world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness. And if any man hear my words, and believe not, I judge 47 him not: for I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that 48 judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day. For I have not spoken of myself; but the 49 Father which sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. And I know that his com- 50 mandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak. self, "the light of the world," "the light of life," &c.—I judge him not. Or, condemn him not. -I came not to judge the world, &c. Chap. ix. 39. Christ came not to pass sentence of condemnation upon the world, but to provide the means and motives of its everlasting salvation. Ripley remarks, that "whatever misery would result to men by occasion of his coming into the world, must not be imputed to him as a part of his design, but must be ascribed to the perverseness of men in slighting and reject ing him.". The word that I have spoken, &c. i. e. the doctrine I have taught, and with which the mind and conscience of him who rejects me, have been enlightened, will prove his judge, his condemner, in the last day, or hereafter. In some passages of Scripture, God is represented as the Judge, in others, Christ, and here his word or doctrine is termed the judge of man. Whatever may be the meaning vailed under these solemn declarations, certain it is, that we already feel, in the prophetic decisions of conscience, which has sometimes been called "the bar of God within," that sweetness of praise, and that bitterness of reproach, before which the awful presence of the assembled universe dwindles into comparative insignificance. 49, 50. What I should say, and what I should speak. The sameness of these expressions obliterates the original signification. Markland supposes, that a distinction is here intended between the miracles and instructions of Christ; or, according to the idea of Campbell, Norton, and others, between what he enjoined, his precepts, and what he taught, his principles, or doctrines, which is a preferable interpretation. His commandment is life everlasting. Solemn conclusion of this vivid summary of the great points of the Christian scheme! The result of the whole was to be life everlasting, to those who believed and obeyed the Son of God. "Thus," to use the language of Ware, in his Life of the Saviour, "passed the first day of Christ's final visit to Jerusalem. It began in acclamation and triumph. It saw him hailed by the multitudes of the people, and led in honor to the city, and the temple. To the hopes of his followers, all was bright and prosperous. His enemies were silenced, the people were full of enthusiasm in his favor, the temple was ringing with their hosannas, and even the Gentiles were crowding to do him homage. Whatever, then, he might have meant when he talked of suffering and death, it was plain to his friends now, that no such evils were to be feared, and they were ready to congratulate CHAPTER XIII. Jesus washes the Feet of his Disciples, and discourses with them at the Last Supper. Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he 2 loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, (the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to themselves on the close of their toils and the fulfilment of their hopes. But the Messiah himself knew better. He saw that all this show of honor was founded in mistake, and that as soon as the actual truth should be known, it would be withdrawn. Above all, he knew that the great work of benevolence which he was sent by the Father to perform, could be accomplished only through his death. He had neither the thought nor the wish to shun it." CHAPTER XIII. 1. Before the feast of the passover. See note on Mat. xxvi. 17. The word passover is sometimes used, as in this instance, to signify, not the paschal lamb, but the festival of seven days which followed, called the feast of unleavened bread. The paschal lamb was eaten on the evening of the fourteenth day of the month Nisan, which, since the Jewish day began in the evening, commenced at sunset at the close of the thirteenth day. Lev. xxiii. 5. Jesus and his disciples did not, therefore, eat the paschal supper before the other Jews, or before the usual time, as some maintain; but, according to the text, before the feast of the passover, or of unleavened bread, which began on the next evening after the lamb was eaten, or on the evening of the fifteenth of the month Nisan. That his hour was come. The time when his ministry would properly be ended by his death. His own. His disciples. He loved them unto the end. Or, at, or, till, the last. Notwithstanding danger and death were impending over him, and he knew their blindness, their approaching denial of him, and the treachery of Judas, he continued to manifest his affection for his disciples through the whole, and thought less of his own approaching sufferings than of the good of others, so pure and refined was his self-forgetting, self-denying spirit. 