The Amazing Love of Jesus (John 13:1)

Most of the material found in John 13-17 is only found in this Gospel. We do not know why the other Gospels do not refer to what took place or what was said in them, despite the fact that some of the profoundest of Jesus’ teachings are given here. Nor can we know why John in chapter 13 does not refer to the fact that Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper during the meal that is detailed – John does not even hint that it happened, although he was there. In a sense, we do know why the authors utilized the material that they did – the Holy Spirit guided them as he inspired them to describe what had taken place.  

All that is recorded in this section of John took place on the day of the Jewish Passover. Days in their calendar began on the evening. In our calendar, we would say that Jesus was crucified on the following day, but in their calendar he was put to death on the same day as he instituted the meal. It began with the meal in the Upper Room, and it was followed by the disciples and Jesus walking to the Garden of Gethsemane, where he was arrested, then had to undergo several mock trials before being put to death.

The verse we are considering is a kind of preface to this section of the Gospel. We can see from it that what John wants his readers to focus on through all that will be told by him is the love of Jesus. So whether we are in the Upper Room, or on the road, or in Gethsemane, or in the various trials, or in his death, or in his resurrection, we are to think about his love.

Moreover, the aspect of his love is also specified – it is his love for his own ‘who were in the world’. We can see why this would be the case. They were about to experience a very unusual set of circumstances in which their love for him would be tested but in which his love for them would be tasted. We can see their love tested right away in the fact that none of them washed his feet, and we can see his love tasted as he washed their feet. And this contrast will reveal itself in many ways throughout the remainder of the Gospel.

Of course, his love for them is also a picture of his love for all his people and we can ask ourselves what we would have done in their shoes and what we should have done if we were there.

The hour has come

The preface also stresses the knowledge of Jesus and by implication the ignorance of the disciples. John connects this knowledge possessed by Jesus to the phrase, ‘His hour had come’. John has used this phrase several times already in his Gospel and always in a cryptic sort of way. The first occurs in John 2:4 in the account of the first miracle that Jesus performed when he turned the water into wine. When his mother had informed him of the problem caused by lack of wine, he had said to her, ‘Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.’ What did he mean?, a reader should ask.

The next mention of the phrase is in John 7:30 concerning the opposition that the authorities had towards him: ‘So they were seeking to arrest him, but no one laid a hand on him, because his hour had not yet come.’ A similar statement is made in John 8:20: ‘These words he spoke in the treasury, as he taught in the temple; but no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.’ Both these references suggest that his hour would involve arrest by the authorities, but what would that involve.

Another two references occur in John 12. In verse 23 Jesus says: ‘The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.’ The context concerns the request of Gentiles to see Jesus and suggests that his hour of glorification involves providing the means whereby they could be saved (Christ on Calvary) as well as ensuring that they would taste his salvation (the rule of the exalted Christ). A few lines later he states: ‘Now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? “Father, save me from this hour”? But for this purpose I have come to this hour’ (v. 27). In these verses Jesus connects his hour with both his glorification and his suffering. Therefore, readers of the Gospel would expect to discover that Jesus is about to be arrested and experience suffering and glory.

John is more specific here and says that the hour was when Jesus would ‘depart out of this world to the Father’. Yet it is still a bit enigmatic, unless we have read the story already and know what happened. The clause indicates a separation was coming – he would leave the world – and a journey would occur (he would go to the Father). I suppose we could say that John is telling his readers to keep this focus in view as he describes various incidents. For example, Jesus after his resurrection tells Mary Magdalene that he has not yet ascended to the Father. The reader should ask himself if that journey is nearer. 

The love he showed to them

What can we say about the love he had shown previously to them? One aspect that we can think about is that he showed his love by choosing them to be his disciples. With some of them, his love had been shown by his placing himself strategically where they would see him through the service of others. This is how Andrew and John had first met him when John the Baptist pointed then to Jesus. And this was how Peter was brought to meet with him through Andrew. With others, his love for them had led him to search for them as he did with Philip and Nathaniel, and later on Matthew.

 Moreover his love for them was revealed in his desire for their company. He had chosen them so that they would be with him. What marvellous information he taught them about the kingdom that was about to appear, what methods of discipleship he instructed them about, what gentleness he revealed as he interacted with them for three years. Through it all, he was displaying his love for them.

Now this evening had come and he would continue to show his love for them. His love was remarkable, given their behaviour at this time. They were in anything but a devoted state of soul. There, in the Upper Room, on this most significant of days, they would reveal their selfishness as they focused on which of them should be the greatest. They also revealed their ignorance of basic lessons in some of the questions they would ask him, recorded in the next chapter by John. Yet he loved them and showed it here by his willingness to wash their feet.

John informs us that Jesus loved his disciples ‘to the end’. This phrase can be taken chronologically (to the end of his time on earth) or intensely (showed his love in a greater manner than previously). Probably, John intended both meanings by his choice of words. Chronologically, he loved them through the cross and his resurrection; intensely is one way of saying how he loved them when on the cross paying the penalty for their sins.

Three lessons for us

First, Jesus is determined to love us through whatever will come our way. Like those disciples, we have no idea often what is around the corner. Yet we can be sure of this, that Jesus will love us. He will never abandon those who trust in him. Even when we come to the end of our earthly journey, he will meet with us in love and take us to his home, with the Father.

Second, Jesus sometimes reveals his love to us in special ways. He has loved us in the methods he used with the first disciples. Sometimes he does place himself strategically where we should not fail to see him (he does this in church services and other means of grace). At other times, he finds us where we are by ourselves and reveals himself to us. And as life goes on we have times of special love, often at the Lord’s Table.

Third, Jesus showed the full extent of his love for us when he went to the cross and paid the penalty for our sins. His death was a voluntary sacrifice in which he freely took our place and suffered the awful wrath of God. And whatever else was going on at the cross, the love of Jesus was strong for his people.