A Study Commentary

on

John

Volume 2: John 13–21

Gordon J. Keddie

Evangelical Press

Faverdale North Industrial Estate, Darlington, DL3 0PH, England

Evangelical Press USA

P. O. Box 84, Auburn, MA 01501, USA

e-mail: sales@evangelical-press.org

web: http://www.evangelicalpress.org

© Evangelical Press 2001. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form, or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publishers.

First published 2001

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data available

ISBN 0 85234 479 1

All Scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Contents

31. Washing the disciples’ feet (13:1–17)

32. ‘One of you will betray me’ (13:18–30)

33. Living for an absent Lord (13:31–35)

34. Pride before a fall (13:36–38)

35. Ongoing trust (14:1)

36. ‘A place for you’ (14:2)

37. ‘I will come back’ (14:3)

38. ‘I am the way’ (14:4–11)

39. The best is yet to come (14:12–14)

40. ‘Another helper’ (14:15–17)

41. Never alone (14:18–24)

42. The whole picture (14:25–31)

43. The vine and the branches (15:1–8)

44. The love of Jesus Christ (15:9–17)

45. ‘If the world hates you’ (15:18–16:4a)

46. The advantage of Jesus’ absence (16:4b–15)

47. Sorrow turned to joy (16:16–24)

48. ‘Be of good cheer’ (16:25–33)

49. Jesus prays for himself (17:1–5)

50. Jesus prays for his disciples (17:6–19)

51. Jesus prays for the future church (17:20–26)

52. Arrest and trial (18:1–27)

53. Christ or Caesar? (18:28–19:16a)

54. Christ crucified (19:16b–24)

55. The meaning of the cross (19:25–37)

56. The empty tomb (19:38–20:9)

57. The risen Lord (20:10–18)

58. ‘That you may believe’ (20:19–31)

59. ‘Follow me’ (21:1–25)

31. Washing the disciples’ feet

John 13:1–17

The Last Supper was surely the most remarkable meal ever shared in all of human history. True, there was no miraculous provision of the food as at the feeding of the 5,000. There was no one present who had been raised from the dead, as at Bethany a few days earlier. But here was our Lord’s last meal before his death by crucifixion—a meal in and around which he spoke of his imminent sufferings and death, predicted his betrayal by Judas Iscariot and his denial by Peter, refereed a squabble between the disciples as to who was the greatest, preached a whole series of profoundly powerful sermons (the Supper or Farewell Discourse, John 14–16), engaged in his great ‘high-priestly prayer’ (John 17) and, not least, bequeathed to the church the institution of the Lord’s Supper, as a particular means of grace to believers until he comes again at the end of the present age.

Before all this, Jesus did a most remarkable thing: he washed his disciples’ feet, in order to show, says John, that ‘He loved them to the end’ (13:1). Only John records ...