13:1
We are now moving into the final phase. It is during this phase that Jesus gave lots of invaluable teaching to His disciples, and the first teaching comes in the form of a practical lesson. “Jesus knew His hour had come”. Several times before John said His hour had not yet come, and Jesus avoided arrest or being killed. Now He would make no attempt to resist, the time for Him to go to the cross had arrived.
He also knew that He had to leave the world and go to the Father. Jesus knew the cross was not the final destination, it was a necessary and essential part of the route. He would return to the Father after the cross. When we go through hard times we need to keep in mind the final destination, which is to be with the Lord forever.
He loved them to the end. This can also be translated “He loved them to the uttermost”. So he could either be saying that He loved them all the time He was on earth, even though He was about to face the most horrendous suffering, or it could mean the washing of their feet demonstrated the extent of His love.
13:2
There are some who say this could not have been the Passover meal but was a fellowship meal eaten before the Passover meal itself. However, it is better to take it as the Passover meal, and then it is consistent with the synoptic gospels.
We then read that Satan had already prompted Judas to betray Jesus. This does not absolve Judas of responsibility. Throughout the Bible, especially in the New Testament, we see that something is the work of God, the work of Satan and the work of men. We always want to narrow it down to just one of these parties, and that is why we get in such a fix over things like predestination. According to the Bible many things are the work of all three. Satan was at work in the cross, so were men, especially the Jewish leaders. Both these parties had evil purposes in mind and are guilty for what they did. But we also know that supremely the cross was the work of God, designed to bring about our salvation.
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