John 13:1Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Yet after all this, He did not cease doing them good, both by word and by deed.

When one servant struck Him, He said, "If I have spoken evil, bear witness to the evil; but if well, why do you strike Me?" (Jn 18:23).

This is how He acted toward His enemies and evildoers.

Let us see, then, how He acts toward His disciples, and especially what He now shows toward the treacherous disciple.

He ought to have been hated more than all. He was a disciple, shared in the meals and suppers, saw the miracles, and was counted worthy to receive so much.

Yet he acted worse than all. He did not throw stones at Him or revile Him, but delivered Him up and betrayed Him.

Meanwhile, see how kindly He receives him. He washes his feet.

By this also He wished to restrain him from his evil intention.

Had He wished, He certainly could have dried him up like the fig tree, torn him apart as He tore the stones, and rent him as the veil was rent.

Yet He wished him to abandon his evil intention not by compulsion, but by free will. For this reason He washes his feet.

But even this did not shame that wretched and pitiable man.

"Before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come."

He did not know it only then. The Evangelist says that He knew it long before He did what He did.

"To depart." The Evangelist profoundly calls His death a departure.

"Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end."

Do you see how, when He was about to leave them, He displays the strongest love for them?

The words, "Having loved, He loved them to the end," mean that He omitted nothing that one who loves deeply ought to do.

Why, then, did He not do this from the beginning? He does the greater things at the end, to strengthen their attachment to Him and prepare great consolation for the troubles about to come.

He calls them "His own" because of His close communion with them.

He also calls others "His own," but as His creation. For example, He says, "His own did not receive Him" (Jn 1:11).

What does "who were in the world" mean? It means that He also had "His own" among the dead, such as Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and those like them.

But they were no longer in the world.

Do you see that He is God of both the Old and the New Testaments?

What does "He loved them to the end" mean? By this the Evangelist says that He never ceased loving them, and calls this a proof of especially strong love.

Elsewhere, the proof is said to be laying down one's life for one's friends. But that had not yet occurred.

Why, then, did He do this now? Because it was far more marvelous when He seemed so glorious to all.

Through this He also left them no small consolation before His separation from them.

Since they were about to undergo bitter sorrow, He offers them through this an equal consolation.

He calls Christ's death a "departure" because of His Ascension after the Resurrection. Therefore, since He was about to depart from this world, He manifests love for His own.

He calls the disciples His own because of their closeness. All men are also God's own by right of His creation. Therefore it is said, "He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him" (Jn 1:11).

But the saints are His own because they are close to Him, as here He called the disciples His own.

He added, "who were in the world," because there are also others who are His own, such as Abraham and the patriarchs. But they are not in this world, for they have departed from here.

These, then, His own who were in the world, He loved to the end. That is, He manifested perfect love toward them.

Yet He showed the most perfect love toward His own who are in this world. If the meaning of these words must be unfolded more broadly, I shall repeat what I said recently.

All that came into being through our Savior Christ is His own. This includes rational and spiritual creatures, the heavenly Powers, Thrones, Dominions, and whatever is of the same kind with them in respect to created nature.

The rational creatures on earth are also His own, since He is Master of all, even though some did not worship Him as Creator.

Thus He "loved His own who were in the world," for "He does not take hold of angels," according to Paul's word (Heb 2:16).

Nor was it for the sake of the angelic nature that, "being in the form of God and the Father, He did not regard equality with God as robbery" (Phil 2:6-7).

On the contrary, for our sake, who are in the world, the Lord of all emptied Himself and took the form of a servant, called to this by love for us.

Having thus "loved" those "in" this "world," He "loved them to the end." He knew, even before the feast and before the Passover, that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father.

For the fact that He was man would not yet have shown that He loved to the end, unless He had willed to sacrifice His life for all.

But He loved "to the end," not refusing to undergo even this, although He foresaw that He would suffer. For His Passion was not unknown to the Savior.

Therefore, He says, although He could have avoided the fury of the Jews and the impiety of those who crucified Him, He manifested the most perfect love toward His own who were in the world.

He did not at all refuse to lay down His life for them. That the most perfect measure of love must truly be seen especially in this, I shall present our Lord Jesus Christ Himself as witness.

He says to the holy disciples: "This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. For greater love than this no one has, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:12-13).

Moreover, in another way, the holy Evangelists always carefully strove to show that our Lord Jesus Christ foreknew the time of His Passion.

They did this so that none of those accustomed to think otherwise would diminish His glory by saying He was seized because of weakness.

Nor should anyone say that, having unwillingly fallen into the snares of the Jews, He thus underwent a most dreadful death. Therefore the word of the saints is prudent and profitable.

