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Read the Gospels in 40 Days

Read through the four Gospels--Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John--in 40 days.

Duration: 40 days

John 13-14

III. The Book of Glory^[a]

Chapter 13

The Washing of the Disciples’ Feet.^[b] ¹Before the feast of Passover,^[c] Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.^(A) ²The devil had already induced^[d] Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper,^(B) ³fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God,^(C) ⁴he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. ⁵^[e]Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet^(D) and dry them with the towel around his waist. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” ⁸Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”^(E) ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed^[f] has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.”^(F) ¹¹For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”^(G)

¹²So when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? ¹³You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am.^(H) ¹⁴If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.^(I) ¹⁶Amen, amen, I say to you, no slave is greater than his master nor any messenger^[g] greater than the one who sent him.^(J) ¹⁷If you understand this, blessed are you if you do it. ¹⁸I am not speaking of all of you. I know those whom I have chosen. But so that the scripture might be fulfilled, ‘The one who ate my food has raised his heel against me.’^(K) ¹⁹From now on I am telling you before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I AM. ²⁰Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”^(L)

Announcement of Judas’s Betrayal.^(M) ²¹When he had said this, Jesus was deeply troubled and testified, “Amen, amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” ²²The disciples looked at one another, at a loss as to whom he meant. ²³One of his disciples, the one whom Jesus loved,^[h] was reclining at Jesus’ side.^(N) ²⁴So Simon Peter nodded to him to find out whom he meant. ²⁵He leaned back against Jesus’ chest and said to him, “Master, who is it?”^(O) ²⁶Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I hand the morsel^[i] after I have dipped it.” So he dipped the morsel and [took it and] handed it to Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot. ²⁷After he took the morsel, Satan entered him. So Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.”^(P) ²⁸[Now] none of those reclining at table realized why he said this to him. ²⁹Some thought that since Judas kept the money bag, Jesus had told him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or to give something to the poor.^(Q) ³⁰So he took the morsel and left at once. And it was night.

The New Commandment. ³¹^[j]When he had left, Jesus said,^[k] “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. ³²[If God is glorified in him,] God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him at once.^(R) ³³My children, I will be with you only a little while longer. You will look for me, and as I told the Jews, ‘Where I go you cannot come,’ so now I say it to you.^(S) ³⁴I give you a new commandment:^[l] love one another. As I have loved you, so you also should love one another.^(T) ³⁵This is how all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Peter’s Denial Predicted. ³⁶Simon Peter said to him, “Master, where are you going?” Jesus answered [him], “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, though you will follow later.”^(U) ³⁷Peter said to him, “Master, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” ³⁸Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Amen, amen, I say to you, the cock will not crow before you deny me three times.”^(V)

Chapter 14

Last Supper Discourses. ¹^[m]“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You have faith^[n] in God; have faith also in me. ²In my Father’s house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? ³^[o]And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back again and take you to myself, so that where I am you also may be.^(W) ⁴Where [I] am going you know the way.”^[p] ⁵Thomas said to him, “Master, we do not know where you are going; how can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, “I am the way and the truth^[q] and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.^(X) ⁷If you know me, then you will also know my Father.^[r] From now on you do know him and have seen him.”^(Y) ⁸Philip said to him, “Master, show us the Father,^[s] and that will be enough for us.”^(Z) ⁹Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you for so long a time and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’?^(AA) ¹⁰Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on my own. The Father who dwells in me is doing his works.^(AB) ¹¹Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else, believe because of the works themselves.^(AC) ¹²Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father.^(AD) ¹³And whatever you ask in my name, I will do, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.^(AE) ¹⁴If you ask anything of me in my name, I will do it.

The Advocate. ¹⁵“If you love me, you will keep my commandments.^(AF) ¹⁶And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate^[t] to be with you always,^(AG) ¹⁷the Spirit of truth,^[u] which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees nor knows it. But you know it, because it remains with you, and will be in you.^(AH) ¹⁸I will not leave you orphans; I will come to you.^[v] ¹⁹In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me, because I live and you will live.^(AI) ²⁰On that day you will realize that I am in my Father and you are in me and I in you.^(AJ) ²¹Whoever has my commandments and observes them is the one who loves me. And whoever loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and reveal myself to him.”^(AK) ²²Judas, not the Iscariot,^[w] said to him, “Master, [then] what happened that you will reveal yourself to us and not to the world?”^(AL) ²³Jesus answered and said to him, “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.^(AM) ²⁴Whoever does not love me does not keep my words; yet the word you hear is not mine but that of the Father who sent me.

