John 13
On the night before his death Jesus kneels and washes his disciples' feet, gives the new commandment to love one another, and identifies his betrayer.
Summary
The setting is the supper before the Passover, and John frames the scene with two statements: Jesus knows his hour has come to depart from this world to the Father, and he loves his own to the end (or to the uttermost — the Greek eis telos carries both meanings). Knowing that the Father has given all things into his hands, and that he came from God and is going back to God, he gets up from supper, lays aside his outer garments, takes a towel, pours water into a basin, and begins to wash his disciples' feet, wiping them with the towel. When he comes to Peter, Peter says Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus says you do not understand now, but you will afterwards. Peter refuses; Jesus says unless I wash you, you have no share with me. Peter overcorrects and asks to be washed entirely; Jesus says the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. He adds: not all of you are clean — referring to the betrayer.
Back at the table, Jesus explains: do you understand what I have done? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right. If I then have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. I have given you an example. He says the servant is not greater than his master, nor is the messenger greater than the one who sent him. He quotes Psalm 41 about the betrayer, then tells them in advance so that when it happens they will believe. Troubled in spirit, he says one of you will betray me. Questioning looks pass between the disciples. Peter signals the Beloved Disciple to ask who it is; he asks; Jesus says it is the one to whom I give this morsel. He gives it to Judas Iscariot. Satan enters into Judas; Jesus tells him what he is doing, do it quickly. Judas leaves into the night. The chapter closes with the new commandment: a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another just as I have loved you. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. Peter asks where Jesus is going; Jesus says he cannot follow now but will follow later; Peter insists he will lay down his life; Jesus says the cock will not crow before Peter has denied him three times.
- John 1Chapter 1 falls into two distinct movements.
- John 2Chapter 2 contains the first two incidents of the public ministry, set in very different registers.
- John 3Chapter 3 divides into a dialogue and a testimony.
- John 4Chapter 4 is built around the longest conversation Jesus has with anyone in any of the four gospels.
- John 5Chapter 5 turns on a Sabbath healing that provokes the first sustained conflict with the religious authorities and generates a major theological discourse.
- John 6Chapter 6 is the longest in the gospel and the most demanding.
- John 7Chapter 7 is one of the most dramatic scenes of the public ministry, set during the week-long Feast of Tabernacles in Jerusalem.
- John 8Chapter 8 opens with the pericope of the woman taken in adultery (verses 1–11), absent from the earliest manuscripts and widely understood as a later addition, but narratively powerful: whoever is without sin may cast the first stone.
- John 9Chapter 9 is the most novelistic chapter in John and a sustained piece of dramatic irony.
- John 10Chapter 10 follows directly from the expulsion of the man born blind in chapter 9 and develops two sustained metaphors.
- John 11Chapter 11 is the dramatic climax of the Book of Signs and the most fully narrated miracle in John.
- John 12Chapter 12 is the bridge between the two halves of the gospel.
- John 13Chapter 13 opens the Book of Glory and sets the scene for the Farewell Discourse that occupies chapters 14–17.
- John 14Chapter 14 is the opening movement of the Farewell Discourse and contains several of the most quoted passages in the gospel.
- John 15Chapter 15 moves through two large movements: the vine and branches discourse (verses 1–17) and the warning about the world's hostility (verses 18–27).
- John 16Chapter 16 continues the Farewell Discourse and moves through three phases.
- John 17Chapter 17 is the high-priestly prayer, unique in the New Testament: Jesus prays at length in the hearing of his disciples on the night of his arrest.
- John 18Chapter 18 covers the arrest, the hearings before Annas and Caiaphas, Peter's three denials, and the first half of the Roman trial before Pilate.
- John 19Chapter 19 covers the final stages of the trial and the crucifixion.
- John 20Chapter 20 narrates the resurrection in two stages across two distinct scenes.
- John 21Chapter 21 is often discussed as a possible appendix, since chapter 20 closes with a purpose statement that reads like an ending.