verse 31 and going on to the end of Chapter 17.

Judas had gone out to call the Jewish leaders to arrest Jesus. Thus Jesus’ death was about to occur. Therefore, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified.” Jesus was glorified through His death. His glorification, therefore, had now begun.

God was also glorified in him—that is, by Jesus’ death—because Jesus died according to God’s will. Jesus glorified God by following God’s will in complete obedience.

32 God received glory from Christ. Therefore, God would give glory to Christ. God will glorify the Son in himself. The words in himself can mean “in God,” or “in heaven.” They can also mean “in Christ.” That is, God will give Christ a glory of His own. Whichever the meaning is, Jesus was talking about His resurrection. The resurrection would be the sign that God had indeed glorified His Son. This was going to happen at once. There would be no more delay. Jesus’ hour had come.

33 Jesus then told His disciples that He was soon to die. They could not come with Him, because it was not yet their time to die. “Where I am going, you cannot come,” He said to them. They would come later, but not right then (see verse 36).

Jesus had said this same thing to the unbelieving Jews. However, He had also told the Jews, “You will look for me, but you will not find me.”He did not say that to His disciples. Those who do not believe in Jesus in this life will not find Jesus in the next life. They will not live with Jesus in heaven (see John 7:33-34; 8:21 and comments).

34-35 Then Jesus gave the disciples a new command. Love one another. It is of ten called the third great commandment. The second great commandment says: Love your neighbor as yourself (see Mark 12:31 and comment). This third commandment says: Love your Christian brother as Jesus loved you.

Christians must have a special love for each other, a brotherly love. This love must be fervent (1 Peter 1:22). It must be visible to others, because it is by this love that others will know that we are Jesus’ disciples. This love will be the proof that we are His disciples. Men won’t know we are disciples by our great works; they will know it only by our love (see 1 Corinthians 13:1-3).

As I have loved you, so you must love one another. How did Jesus love us? He gave His life for us (see John 15:12-13). To this extent, then, we must love our brother. This is the meaning of true Christian fellowship. But unless one has accepted Christ as Lord, one can have no part in this fellowship.

When other people see our love for each other, they will be attracted to our fellowship. They will want to become part of our fellowship. When they see our love, they will understand how great Jesus’ love was for them. That is why we must love each other as Jesus loved us. By loving each other in this way, our love will then be a testimony to Jesus’ love (see 1 John 3:23; 4:7,11-12,21 and comments).

36 Peter was still thinking about Jesus’ words, “Where I am going, you cannot come” (verse 33). He asked Jesus, “Where are you going?” But Jesus only answered that Peter could not follow right then.

37 Peter sensed that Jesus was talking about His death. So Peter told Jesus that he would go anywhere with Jesus. He was even ready to die with Jesus.

38 Peter was promising more than he could fulfill. He wasn’t ready to die for Jesus. He was about to deny Jesus (see Mark 14:27-31,66-72 and comment). Instead, it was Jesus who was about to die for Peter.

Peter was proud. He had confidence in his own strength. He should have been more humble. Those who think they are strong in themselves will soon find out that they are really weak (see 1 Corinthians 10:12).