³¹ When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified and God is glorified in him. ³² If God is glorified in him, God will glorify the Son in himself, and will glorify him at once. ³³ “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come. ³⁴ “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵ By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” · ³⁶ Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” ³⁷ Peter asked, “Lord, why can't I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” ³⁸ Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!”
We’re called to love others with the
love we have first received from Christ
Thoughts
- Glory in the Shame (31–32) Judas just walked out into the night, and the door has just closed when Jesus announces that the glory has arrived. He uses the past tense: Now is the Son of Man glorified. The point is that the betrayal is now in motion. The cross is not a setback on the way to glory—it IS the glory. Glory in Scripture carries both great worth and great beauty. Here they are together. Rome built the cross to destroy a man in public, and that becomes the clearest window into the heart of God. His holiness is visible (sin is paid for, not waved away) and his love is made visible (he pays for it himself). Son of Man comes from Dan 7:13-14, where the figure is given dominion and glory. The shock is that view of a naked man slowly asphyxiating between two thieves. When you finally see the glory of God in the face of the crucified Christ, every lesser glory pales. ➤ The cross does not merely inform the mind, it captures the heart. Only this glory has the power to transform a life.
- While I’m Away (33–35) Jesus calls them teknia (little children). It is the only time he uses that word in this Gospel. He is about to leave, and they cannot come with him, so He gives them a commandment to hold while He is gone. The commandment is not new because loving is new; Lev 19:18 already commanded love of neighbor. It is new because of the measure: just as I have loved you. The old measure was yourself. The new measure is Him, and He can point to it, because he washed their feet an hour before and He goes to the cross before morning. He gives this command knowing Judas is on his way to the priests, and knowing Peter will deny Him before sunrise. He gives it to them anyway, and he does not soften it. Then he tells them what this love will do in the world: people will know who belongs to him by the way his people love each other. Schaeffer called it the final apologetic, and he took the verse at full weight: if the world never sees costly love among Christians, it has a right to wonder whether the gospel is true. v.34 isn’t a bar to be hurdled. Rather, it’s what he is about to spend on you, and a man who knows he has been loved that way can begin to love that way. ➤ The love Jesus asks from us is the love he’s already given to us.
- Peter’s Boast and Jesus’ Reply (36-38) Peter is completely sincere. He loves Jesus, and he means every word when he says, “I will lay down my life for you.” The problem is not hypocrisy. The problem is that Peter does not know the real condition of his own heart. He thinks the critical variable in the Christian life is the strength of his resolve. Jesus knows the critical variable is the strength of his grace. So Jesus doesn’t crush Peter’s love, he simply exposes Peter’s self-sufficiency. Will you really lay down your life for me? isn’t sarcasm, but a diagnosis. Augustine said it plainly: “promise me your death, and you will deny me your life.” Every Christ-follower eventually learns what Peter is about to learn: our best vows are not enough. The hope in the passage is not that Peter will try harder next time. The hope is in the word afterward. Jesus goes to the cross first. He will lay down his life for Peter before Peter ever successfully lays down his life for Jesus. And that’s why Peter’s denial isn’t the end of the story. ➤ Our life in Christ life is fueled not by our commitment to Jesus, but by his unshakeable commitment to us.
Reflection
- Where are you relying on your resolve to stay loyal to Christ? What would change if you leaned instead on his unshakeable love