2. Supper being ended. This translation is not faithful to the original, which means, when supper-time had come, or, during supper. For Jesus and the disciples are represented as afterwards eating. Ver. 26, 27, 30. — The devil having now put into the heart, &c. i. e. the purpose having been admitted and entertained in the heart. The evangelist would intimate, according to Rosenmuller, that the perfidy of Judas was so great, that it could not reasonably have been looked for, even from such a covetous disciple, but must rather be referred to the instigation of some higher evil power. The expression is, therefore, a popular and figurative one, to describe the atrocity of his design, not its source. Bad men, when impelled by their own evil passions, are figuratively represented as under a diabolical influence, possessed by Satan, or the devil, though in reality no such influence is exerted upon them. See James i. 14. betray him,) Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things 3 into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; he riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a 4 towel, and girded himself. After that, he poureth water into a 5 basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to 6 Simon Peter and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou know- 7 est not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto 8 him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith 9 3. Had given all things into his hands. Chap. iii. 35. He was conscious that he was fully empowered by God in relation to all things concerning his religion, and that he was to be the Saviour of the Gentile as well as Jewish world, and had now accomplished his mission. Was come from God, and went to God. Or, having a divine commission, which he was going to resign." Local descent or ascent is not the point here brought into view, but the fact of having received, and of being about to return, that high trust, which had been committed to him. 4, 5. Laid aside his garments. Or, his mantle or outside dress. Girded himself. After the manner of a servant. Wash the disciples' feet, &c. A menial office in the east, usually performed by slaves, 1 Sam. xxv. 41, but also rendered by others as a token of respect and affection. 1 Tim. v. 10. 6, 7. Then cometh he, &c. As the disciples were reclining on the couches around the table, according to the eastern custom, he passed round from one to another, and probably washed the feet of all the twelve. Peter, with his usual impetuosity, in a question implying a strong negative answer, refuses to receive this office at the hands of his Master. But thou shalt know here after, i. e. not at a distant time, as this word intimates, but by and by, presently. Jesus soon explains to them his object in performing so singular an act. But "he avoided an explanation of what he was about, until he had gone round and performed the same menial service for all, and so rendered the impression as strong as possible." 8. Thou shalt never wash my feet. If any thing were wanting to show the great condescension of Jesus in demeaning himself to such a service, it is found in this strong protestation of the warm-hearted Peter. He was indignant at the thought of having his feet washed by one whom he fervently loved and revered, however blind he might be to the true nature of his mission.—If I wash thee not, &c. Jesus, by an easy transition, passes to the moral purification, effected by his doctrines, and declares that to be an essential condition to true discipleship. Unless Peter submitted to this process, he could not be a genuine follower of Christ. He must become humble, lowly, unambitious, and free from jealousy towards others; he must lay aside his hopes of place and power, before he could be the true servant and friend of him, who came not to be ministered unto, but to minister.. unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my 10 head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not 11 all. For he knew who should betray him: therefore said he, Ye 12 are not all clean. So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, 13 Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master, and 14 Lord and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one an 9. Lord, not my feet only, &c. What perfect naturalness in this rebound of feeling! As if Peter had said, if that is the alternative, if those who are not washed, have no part with thee, then "wash me all over, if it be thy will, only take not from me thy love." 10, 11. He that is washed, &c. Or, he that has bathed. One who had, previously bathed, needed, on taking his place at table, only to have his feet washed, which had been soiled by going out, since the open sandals did not protect them from the dust. "I never understood," said a traveller in India, "the full meaning of our Lord's words, as recorded in John xiii. 10, until I beheld the better sort of natives return home after performing their customary ablutions. As they return to their habitations barefoot, they necessarily contract, in their progress, some portion of dust on their feet; and this is universally the case, however nigh their dwellings may be to the river side. When, therefore, they return, the first thing they do is to mount a low stool, and pour a small vessel of water over their feet, to cleanse them from the soil they may have contracted in their journey homewards; if they are of the higher order of society, a servant performs it for them, and then they are clean every whit.'" clean, but not all. Obscurely alluding to the treachery of Judas, as is explained in ver. 11. 