²⁵“I have told you this while I am with you. ²⁶The Advocate, the holy Spirit that the Father will send in my name—he will teach you everything and remind you of all that [I] told you.^(AN) ²⁷Peace^[x] I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give it to you. Do not let your hearts be troubled or afraid.^(AO) ²⁸^[y]You heard me tell you, ‘I am going away and I will come back to you.’^(AP) If you loved me, you would rejoice that I am going to the Father; for the Father is greater than I. ²⁹And now I have told you this before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe.^(AQ) ³⁰I will no longer speak much with you, for the ruler of the world^[z] is coming. He has no power over me, ³¹but the world must know that I love the Father and that I do just as the Father has commanded me. Get up, let us go.^(AR)

Footnotes

13:1–19:42 The Book of Glory. There is a major break here; the word “sign” is used again only in Jn 20:30. In this phase of Jesus’ return to the Father, the discourses (Jn 13–17) precede the traditional narrative of the passion (Jn 18–20) to interpret them for the Christian reader. This is the only extended example of esoteric teaching of disciples in John.
13:1–20 Washing of the disciples’ feet. This episode occurs in John at the place of the narration of the institution of the Eucharist in the synoptics. It may be a dramatization of Lk 22:27—“I am your servant.” It is presented as a “model” (“pattern”) of the crucifixion. It symbolizes cleansing from sin by sacrificial death.
13:1 Before the feast of Passover: this would be Thursday evening, before the day of preparation; in the synoptics, the Last Supper is a Passover meal taking place, in John’s chronology, on Friday evening. To the end: or, “completely.”
13:2 Induced: literally, “The devil put into the heart that Judas should hand him over.”
13:5 The act of washing another’s feet was one that could not be required of the lowliest Jewish slave. It is an allusion to the humiliating death of the crucifixion.
13:10 Bathed: many have suggested that this passage is a symbolic reference to baptism. The Greek root involved is used in baptismal contexts in 1 Cor 6:11; Eph 5:26; Ti 3:5; Hb 10:22.
13:16 Messenger: the Greek has apostolos, the only occurrence of the term in John. It is not used in the technical sense here.
13:23 The one whom Jesus loved: also mentioned in Jn 19:26; 20:2; 21:7. A disciple, called “another disciple” or “the other disciple,” is mentioned in Jn 18:15 and Jn 20:2; in the latter reference he is identified with the disciple whom Jesus loved. There is also an unnamed disciple in Jn 1:35–40; see note on Jn 1:37.
13:26 Morsel: probably the bitter herb dipped in salt water.
13:31–17:26 Two farewell discourses and a prayer. These seem to be Johannine compositions, including sayings of Jesus at the Last Supper and on other occasions, modeled on similar farewell discourses in Greek literature and the Old Testament (of Moses, Joshua, David).
13:31–38 Introduction: departure and return. Terms of coming and going predominate. These verses form an introduction to the last discourse of Jesus, which extends through Jn 14–17. In it John has collected Jesus’ words to his own (Jn 13:1). There are indications that several speeches have been fused together, e.g., in Jn 14:31 and Jn 17:1.
13:34 I give you a new commandment: this puts Jesus on a par with Yahweh. The commandment itself is not new; cf. Lv 19:18 and the note there.
14:1–31 Jesus’ departure and return. This section is a dialogue marked off by a literary inclusion in Jn 14:1, 27: “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”
14:1 You have faith: could also be imperative: “Have faith.”
14:3 Come back again: a rare Johannine reference to the parousia; cf. 1 Jn 2:28.
14:4 The way: here, of Jesus himself; also a designation of Christianity in Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22.
14:6 The truth: in John, the divinely revealed reality of the Father manifested in the person and works of Jesus. The possession of truth confers knowledge and liberation from sin (Jn 8:32).
14:7 An alternative reading, “If you knew me, then you would have known my Father also,” would be a rebuke, as in Jn 8:19.
14:8 Show us the Father: Philip is pictured asking for a theophany like Ex 24:9–10; 33:18.
14:16 Another Advocate: Jesus is the first advocate (paraclete); see 1 Jn 2:1, where Jesus is an advocate in the sense of intercessor in heaven. The Greek term derives from legal terminology for an advocate or defense attorney, and can mean spokesman, mediator, intercessor, comforter, consoler, although no one of these terms encompasses the meaning in John. The Paraclete in John is a teacher, a witness to Jesus, and a prosecutor of the world, who represents the continued presence on earth of the Jesus who has returned to the Father.
14:17 The Spirit of truth: this term is also used at Qumran, where it is a moral force put into a person by God, as opposed to the spirit of perversity. It is more personal in John; it will teach the realities of the new order (Jn 14:26), and testify to the truth (Jn 14:6). While it has been customary to use masculine personal pronouns in English for the Advocate, the Greek word for “spirit” is neuter, and the Greek text and manuscript variants fluctuate between masculine and neuter pronouns.
14:18 I will come to you: indwelling, not parousia.
14:22 Judas, not the Iscariot: probably not the brother of Jesus in Mk 6:3 // Mt 13:55 or the apostle named Jude in Lk 6:16, but Thomas (see note on Jn 11:16), although other readings have “Judas the Cananean.”
14:27 Peace: the traditional Hebrew salutation šālôm; but Jesus’ “Shalom” is a gift of salvation, connoting the bounty of messianic blessing.
14:28 The Father is greater than I: because he sent, gave, etc., and Jesus is “a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God” (Jn 8:40).
14:30 The ruler of the world: Satan; cf. Jn 12:31; 16:11.

New American Bible (Revised Edition) (NABRE)

Scripture texts, prefaces, introductions, footnotes and cross references used in this work are taken from the New American Bible, revised edition © 2010, 1991, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC All Rights Reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright owner.