separates what has gone before, the self-revelation of Jesus to the people over a period of two to three years or more, from what follows, His self-revelation to His diciples and His preparation for the establishment of the New Vine (John 15:1-6), the new Israel, which includes His death and resurrection, and takes place within a three day period. This latter takes up eight Chapter s. Jesus' life, death and resurrection are thus seen by John as pivotal, and as unique in that, having revealed Himself for what He is, His death and resurrection are to be seen as a turning point in history. It brings out that His life had His death in view, and that what would appear at first sight to be a tragic end, will finally result in the establishment of a new work of God which will be the consequence of His own activity as the resurrected Christ as He gives His Spirit to His followers (John 20:20-23).
Nevertheless the self-revelationto the disciples continues. We learn immediately that Jesus knew that ‘the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God and went to God' (John 13:3). In other words His life had been a kind of interlude between His previously having been with the Father (compare John 17:5), and His going to be with His Father, during which He had and would accomplish what the Father had given into His hands. Having descended from Heaven He would now ascend to Heaven (John 3:13). For a while the Word had been made flesh and had dwelt among us (John 1:14) for the fulfilling of His purposes, but now He was going back to His Father. Nothing brings out more the uniqueness of Jesus than this, the revelation of Him as both pre-existent and as the arbiter for the future. The fact that ‘all things had been given into His hands' may refer to the whole of time, or it may signify that it was what He received in His divine manhood in consequene of His obedience. To the Greeks ‘all things' indicated the universe.
We note that Jesus is now still being addressed as ‘Lord' (John 13:9), as in chapter 11. This is something which Jesus now takes up when He declares that He is their ‘Lord and Teacher' (John 13:13-14). This His only direct application of the title to Himself in John's Gospel (but note 15 15, 20). Note His switch from ‘Teacher and Lord' in John 13:13 to ‘Lord and Teacher' in John 13:14. He is now emphasising His unique authority over them. They had seen Him as their Teacher. Now they must recognise Him as their Lord. He will later speak of them as ‘friends' (John 15:1-14), but for now His emphasis is on the fact that He is their Lord (compare John 13:16; John 15:20). His Lordship is even brought out by the fact that He is depicted as in control of His own destiny as He commands Judas to go about his act of betrayal (John 13:27-28).
Once Judas has left Jesus turns to His other disciples and declares, ‘Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him. And God will glorify Him in Himself, and will immediately glorify Him' (John 13:32). The ‘now' connects with Judas departure on his evil errand, and indicates that what is to result from the betrayal is for the glory of God and for the glory of Jesus as the Son of Man. Once more Daniel 7:13-14 is in mind. Jesus will come out of suffering in order to approach the throne of God and receive glory and kingship. The idea of Messiahship is thus included. This idea of the glory of Jesus being revealed is an essential part of the author's portrayal of precisely Who Jesus is (John 1:14; John 2:11; John 11:4; John 11:40; John 12:41; John 17:5; John 17:24). But for God to ‘glorify Him in Himself' goes beyond just Messiahship, for when in John 17:5 Jesus prays, ‘glorify Me with Your own self, with the glory which I had with You before the world was', He was thinking of a greater glory than that of the Messiah, the divone glory itself. The idea is that as the Son of God He will once more be united with His Father in His supreme glory.
We should not be too surprised that John does not mention the inauguration of the Lord's Supper (Holy Communion). It is his method to omit mention of what we might see as primary events. Similarly he also omits describing Jesus' baptism and the transfiguration, and His prayers in the Garden, although bringing out the underlying meaning of them all. The significance of what lies behind the Lord's Supper is, however, found in chapter 6. But from now on he was more concerned with bringing out Jesus' preparation of His disciples for what was to come, and underlining the inspiration of the Spirit that would be given to them which would result in the guarantee of the accuracy of the tradition concerning Himself, as borne witness to by them and in the New Testament Scriptures.. As we have seen right from the beginning his emphasis is on the testimony borne to Jesus, and its sources.