Coming Departure

Lesson #207

With this lesson we begin our study of chapter 13. The first major section, defined by John 13:1 – 20, can be divided into three smaller sections: verses 1 – 4, getting ready to wash the disciple’s feet; 5 – 11, washing the disciple’s feet; verses 12 – 21, instructions from Jesus. Remember, Jesus has ended his public ministry and will devote his remaining time, before his trial, with his disciples.

“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1 ESV). The Feast of the Passover was instituted as a memorial of the deliverance of the children of Israel out of Egypt, where they existed as slaves. Like the Jewish slaves, as believers, we are sojourners and exiles in a foreign land (1 Peter 2:11 ESV), viewed as bondslaves of God (1 Peter 2:16 NASB) looking forward to our deliverance. God used Moses to deliver the people from Egypt and he would use Jesus to deliver believers from this dark sinful world in which we now serve. This feast would be the last for Jesus, provides the setting for his death on the cross, followed by his resurrection from the grave, which provides for our deliverance.

“Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father.” He states this in John 12:23: “And Jesus answered them, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified” (ESV). This is the hour for which he has long waited for; the event he has been trying to explain to and prepare the people for. Opposition against his has finally become a crisis with the breach with the authorities at the breaking point and with the disciples trembling in doubt in their sandals. The hour had come for Jesus to die on the cross, but that death was not final; it was the beginning point of his departure out of this world to the Father. “I came from the Father and have come into the world, and now I am leaving the world and going to the Father” (John 16:28 ESV). Death was not the end point for Jesus, but a departure to a closer and more intimate relations and communion with his Father than was possible, even for him, in this sinful world. This work he finished on the cross and his departure to the Father, provides him the right to deliver us, who are believers, also to the Father.

“having loved his own who were in the world” were the ones chosen and given to him by the Father. You might want to search back to our study of John 6:37: “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” and John 6:44: “No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day” (ESV). These who were his would continue on in the world until their time of departure and while they were here most would experience tribulation; “If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours” (John 15:18 – 20 ESV).

John ends the sentence with: “he loved them to the end.” His love for them was constant in this life and because of our departure we would be together for an eternity, so that love will continue on without end.

Prayer

Father, what a wonderful verse this was; to be reassured of his love and our departure when our time comes to an end here in the world. How exciting it is to study a plan, developed in the beginning, and now completed on the cross that provides our deliverance and access to your loving presence for an eternity; a deliverance we don’t deserve, but out of love and mercy, through grace was provided as a free gift; a free gift to us, but it cost you everything. Father, forgive us and show us mercy for taking this sacrifice so lightly and not in return express our love and gratitude in obedient service.