“Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1.
The Lord had been saying throughout the gospel of John that His hour had not come, the hour referred to being the time of His crucifixion.
This hour is not a sixty minute time period but a point in time, which in this case was actually just a few hours away. And indeed, from the time He was nailed to the cross at nine a.m. to three p.m. was a period of six hours.
After waiting a lifetime, Jesus knew that His hour was at hand; in truth though, He knew of this hour from eternity past.
In spite of how this must have weighed on His mind, He still stayed focused on His disciples and throughout the supper He gave an example and taught them things which they would never forget.
“…having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” The meaning of this is that He loved them to the uttermost – eternally – He loved them all the way through.
Verse one also says, “…who were in the world” those who have accepted Christ as their savior are also in the world; we are in the world, He knows what it is like to live here, and He knows what it is like to face death.
“Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16.
Jesus’ love embraces us too; Christ’s eye is always upon us and His ear is always attentive to our cries. Do not let Satan rob you of that knowledge no matter what your circumstances.
“For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’” Hebrews 13:5b.
There is another phrase within John 13:1a which when considered from Jesus’ point of view must have caused exhilaration mixed with the dread of the cross, “His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father”.
Very soon He would cease from the toil of this earth and be seated again next to His beloved Father. There is a peace in that place which transcends everything on this earth.
“Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses [saints who have gone before us], let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider Him who endured such hostility from sinners against Himself, lest you become weary and discouraged in your souls.” Hebrews 12:1-3.
The constant nattering of hell bound demons trying to make Him angry, or use His powers outside the Father’s will, or to exasperate Him through the unceasing vicious attacks of the priests, elders, and religious leaders like the Pharisees will stop.
Suddenly, there will be complete blessed silence from the powers of evil. They are not allowed in that place, they were kicked out of heaven permanently before time began!
Soon enough, the tormentors will become the tormented as they stand before Christ the judge on Judgment Day. Then they will be cast into the lake of fire for eternity.
“And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.” John 13:2-5.
“And supper being ended…” since the supper was ended much later when Jesus gave the sop to Judas Iscariot:
“Jesus answered, ‘It is he to whom I shall give a piece of bread when I have dipped it.” And having dipped the bread, He gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon.” John 13:26.
This is more properly the end of the supper, especially since Judas immediately went out.
Why John 13:2 is translated here as, “supper being ended” is not clear. But the New American Standard Version renders this as, “And during supper…” This could well mean, while supper was being prepared, or before supper was served, or perhaps even in the midst of supper.
“…the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him” John 13:2b.
The actual betrayal is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke, the one in Luke is shown here.
“Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve. So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them. And they were glad, and agreed to give him money. Then he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.” Luke 22:3-6.
It is difficult to understand what motivated Judas to betray Jesus. However, you only have to watch the news to see what vile, unprincipled people live in this world; greedy businessmen, demonized terrorists, serial killers, vile rapists, sickening child abuse, murderers, vicious gossips, to name a few.
Even the media feeds on the swill of malicious unsubstantiated gossip, humiliating people and exploiting victims of crimes, making money in the process; showing us that there is no lack of people who feed on their lies.
It is likely that Jesus put His finger on Judas’ weakness when He gave him the money box to keep, which he did, and pilfered from it. His greed overshadowed love or friendship.
A greed Satan knew about long before he became Jesus’ disciple, it was the deadly chink in Judas’ armor which dragged him into perdition.
Judas was, “…numbered among the twelve”. There are sociopaths who destroy their co-workers to achieve success.
There are those who become mobsters, sex traffickers, and hit-men, there are even those, like Hitler, who smile and lie and betray their country; all of them may look like and many can act like nice guys.
There are even those in church who betray Christianity for gain; they are of Judas’ ilk.
“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God…” John 13:3.
Verse three is not only informative, but it also sets the stage for the next eight verses. This verse is given for our information, it is not meant to mean that Jesus suddenly figured out that He was God and that He was from God.
The verse starts out with the words, “Jesus knowing…” that is, all of this information is well known to Him already, something that this gospel should have conveyed to our hearts from the beginning.
Jesus often spoke of God the Father and referred to Himself as the Son of Man, and worked so many signs that only God could have done.
The fact that Christ knew that all things had been given into His hands and that He had come from God and was returning to God, reminds us of Jesus’ omniscience, His omnipotence and that He has the name that is above every name in creation.
“…according to the working of His [God the Father’s] mighty power which He worked in Christ when He raised Him from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come.” Ephesians 1:19b-21.
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Philippians 2:9-11.
His Hour had Come, John 13:1-3 taken from godisrevealed.com posted on 2-26-13, updated on 1-5-18.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version, copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission, all rights reserved.