We are saved from the destruction awaiting this world, just as Israel was saved from the yoke and destruction of the Egyptians. We make the saving passage when we pass from the devil to Christ, and from this unstable world into His most stable Kingdom.

Thus this name, Pascha, which, as I have said, means "passing over" in Latin, is explained, one may say, by the blessed Evangelist when he says: "Before the feast of Pascha, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father."

Behold Pascha. Behold the passage.

What does "unto the end" mean, if not unto Christ? "Christ is the end of the law," says the Apostle, "for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom 10:4).

He is the end that perfects, not the end that destroys. He is the end toward which we strive, not the end in which we perish. In this way we must understand the words: "Christ, our Pascha, was sacrificed for us" (1 Cor 5:7).

He is our end. Into Him we pass. I see that these Gospel words can be understood in a certain human sense, as though Christ loved His own up to death.

It might seem that this is the meaning of the words, "He loved them unto the end." Yet this understanding is human, not divine. For He Who loves always and without limit did not love us only until that moment.

Far be it that death should stop the love of Him Who cannot be stopped by death. Even after death, the proud rich man loved his five brothers (see Lk 16:27-28).

And are we to think that Christ loved us only until death? God forbid, beloved. He would have come to us in vain with a love that lasted only until death, if it ended there.

Yet perhaps the words, "He loved them unto the end," mean that He loved them so much as to die for them. He Himself bears witness to this when He says: "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).

The Lord's Supper, according to John, must be opened with His help in as many discourses as are necessary. It must be explained according to the strength He has given us.

"Before the feast of Pascha, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father," showed by deed that, "having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end."

"Pascha," brethren, is not a Greek word, as some think, but a Hebrew one. Yet in this word there is a very fitting agreement between the two languages.

The Greek paschein means "to suffer," pati. Therefore Pascha was understood as "suffering," as if the word had been formed from "suffering."

But in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, Pascha means "passage." The people of God celebrated the first Pascha when the Hebrews fled from Egypt and crossed the Red Sea (see Ex 14:29).

Now that prophetic image has been fulfilled in truth. Christ, like a sheep, was led to the slaughter (cf. Is 53:7). We, as though anointing our doorposts with His blood, seal our faces with the sign of His Cross.

Thus we are freed from the destruction of this age, as from Egyptian captivity or their destruction (see Ex 12:22). We make the saving passage, passing from the devil to Christ, from this unstable age into His most stable Kingdom.

Therefore we go to the eternally existing God, so that we may not pass away with the passing world. Glorifying God for this grace that helps us, the Apostle said: "He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of the Son of His love" (cf. Col 1:13).

Thus the blessed Evangelist explains to us this word, Pascha, which, as I have said, is translated into Latin as transitus, "passage." He says: "Before the feast of Pascha, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father."

See: Pascha. And see: passage. From where, and to where? Clearly, from this world to the Father. Hope was given to the members in the Head, that they would surely follow Him Who passed to the Father.

What of unbelievers, strangers to both His Head and His Body? Do they also pass, since they do not remain here? Certainly they pass too, but it is one thing to pass from the world, and another to pass with the world.

It is one thing to pass to the Father, another to pass to the enemy. The Egyptians also passed, but they did not pass through the sea into the Kingdom. They passed into the sea unto destruction.

Therefore Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, showed by deed that, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them unto the end.

He did this so that, through His love, they too might pass from this world, where they remained, to their Head, Who had passed from it. What else does "unto the end" mean, if not "unto Christ"?

For "Christ is the end of the law," says the Apostle, "for righteousness to everyone who believes" (Rom 10:4). This is an end that completes, not one that destroys. It is an end we must reach, not one in which we must disappear.

This is exactly how Pascha should be understood: "Christ, our Pascha, was sacrificed for us" (cf. 1 Cor 5:7). He Himself is our end. To Him is our passage.

I see that these Gospel words can also be taken in a certain human way. It may seem that the words, "He loved them unto the end," mean that Christ loved His own until death.

In that sense the saying is human, not divine. Yet He loved us not only until that moment of death, but eternally, without end.

It cannot be that He Who is not exhausted by death should exhaust His love by death. Even after death, that proud and impious rich man loved his five brothers (see Lk 16:27-28).

And should we think that Christ loved us only until death? By no means, beloved. He would not have come to us in love even unto death, if He exhausted His love for us by death.

Perhaps the words, "He loved them unto the end," should be understood thus: He loved them so greatly that He was ready to die for them.

He bears witness to this when He says: "Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" (Jn 15:13).

