The Introduction.
THE opening verse of Chapter 13, is introductory to the last discourses of our Lord. It brings before us the occasion that called forth these farewell words, the need of His own that required them, and the motive that moved the Lord in their utterance.
The occasion was that at last “His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father.” In the course of our Lord’s earthly path we have heard of other “hours.” At Cana of Galilee He could say to His mother, “Mine hour is not yet come” —the hour of His manifestation in glory to the world. In chapter 5 we read, “The hour is coming and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God: and they that hear shall live” —the hour of His grace to sinners. In the presence of man’s enmity we twice read that, “No man laid hands on him, because His hour was not yet come” the hour of His suffering. This hour—the hour that introduces the farewell words—has another character. It is not the hour of His grace to sinners, nor the hour of His suffering for sinners. Nor is it the hour of His manifestation in glory to the world; it is rather the hour of His return to His glory with the Father, in the love and holiness of the Father’s house.
The disciples, however, would be left behind in a defiling world that hated the Father and rejected Christ. If then they are to be kept from the evil of the world they are passing through, and yet enjoy communion with Christ in the Father’s home of love and holiness, they will need this last gracious ministry with its comfort, its instruction, and its warnings.
Moreover we learn the motive that moved the Lord in this last act of grace, in uttering these farewell words, and in offering up the closing prayer. If the occasion was the departure to the Father, the motive was His love to His own. He is departing out of this world, but there are those left in the world whom the Lord delights to call “His own.” They are a company of believers on earth, who belong to Christ in heaven. They are “His own” as the fruit of His own work: they are His own as the gift of the Father. They may be of small account in the eyes of the world, they are very precious in the eyes of the Lord. “Having loved His own... He loved them unto the end.” He may leave them, but He will not cease to love them. Human love oft-times breaks down. We leave one another, we forget one another, and we lose interest in one another. The prophet tells us, a woman may even forget her child, but, says the LORD, “Yet will I not forget thee” (Isa. 49:1515Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. (Isaiah 49:15)). If the Lord leaves the world, He will not forget His own, nor will He cease to love them. Alas! our hearts may grow cold towards Him, our hands may weary in well doing, our feet may wander; but of this we are assured, that He will never fail us. His love will carry us, and care for us, “unto the end;” and at the end love will receive us into love’s eternal home where there are no cold hearts, nor hands that hang down, nor feet that wander.
Thus as we approach the closing scenes of the Lord’s sojourn with His disciples, to behold the last act, listen to the last words, and hear the last prayer, we are reminded of the occasion that called forth this closing ministry, the need that required it, and the love that supplied it.
Before entering upon the details of the last discourses, a few suggestive thoughts as to the general character of the truths presented, and the order in which they are unfolded, may be helpful. It will be noticed that in chapter 13 the disciples are set in right relations with one another. They are to wash one another’s feet and to love one another. In chapter 14 they are set in right relations with Divine Persons—the Son, the Father, and the Holy Spirit. In chapter 15 they are set in right relations with the Christian circle, in order that they may bear fruit to the Father, and bear witness to Christ in the world from which He is absent. In chapter 16 they are instructed in things to come in view of their pathway through a hostile world by which they are hated, misunderstood, and persecuted.
Thus it will be seen in chapter 13 the feet of the disciples are washed; in chapter 14 their hearts are comforted; in chapter 15 their lips are opened in testimony; and in chapter 16 their minds are instructed in order that they may not be disheartened by any persecution they may encounter.
Further it will be noticed that there is a progressive character in the instruction. The truth of one chapter prepares for the fresh revelation in the chapter that follows. The service of chapter 13 prepares the disciples for the communion with Divine Persons, as set forth in chapter 14. Communion with Divine Persons in their own sphere—in the inside place—prepares the disciples to bear fruit, and bear witness in the world—the outside scene—as set forth in chapter 15. Moreover the fruit and testimony of chapter 15 leads to persecution, for which the Lord prepares the disciples in the truth of chapter 16. The unfolding of these great truths to the disciples is not sufficient however to maintain them in this world as the representatives of Christ; the prayer is needed. Thus the discourses to the disciples are closed by the prayer to the Father recorded in chapter 17.