A New Commandment

Judas's departure is immediately followed by Jesus' declaration that the Son of Man has now been glorified and that God has been glorified in him. The aorist edoxasthē, 'was glorified,' presents the impending passion with striking certainty, as though the decisive event has already begun. In John, glorification includes crucifixion, resurrection, and return to the Father rather than separating shame from exaltation. Jesus then tells the disciples that he will be with them only a little longer and that they cannot yet follow where he is going.

The command to love one another is called kainē, 'new.' Its novelty does not consist in love being previously unknown, since Leviticus 19:18 commands love of neighbor. The distinctive standard is kathōs ēgapēsa hymas, 'just as I have loved you.' The command is therefore christologically defined by Jesus' own self-giving love, climactically expressed in the passion. Mutual love becomes the public identifying mark by which others will recognize Jesus' disciples.

Peter ignores the command's communal focus and asks where Jesus is going. He insists that he will lay down his life for Jesus, using language earlier applied to the good shepherd laying down his life for the sheep. Jesus reverses Peter's confidence with the prediction that before the rooster crows Peter will deny him three times. The contrast is deliberate: Peter imagines himself capable of following Jesus into death immediately, but his discipleship must first pass through failure, Jesus' death, and later restoration.

John 13 begins the Gospel's farewell section and marks a decisive transition from Jesus' public ministry to his final instruction of the disciples. The setting is a meal before Passover, with Jesus fully aware that his 'hour' has come to depart from the world and return to the Father. The footwashing interprets his coming death through the pattern of humble, cleansing service, while Peter's resistance exposes the disciples' incomplete understanding of what participation in Jesus requires.

The chapter then turns from enacted symbolism to betrayal, glorification, love, and impending separation. Judas departs into the night after receiving the morsel from Jesus, and only then does Jesus announce that the Son of Man has been glorified. The new commandment defines the disciples' communal identity in terms of Jesus' own love, while Peter's confident promise of loyalty is answered by the prediction of his denial. Thus service, betrayal, love, departure, and failed discipleship are tightly interwoven as the passion approaches.