Therefore nothing prevents us from understanding the words, "He loved them unto the end," in precisely this way: that this love led Him to death.

Thus the evangelist says that Jesus Christ, while loving His disciples even before this time, loved them then with particular intensity. The word "to the end" here means "intensely."

Since Jesus Christ was soon to die and leave His disciples, He now increases His love for them, so that He might leave in them a firmer memory of Himself.

The sign of this increase of love was His washing of the disciples' feet. For one who loves another deeply will not refuse even a service that is humbling to himself.

Without doubt, the exaltation of His assumed human nature is spoken of in such a way that His divinity remains inseparable from Him even in His sufferings.

In like manner, He remains in the eternal glory of His divine nature. To give His faithful a share in this ineffable gift, the Lord Himself prepared a blessed "departure" for them.

On the threshold of the Passion itself, He interceded not only for the apostles and disciples, but also for the whole Church.

He said, "I do not pray for these only, but also for those who believe in Me through their word, that they all may be one.

As Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, so may they also be one in Us" (Jn 17:20-21).

Phase is an incorrect transliteration; cf. Ex 12:11 in the Vulgate.

They were not even to keep anything leavened in their houses. From the accounts of the first three evangelists (Mt 26:17; Mk 14:12; Lk 22:7), we know that Jesus ate the Passover with His apostles on the eve of His death, that is, on Thursday.

From John's Gospel we know that when the members of the Sanhedrin brought Jesus to Pilate on Friday morning, they did not enter, so as not to be defiled, but to be able to eat the Passover (Jn 18:28).

Therefore they, and with them all the Jews, ate the Passover on Friday evening, after Jesus had already been buried.

It must be supposed that if Jesus deemed it necessary to celebrate the Old Testament Passover for the last time, He celebrated it on the very evening on which it was proper, that is, the fourteenth of Nisan.

One should not forget that among the Jews the day, meaning the full day, began at sunset. Therefore the fourteenth of Nisan began not on our Friday, but after sunset on our Thursday.

Yet this evening of our Thursday was counted by the Jews as the beginning of Friday. Therefore the Mystical Supper should be reckoned, by Jewish counting, at the very beginning of Friday.

By our counting, it took place at the end of Thursday, after sunset. Jesus was crucified on the same Friday, the fourteenth of Nisan, at nine o'clock in the morning by our reckoning, or at the third hour by Jewish reckoning.

In that year all the Jews ate the Passover, by our reckoning, on Friday evening after Jesus' burial. By Jewish reckoning this was already the beginning of Saturday, the fifteenth of Nisan.

It is thought that the public celebration of Passover in that year was postponed until the fifteenth of Nisan so that the first day of Unleavened Bread would not fall on the eve of the Sabbath.

Whether this last supposition is correct or not is indifferent for us. It is enough to know that Jesus ate the Passover with His apostles on the fourteenth of Nisan, while all the other Jews ate it on the fifteenth.

Yes, Christ loved men so much that, at the end, He did not disdain to show them by His example how necessary humility and meekness are for entrance into the Kingdom of God.

Many researchers affirm that the Passover was transferred to Saturday, although it occurred on Friday.

He loved them to the end, completely and fully. He "omitted nothing that one who loves deeply ought to do" (Theophylact).

This fullness of love was expressed in all His actions toward them during these last hours of His earthly life.

The evangelist points to its first example in the event of the Lord washing the feet of His disciples during His final supper with them.

"His own": here, in the private and strict sense, the holy apostles are called His own. In the present case they represent all who believe in Christ.

All are the Lord and God's own in the sense of His particular nearness to them; cf. Eph 2:19.

"Who were in the world": those still remaining in the world, on earth, while His hour had come to depart from the world to the Father.

"Before the feast of the Passover," he relates, "Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the end."

The Lord saw and knew that the time had come for Him to leave the earth. Yet, having loved His own whom He was leaving in the world, He showed His love for them to His last breath.

He showed them His love despite the fact that one of His disciples, as He saw, was His betrayer. Peter himself would not preserve faithfulness to Him, and all the others would abandon Him.

He loved them to the end. At the final paschal supper He leaves them an immeasurably exalted sign of His unequaled love for them.

This is the mystery of communion in His Body and Blood, which is to be celebrated on earth until the end of the world.

Thus the Lord makes clear that if He is delivered into the hands of His enemies, this does not mean that His fate is fulfilled against His will, or contrary to His knowledge and intentions.

He saw His death on Golgotha. By His own will, by His devotion to the will of the Heavenly Father, and by His love for those for whom His death was saving, He went to Golgotha.