Glory and Obedience (John 13:31-35)
Judas had left the room and his departure seems to have made it suitable for Jesus to instruct his disciples about important aspects of the immediate future. For example, it is not hard for us to see how it would have been unsuitable to talk about loving one another in the presence of Judas because he would have no interest in such an outlook or activity.
Jesus spoke briefly about several topics in the upper room and we can see what they are if we look down the remainder of chapter 13 and the totality of chapter 14. What are they? Here is a list:
1. His glorification (13:31-32)
2. Brotherly love (13:33-35)
3. Peter’s denial (13:36-38)
4. The Father’s House (14:1-3)
5. Approaching the Father (14:4-14)
6. The help of the Spirit (14:15-17)
7. Communion with the Father and the Son (14:18-24)
8. The Spirit and the Apostles (14:25-26)
9. The Gift of Peace (14:27)
10. Absence a Reason for Joy (14:28-29)
11. Jesus and the Father (14:30-31)
The glorification of Jesus
Jesus often spoke of himself as the Son of Man, an Old Testament title for the Messiah that comes from a vision Daniel describes in chapter nine of his book. There we are told of the Son of Man ascending on clouds into the presence of God in order to receive a kingdom.
Perhaps those who read that vision in Old Testament times would have been puzzled by what it meant. They read descriptions of the Messiah that seemed contradictory. Some descriptions said he would suffer terribly whereas other descriptions said he would defeat his opponents. Some descriptions located his reign in heaven whereas other descriptions described a reign on earth.
Those who read about Jesus in the New Testament have no reason for not understanding what those prophecies indicated. They can see how he has known both terrible suffering and great glory – the sufferings of the cross and the glory of his ascension. They can also see how his reign can be from heaven and include dominion over all the earth because they know that the ascended Saviour has been given all authority in heaven and on earth.
The glorification of Jesus by the Father is connected to how Jesus glorified the Father by fulfilling the tasks that the Father gave him to fulfil. Basically, the task was twofold: keep the law on behalf of his people and pay the penalty of their sins when he endured divine wrath on the cross. God was glorified in Jesus when he fulfilled those requirements.
Calvin comments regarding this glorification performed by Jesus in these words: ‘He promises, therefore, that when the ignominy which he shall endure for a short time has been effaced, illustrious honour will be displayed in his death. And this too was accomplished; for the death of the cross, which Christ suffered, is so far from obscuring his high rank, that in that death his high rank is chiefly displayed, since there his amazing love to mankind, his infinite righteousness in atoning for sin and appeasing the wrath of God, his wonderful power in conquering death, subduing Satan, and, at length, opening heaven, blazed with full brightness.’ Glory shone throughout his life for those who could see what he was doing, and glory shone even brighter as he descended into the darkness of the cross.
In response, the Father would glorify Jesus by raising him very high – he would glory Jesus and he would do so soon. This was the Father’s desire that his eternal Son would be glorified. We have a double desire here, as it were – the Son by his humiliation desired to glorify the Father, and the Father by exalting him desired to glorify the Son. This had been their shared desire from eternity.
It is extraordinary that Jesus was aware of this at that moment when the betrayer had left the room. We can see from his response that his focus was on the divine transaction in which he was engaged. There is anticipation here. The human nature of Jesus had not yet been in heaven. Nor had his human nature experienced ongoing glorification, although he had a foretaste of it on the Mount of Transfiguration.
The intimation of separation (vv. 32-33)
Jesus speaks here very lovingly when he says: ‘Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, “Where I am going you cannot come.”’ He is not referring to their hopes of going to heaven when they die.
Where would his Father’s glorification take Jesus? It would take him to the eternal throne (we can read about that in Revelation 5). That is not the destiny of disciples when they die. The glorification of Jesus is far higher than the future glorification of believers. He merited his glorification; with believers, it is always an undeserved gift.
How long would pass before his disciples would be with him in the state of glorification? It is as long as the time between his ascension and his second coming. Of course, their souls go to heaven when they die, but that experience, wonderful though it will be, is not the glorification of their full humanity. Jesus, the highly exalted, glorified Saviour has not yet had the experience of having his fully-glorified disciples with him in the sense that they would have resurrected, glorified bodies.
On that night, in the Upper Room and afterwards, he would be with them for a few hours. We know what it is like to spend time with someone we are not going to see for a long time, and we treasure every moment. Did Jesus do something similar, but at a far higher level?
The requirement
Perhaps we have heard the story of the first meeting between Samuel Rutherford and Archbishop Usher. Usher was travelling to Ireland from England and he needed accommodation, so he called at Rutherford’s manse and was given lodging. It was the custom in Rutherford’s home that the family, servants and guests took part in family catechising led by Rutherford’s wife. One question concerned the number of the commandments. When the stranger was asked how many commandments there were, he replied eleven. She thought that it was so sad for a man not to realise that there were ten. The next day was Sunday, and in the morning Rutherford discovered who the stranger was and asked him to preach. Usher chose as his text John 13:35, and he started his sermon by saying this could be called the eleventh commandment. Mrs Rutherford had not been told about the change of preacher, and we can imagine her surprise when the man she had assumed was ignorant could preach well on the theme of the eleventh commandment.
What did Jesus mean when he said that the commandment to love one another was new? He did not mean that God had not required his people Israel to love one another. Rather he was providing a new standard of love. The people of Israel would have loved one another because they belonged to the race who had experienced God’s love and power at the Exodus. They loved one another because they possessed a shared identity. It is similar with the disciples of Jesus except that the price paid for them to have a shared identity was far higher than what was paid for the Israelites to have their identity.
The disciples of Jesus have more than a shared identity because they also have the best example. How did Jesus love them, and us? He loved them loyally – nothing could remove his love for them. He loved them sacrificially – he was on his way to the cross to pay the penalty for their sins. He loved them personally – each of them had a special place in his heart. He loved them patiently – do we have a problem with another Christian because of something they do? Love him or her the way Jesus patiently loved his people.
In addition, they have a profound incentive because brotherly love is the way by which others will know who the disciples of Jesus are. People don’t link us with Jesus by what we say we believe. They need to see love in action. This means that frequency of meeting in circumstances in which others see us is very important. After all, what does it say about brotherly love if we don’t meet with those we say we love?
There is a fourth deduction that we can make, which is that since Jesus was going away, the best display of love would no longer be visible. But if Christians love one another, there is a pointer to Christ’s love. Christ is the light of the world, so are believers in his absence. Christ’s love revealed divine love to sinners as they watched him, so do Christians when they imitate the Saviour’s love.
As we close, we can summarise our thoughts by saying that brotherly love is the badge of believers by which we identify ourselves, that it describes the best of believers because they are most like their Master, and that it displays the beauty of believers created by the heavenly Artist.