John 13
John 13 is the thirteenth chapter of the Gospel of John in the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The "latter half", "second book", or "closing part" of John's Gospel commences with this chapter. The nineteenth-century biblical commentator Alexander Maclaren calls it "the Holy of Holies of the New Testament" and the "most sacred part of the New Testament", as it begins John's record of the events on the last night before the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, emphasising Jesus' love for his disciples, demonstrated in the service of washing their feet, and his commandment that they love one another in the same way. The author of the book containing this chapter is anonymous, but early Christian tradition uniformly affirmed that John composed this Gospel.
Text
The original text was written in Koine Greek. This chapter is divided into 38 verses. Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Greek are:- Papyrus 75
- Papyrus 66
- Codex Vaticanus
- Codex Sinaiticus
- Codex Bezae
- Codex Alexandrinus
- Codex Ephraemi Rescriptus
- Papyrus 92
Places
All the events recorded in this chapter and the succeeding chapters up to John 17 took place in Jerusalem. The precise location is not specified, but John 18:1 states that afterwards, "Jesus left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley".Old Testament references
- John 13:18: Psalm
Verses 1–3: the appointed hour
The narrative begins before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. The appointed hour, anticipated earlier in the gospel, had now arrived. Jesus had announced publicly in that "the hour when the Son of Man should be glorified" had now arrived, and he had declined, in, to ask his Father to "save from this hour".
Heinrich Meyer notes, "How long before the feast, our passage does not state", but Bengel's Gnomon and Wesley's Notes, which drew widely on Bengel, both associate this passage with the Wednesday of the week leading to the Passover. The New International Version translation says It was just before the Passover Festival.
Jesus' love for his own continued "to the end". Henry Alford takes this to mean "even to the end of his life in the flesh", and William D. Mounce refers to "the very end". However, Baptist writer Bob Utley notes that "this is the Greek word telos, which means an accomplished purpose. This refers to Jesus' work of redemption for humanity on the cross."
During or after supper, the narrative explains that "Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God". The King James Version speaks of "supper being ended", whereas the American Standard Version says "during supper" and the New International Version has "the evening meal was in progress". There was still food to be shared at, so the reading "after supper" sits less harmoniously with the passage as a whole. By this time, the devil had "already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him". Alfred Plummer, in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges argues that "the true reading of τοῦ διαβόλου ἤδη βεβληκότος εἰς τὴν καρδίαν gives us, "The devil having now put it into the heart, that Judas, Simon's son, Iscariot should betray Him", and asks "whose heart?" Grammatically, the meaning can be read as either "the heart of the devil" or "the heart of Judas", but the received reading is preferred and most English translations follow this reading. The Jerusalem Bible and J B Phillips' version both have "the mind of Judas".
Jesus washes the disciples' feet (verses )
Jesus washes and dries the feet of each of his disciples. The evangelist "concentrates" on this narrative, providing a detailed account of the actions Jesus took, removing His outer garment and wrapping a towel around his waist. Scottish commentator William Robertson Nicoll says, "Each step in the whole astounding scene is imprinted on the mind of John". says that Jesus began to wash their feet: the washing was interrupted by Peter's initial refusal to allow Jesus to wash his feet, but suggests that the task was later completed and the feet of all the Disciples were washed, including those of Judas, as Jesus then took back His garments and reclined again.The interruption consists of a question from Peter, "Lord, are You washing my feet?", Jesus' reply that at present they would not understand what He was doing, Peter's refusal to have Jesus wash his feet, Jesus' reply that "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me", Peter's willingness to have his whole body washed by Jesus, and Jesus' closing statement that "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you". The evangelist adds a note, "He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean". Peter calls Jesus 'Lord' in two of his three statements, and Jesus later acknowledges the title as correctly used.
From verse 12 onwards, the action having been completed, Jesus explains what he has done. Henry Alford calls the foot-washing "a pattern of self-denying love for His servants". Carson sees the episode pointing in two directions: one as a symbolic spiritual cleansing and the other as a "standard of humble service", followed by a calling to the disciples to "wash one another's feet". The words "Do you know what I have done to you?" are uttered to introduce Jesus' teaching, but without expectation of an answer.
Jesus identifies his betrayer (verses )
Verse 18
Jesus quotes the words of Psalm :in shorter statement: ''.
According to the Pulpit Commentary, in the Psalm, "Ahithophel is almost certainly intended", and Plummer notes that "the words of the Psalm are not a direct prediction, but the treachery and the fate of Ahithophel foreshadowed the treachery and the fate of Judas". The Jerusalem Bible translates [|John 13:18] as "Someone who shares my table rebels against me". Francis Moloney identifies this verse not only with Judas' betrayal of Jesus, but also with Peter's denial of Him.