John 13

John 13:1

Thy brother shall rise again. She takes this as an allusion to the final resurrection.

John 13:3

I am the resurrection, and the life. Christ makes the grand, striking declaration that he is the RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE, words that never could have fallen from the lips of a sane mortal. They mean that he is the power which opens every grave, gives life to the sleepers, and calls them forth to a new existence; that the life that endows men with eternal being is in him and proceeds from him. In the light of his own resurrection they mean that when he burst open the tomb, he did it for humanity and in him humanity has won the victory over death.

John 13:4

Whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Those dead, who believed in him, shall be raised and live, and those living who believe, shall never perish. Death will only be a change to a better existence.

John 13:5

I believe that thou art the Christ, etc. He asks about her faith. She responds by the good confession that embraces all, Martha’s creed, Peter’s creed (Matthew 16:16 Mr 8:29), the true “Apostles’ creed”, the only creed of the Apostolic church. See also Matthew 14:33 John 1:34,49 20:31 Ac 7:56 9:20.

John 13:6

Called Mary her sister secretly. The Lord had evidently directed her to do this, for she said, “The Master calleth for thee”. At once, with a promptitude that shows her joy, Mary arose and hastened out of the town to the place where the Lord still tarried.

John 13:9

She goeth unto the grave to weep there. The message to Mary was secret. When she suddenly arose and left hurriedly, the only explanation that suggested itself to the Jews was that she had gone to weep at the tomb, a custom of Jewish women.

John 13:11

He groaned in the spirit, and was troubled. The Greek word “embrimaomai”, rendered “groaned” here, undoubtedly means “was moved with indignation”, and is so rendered in the margin of the Revised Version. Jesus was deeply moved by the grief of Mary, but the hypocritical weeping of the Jews who followed her, and who were acting according to the rules, filled him with indignation.

John 13:13

Jesus wept. The shortest verse in the Bible and one of the most touching. For the only other occasion when Jesus wept, see Lu 19:41.

John 13:14

Behold how he loved him! Some of the Jews were touched by the evidence of tender affection.

John 13:15

Could not this man, etc. Others, remembering the healing of the blind man right there at Jerusalem (John 9:1-13), asked if he could not have saved Lazarus from death.

John 13:16

Jesus . . . cometh to the grave. Graves in Palestine were caves in the rock, either natural or cut, and the mouth was closed by a great stone. Such graves are still seen there. For references to graves, see Genesis 23:9 35:8 1 Kings 2:34 Isaiah 14:15 22:16 Matthew 27:60 John 19:41.

John 13:17

Take ye away the stone. The large stone that closed the entrance, and which several persons would be required to remove. Lord, by this time he stinketh. The practical Martha suggests that decomposition has begun, not understanding his purpose.

John 13:19

And Jesus lifted up [his] eyes. The Son always sought to honor the Father and to show that the Father was in him as he was in the Father. I thank thee that thou hast heard me. Constantly in communion with the Father, he had the Father’s answer already and assent to what he was about to do.

John 13:20

Thou hearest me always. Even in Gethsemane, when the cup was not taken away (Matthew 26:39,42,44 Mr 14:36,39).

John 13:21

He cried with a loud voice. A suggestion of the “voice like the sound of many waters” (Revelation 1:15), at which all who are in their graves shall come forth (1 Thessalonians 4:16). It was the voice of authority.

John 13:22

And he that was dead came forth. The earth had never beheld a more wonderful or startling sight. At once the sleeper arose, came forth, bound with his grave clothes, with the napkin still upon his face that had been bound under his jaw to keep it from falling. The lookers-on, astonished, dazed, were only recalled to themselves when the Lord bade them, “Loose him and let him go”. He spoke as the Divine Word, and death obeyed. As he cried to Lazarus, “Come forth” (John 11:43), so shall he speak with the voice of an archangel to all that are in their graves, and they shall come forth and live (1 Thessalonians 4:16).

John 13:23

Many of the Jews . . . believed on him. They could not doubt after such a display of Divine power. There were, as usual, two classes. The others went and reported to the Pharisees.

John 13:25

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council. The Sanhedrin met at once. The crisis was an alarming one. Unless something was done the nation would follow Jesus.

John 13:26

The Romans shall come. Their idea was that if the nation followed Jesus there would be rebellion against the Roman authority, and the Romans would, as a result, destroy Jerusalem, the temple, and their ecclesiastical authority. This was done a generation later by the Romans, but what led to it was the “rejection” of Christ, not his reception.

John 13:27

Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year. The year the Savior died. He was a Sadducee, crafty, cruel, sensual, had been high priest for fifteen years, and was deposed three years later. Ye know nothing at all. Don’t understand what the crisis requires.

John 13:28

That one man should die. His proposition is to slay one man, Jesus, rather than have the Romans come and destroy the whole nation for making Jesus King.

John 13:29

This spake he not of himself. He thought he spoke of himself, but without his knowledge, God used the lips of the high priest for a prophecy.

John 13:30

Not for that nation only. It “did behoove Jesus to die”, in order to save, not that nation only, but that “he should gather together in one the children of God”.

John 13:31

From that day. From that day his death was the official decree of the Sanhedrin.

John 13:32

Jesus therefore walked no more openly. He avoided them until his “hour was come” (John 13:1), and retired to Ephraim, a city sixteen miles northeast of Jerusalem on the borders of the wilderness.

John 13:33

The Jews’ passover was near. It was only a few weeks before the passover that he went to Ephraim. To purify themselves. From ceremonial uncleanness. See Exodus 19:10,11.

John 13:34

Then sought they for Jesus. He was in the thoughts of all men now.

John 13:35

The chief priests and the Pharisees. The Sanhedrin had commanded that any man who could direct them to Jesus should bring word. The hostility that began three years before, on the Lord’s first visit after his ministry began, had now fully ripened, and the “hour was at hand” (Matthew 26:45).

John 13:37

The Royal Entrance into Jerusalem SUMMARY OF JOHN 12: The Feast at Bethany. The Anointing by Mary. The Anger of Judas. The Jews Purpose to Put Lazarus to Death. The Entrance into Jerusalem. The Greeks Seeking Jesus. “The Hour Is Come”. The Voice from Heaven. The Son of Man to Be Lifted Up. The Cause of Unbelief. Jesus six days before the passover came to Bethany. From the other Gospels we learn that he went from Ephraim beyond the Jordan and came back through Jericho with the great company of Galileans who came to attend the passover. The supper at Bethany was Saturday evening before he was crucified.

John 13:38

There they made him a supper. For notes on this supper and the anointing, see Matthew 26:6-16. Compare Mr 14:3-11 Lu 7:36-50.