6 Ye are 12. Know ye what I have done to you? Put by Wakefield in the imperative mode; Consider, understand what I have done for you; thus drawing their attention to the symbolical act, which he had just performed, and which they would not comprehend, unless he illustrated it. 13, 14. Ye call me Master, &c. The disciples usually addressed Jesus with these titles, as appears from all the Gospels. If I then, &c. The argument is a fortiori, or from the less to the greater; if Jesus, the Master and Lord, condescended to such lowly acts of service, how much more should the disciples mutually serve and aid one another! - Ye also ought to wash one another's feet. The conditional form in which the thought is conveyed, is an indication, apart from the strong reason of the thing, that no injunction was here given to establish a perpetual rite of washing one another's feet, as some have absurdly contended, and as is still practised in Roman Catholic countries. The act was designed by Jesus to convey, after the customs of that age and country, a vivid rebuke of the ill-timed and ambitious rivalry among the twelve, probably upon the occasion of arranging themselves at table, as related in Luke xxii. 24-30. "How perfectly in character the method by which he sought to teach his friends to defer to one another! Since all that he had already said and done had failed to inspire them other's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should 15 do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The 16 servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if 17 ye do them. I speak not of you all; I know whom I have chosen; 18 but that the scripture may be fulfilled, He that eateth bread with with a generous spirit, it would seem as if he adopted this method as a last resort, intending, we might almost think, to shock them by the attitude he assumed, the office he discharged, resolved to make an impression upon their minds, never to be effaced." While the office of washing their feet was thus fitted to soften and refine their dispositions, and to infuse gentleness, humility, condescension, and brotherly love, into their hearts, which had been puffed up by the pride and ambition of soon being the chief counsellors and officers of a splendid, temporal Messiah; yet indirectly the act suggested the idea of the purifying effect of Christ's doctrines, and might also have been partially designed to awaken Judas to a sense of his wickedness, and divert him from his bad purpose by so divine a lesson of kindness. "And dost thou deign, my blessed Lord, And let thy meekness foster mine? "May thy meek spirit far remove From my frail heart insensate pride! To God and man, in peace to glide." 15-17. An example. Not of an outward rite to be always observed, but of the proper conduct towards others in condescension and goodwill. No act of service to others is to be regarded as mean or unworthy. It was by doing good, and by "condescending to men of low estate," that the divine humility and meekness of Christ eminently appeared. His followers have yet to learn, in a great measure, this beautiful lesson, so touchingly inculcated, not by fee ble words, but by a living act. They have to learn to forget themselves in doing good to man, in aiding, instructing, and sympathizing with the poor and the afflicted, and in performing the lowliest offices of mercy and brotherly love. The servant is not greater than his lord. They were not to arrogate to themselves honors which even their Master, who was greater than they, had never sought, but, like him, to be meek and selfdenying. Mat. x. 24, 25; Luke vi. 40.-If ye know these things. It is one thing to know, and another to do, what is right. Too many fail in the latter point, who are well versed in the former; intellectually enlightened, but spiritually cold; knowing, but performing not; hearers, but not doers of the word. The caution of our Saviour was requisite, not merely for the disciples then gathered around him, but should be loudly sounded in the ears of every age. Not happy, said Jesus, are those that simply know the truth, for, if they obey it not, it rises up finally as a witness against them; but eminently and forever happy are those, who, knowing, do that which is right and good, and whose improvement keeps an even and advancing pace with their privileges. 18. But the mind of Jesus again painfully reverts to the treachery, which was darkly brooding around them. While, however, he clearly showed his knowledge of the traitor's design, he nevertheless treats him, not as an enemy, but as a brother, and apparently seeks to win him over to a better state of mind.— The scripture, &c. Ps. xli. 9. Jesus |