Jesus Prepares Disciples

Opening Comments

Over the course of the next few studies, we will see Jesus spending time with His disciples preparing them for his “hour” which is at hand.

We saw last week that Jesus declares He will be lifted up so that all people will be drawn to Him(John 12:32). This passage doesn’t imply that there is a universal doctrine at play here. Jesus, who is the Savior of the world, isn’t saying because I am lifted up all men are now saved. Rather, He is saying that by being lifted up, He is making a way for the whole complement of people of faith, who the Father will gives, will be saved. This statement deals with God’s sovereignty.

The people did not fully comprehend Jesus’ statement, so Jesus physically hides himself from the crowd to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah 52, 53 and 6.

Jesus turn His attention on preparing His disciples for the upcoming hour. He does this first physically and figuratively.

Disciples Prepared Physically

Read John 13:1-17

John 13:1–17 CSB

1 Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray him. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. 4 So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. 5 Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said. Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.” 12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you. 16 “Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.

Passage Keys:

Timeline - Before the Passover Festival. This is the time of “Passover.” So is there a difference in time between the Passover meal and the Passover festival?

When would the Passover Festival begin? The passover sacrifice was to be offered on the fourteenth month of Nisan (the first month of the Jew’s year). The passover festival extended from the fourteenth to the the twentieth day of the month Nisan. In Matthew and Mark’s gospels (Mt. 26:2, Mk. 14:1) we find that the passover meal was two days before the festival because it was the Sabbath.

Verse 2 - The devil had already put into the heart of Judas to betray Christ. The phrase “had put into the heart” depicts that Satan had tempted Judas with this notion. We will explore this more fully in just a few minutes.

What is Jesus doing? He gets up to wash the Disciples’ feet - all of them, including Judas’. What does this act teach us about how we should love and serve? It was the normal custom of that day for non-Jewish slaves to wash people’s feet. This is a lowly task not even reserved for Jewish slaves. Typically the washing of feet occurred upon arrival and not after the meal. Perhaps some of the disciples’ reaction here is because they felt guilty that none of them had thought to do that.

Jesus comes to Peter. We see the humanity in Peter - he first becomes indignant and then he becomes submissive. What is the spiritual significance that Jesus is alluding to in his discourse with Peter?

The difference in words used here of “wash” and “bathe”. To us, they seem similar, but there are two different Greek words used here. The first, translated as “wash”, means to clean but it refers to more of a rinsing action. The word translated as “bathed” on the other had depicts a deep cleaning usually with soap or water. In light of this, how does verse 10 apply to us today? When we come in faith to Christ, He completes the bathing of our dirty souls - a picture of regeneration. Yet, there are times we get dusty from living in this world - we fall into sin. We only need to be “rinsed” - not scrubbed. In 1 John 1:9, Christ is telling us to keep short accounts with Him by confessing our sins so we can be cleansed - yet a different Greek word from the two used here which we get our word cauterized from.

Notice at the end of verse 10, Jesus makes the declaration that you are clean. He is using the plural form of the word “you” here which we would say “you all”. Jesus had just washed all of the disciples’ feet, but then he makes this statement, “You are clean, but not all of you.” What and who is Jesus referring to here?

In verses 12 - 17, Jesus provides an application of what he just demonstrated. In fact, in verse 12, Jesus issues a command in the midst of the question. The word “know” in the question is an imperative. In essence, Jesus is saying, “Know this and remember what I have done for you....” What then is the command Jesus is giving?

This command is given after Jesus has washed their feet, and about that some time perhaps a dispute arises among the disciples as Luke records. Read Luke 22:24-31.

Luke 22:24–31 CSB

24 Then a dispute also arose among them about who should be considered the greatest. 25 But he said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who have authority over them have themselves called ‘Benefactors.’ 26 It is not to be like that among you. On the contrary, whoever is greatest among you should become like the youngest, and whoever leads, like the one serving. 27 For who is greater, the one at the table or the one serving? Isn’t it the one at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves. 28 You are those who stood by me in my trials. 29 I bestow on you a kingdom, just as my Father bestowed one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom. And you will sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel. 31 “Simon, Simon, look out. Satan has asked to sift you like wheat.

