John 13:31-35 Commentary

How confusing this all must have been for the disciples. During the supper that they’ve just shared, Jesus has taken on the role of a servant and washed their feet—an act he tells them should be part of what they do for one another (verses 1-17). Then Jesus starts to speak of belonging to him and how he will be betrayed and Jesus seems to give Judas a command that they can’t puzzle out its meaning (verses 18-30). Then, in our lectionary text for this week, Jesus starts to say all this stuff about glory and returns to this idea that they should follow his lead through action, this time focusing on love (verses 31-35). The night will be filled with such confusing statements.

Is that why Jesus’s words about how the disciples (and us) are to live and what we are to do are so simple and clear?

I have washed your feet… you ought to wash one another’s. (13.14)

Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. (13.34)

If you love me, you will keep my commandments. (14.15)

Those who love me will keep my word… (14.23)

Our list could go on… They are these touchstones throughout Jesus’s farewell discourse, ever drawing us back into the real world implications of these things Jesus is saying about his own existence within the Trinity.

Most interpretations of these verses see Jesus’s discussion of being glorified as a direct reference to his upcoming crucifixion—that Satan entering into Judas and Jesus’s command to “Do quickly what you are going to do,” is the beginning of the final chain of events. Jesus’s hour has now come.

Time is running out for Jesus to be with them in the same way he has been with them for the last three years. Everything is about to change and he cares so deeply for them and he wants to help them, his “little children.” And because they will not be immediately following Jesus—neither up onto the cross nor even the foot of the cross out of their own cowardice and fear—Jesus gives them this simple command to light their way: “Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” (In just a few sentences he’ll also say in 14.1, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me.”)

I’m really taken with the First Nations Version on this passage, especially verses 34-35: I am giving you a new road to walk… In the same way I have loved you, you are to love each other. This kind of love will be the sign for all people that you are walking the road with me. They will no longer have their rabbi physically leading them on literal roads, but Jesus their Saviour has given them a clarion call on which path to take wherever they travel in their lifetimes ahead. Whenever there is a fork in the road, the one that leads them to loving others will mark the path they should choose. And in this way, not only will they honour the dying wishes of the one being glorified by—and as—God, they will also keep his message alive.

When we take this road, we are following the author and perfecter of our faith, one step at a time. I picture it as the kind of road where each new section appears under our foot as we take the faithful step to be loving towards others, to believe in God, to live as disciples. And even though Jesus told the disciples that they couldn’t follow him that night, what the Spirit has made clear to us from the message of Scripture is that those who walk on his path live in the light of faith and love; we are following Jesus to where he has gone, to where he has prepared a place for us to be with him: in his Father’s house in glory.

Textual Points

In the Old Testament, one of the words used for glory is cabod, which means a heaviness—like a presence that fills the space. Here, Jesus relates his glory with the act of loving others: when we love one another, the presence of God fills the space because God is love.

According to commentators, Jesus is likely using the past tense about future events because he is following the style of God’s prophets who often used the past tense to increase the gravity of their message.

Illustration Idea

Ready or not, it’s a bit like the disciples are about to graduate. They are about to be on their own and Jesus gives them not only a speech, but a blessing. It’s much like a Commencement address at a graduation. A quick internet search for “graduation speech” and “love” will provide you with several examples to choose from. These excerpts from Mother Teresa in 1982 at Thomas Aquinas College, though, really fit the bill, especially with last week’s text still lingering in our minds:

“And therefore that good news Jesus came to give us, and that good news you must carry out, you must bring into the world where you are going to move in now. What good news? That God loves you and that you want to love others as He loves you- tenderly, lovingly…

Go with that—the joy of loving. You must experience the joy of loving. And how do you experience that freedom? You need to be free to love. That means have a clean heart. And this is my prayer for you: that you become real carriers of God’s love, in tenderness and love. Do not be afraid. Do not be afraid to love. Even when suffering comes, humiliation comes, pain comes, success comes, joy comes. Remember, you are precious to him. He loves you. And this is something that today we are brought together to proclaim: the joy of being loved and the joy of loving.”