Wouldn’t that be just like us? We have seen Christ in action in a service of humility, and think then that it is all about us. The reminder which Jesus gives Peter fits into John’s narrative as well but an interesting shift occurs here. Jesus quiets the dispute with a warning to Peter. However, His comment, “Satan has asked” could be translated as demanded successfully to sift you as wheat. The “you” here is the plural version - so the demand is for all of the disciples not just Peter.

Jesus has prepared the disciples physically, so now let’s see how He begins to prepare them figuratively. Read John 13:21-30.

Disciples Prepared Figuratively

John 13:21–30 (CSB)

JUDAS’S BETRAYAL PREDICTED

21 When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in his spirit and testified, “Truly I tell you, one of you will betray me.”

22 The disciples started looking at one another—uncertain which one he was speaking about. 23 One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was reclining close beside Jesus. 24 Simon Peter motioned to him to find out who it was he was talking about. 25 So he leaned back against Jesus and asked him, “Lord, who is it?”

26 Jesus replied, “He’s the one I give the piece of bread to after I have dipped it.” When he had dipped the bread, he gave it to Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son. 27 After Judas ate the piece of bread, Satan entered him. So Jesus told him, “What you’re doing, do quickly.”

28 None of those reclining at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Since Judas kept the money-bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the festival,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 After receiving the piece of bread, he immediately left. And it was night.

Passage Keys

In verse 18, we see the fulfillment of the prophecy from Ps. 41:9

Psalm 41:9 (CSB)

9 Even my friend in whom I trusted,

one who ate my bread,

has raised his heel against me.

Jesus becomes troubled in spirit as John mentions in John 12:27. What do you think is the source of His troubling? As in John 12, perhaps it is the realization of His hour has come, or it is caused by the upcoming act of betrayal by one of his own, or maybe it is all these.

What had begun as a “temptation” to Judas earlier in the chapter is about to become an act of sin. What has been put into his heart, v. 2, is about to be carried out. In verse 27, we see that Satan, himself, has now entered Judas. Literally, the word enter here means to begin to experience.

The disciples were first cleansed literally through the foot washing, now they will be cleansed figuratively by the removal of the betrayer.

Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines on the New Testament Chapter 13

Christ had washed his feet, quoted the Word to him, and now openly warned him, thus giving Judas every opportunity to change his mind

Was this a shock or surprise to the other disciples? What do we see in the text to support this?

Have you ever been betrayed by a close friend or family member? Is it any different if it is a betrayal in word or a betrayal in action?

Earlier in this chapter, John already shares with us that it was evening and that it was time for supper. Yet, John’s comment, “and it was night,” in verse 30 seems to imply more than just a time reference. How does this relate to Jesus’ comment in John 12:35-36?

Disciples Given a New Command

Read John 13:31-34

John 13:31–34 CSB

31 When he had left, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself and will glorify him at once. 33 Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so now I tell you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’ 34 “I give you a new command: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, you are also to love one another.

Passage Keys

The time for Jesus’ glorification has come. This glorification is bound up in two events which are considered one salvific event - the cross and resurrection.

Three times in John’s Gospel he states that where He is going, you cannot come: John 7:33, John 8:21, and here in verse 33. Jesus answers where he is going at the beginning of John 14.

Jesus then gives the Disciples a new command in verse 34.

Matthew records Jesus answer to the Pharisees question, “which command in the law is the greatest?” Matthew 22:37-40

Matthew 22:37–40 CSB

37 He said to him, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and most important command. 39 The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commands.”

So Jesus had already stated and taught the Disciples to love God and love their neighbor. What is new about the command He is giving then? We are to love as He loved. How is that? This new command brings about a new “mode” of loving - to love each other as Christ had loved them, and it also brings about a new “judge” - then everyone will know that you are my disciples. It seems that God allows the world to judge if we are His disciples by the way we love one another.

John E. Love Extended (13:31–38)

Love extended leads to discipleship and denial and perhaps even to death. But the sacrifice itself should not be the focus for the disciples, but the motive behind it. These verses lay a strong groundwork for John’s three epistles. This is a new commandment and a new object. Not just “love God” or “love me,” but love one another

Wrap Up

What does this chapter of John say to you and me?

Act in humility

Do not consider ourselves higher than anyone else

Keep short accounts with God

Be on the alert - Satan is looking to devour or sift anyone one of us

Demonstrate Christ’s love especially within the body