John 13:33-38

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. ³⁴A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. ³⁵By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." ³⁶Simon Peter asked Him, "Lord, where are You going?" Jesus replied, "Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later." ³⁷Peter asked, "Lord, why can't I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You." ³⁸Then Jesus answered, "Will you really lay down your life for Me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown Me three times!"

Jesus, calling His disciples children, shows how tenderly He cares for them in giving them some sad news: they cannot come where He is going. How would that make you feel – having been with Jesus for three years – and hearing Him say that you can’t come with Him? That’s hard news. But notice too that Jesus tells the disciples that He has already told the Jews this news. So the disciples had heard it before – just not directed to them. And that might have made the news all the more difficult. Just as our guest preacher, Jeff Walling, said about this passage at Southeast a while back, this difficult news caused the disciples to miss the command to love.

Besides the foundational principle of glory in v31-32, we have a foundational application. The servant is not greater than his master; and so, if Christ so loved us, we ought also to love one another (1 John 4:7-11). This is the one great commandment that will govern all Christian ethics and practice throughout the age – a commandment which, though called “new,” was certainly not foreign to the heart of the Old Testament law (indeed it fulfills the law as Romans 13:10 teaches), but which is here brought into a sharpness of relief that the old shadows could never have realized. V34-35 must give us pause for serious and sober-minded reflection: do we truly love one another in such a sacrificial and Christ-imitating way that the world takes note? This is what it means to be a Christian! “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love. Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.” Jesus sandwiches this application of love in v34-35 between v33 and v36, where He says, “Where I am going, you cannot come [or follow].” Look now at v36.

The first thing Peter says is, “Where are You going?” He tuned out the command to love, because he was concerned about Jesus’ imminent departure. But in this question, though he may have missed the new command, we see his genuine love for Jesus. It may be an imperfect love, but it’s authentic. It hasn’t been tested yet, but it will be. And Peter will fail the test. Jesus, rather than answer Peter’s “why?” question, responds with a question of His own: “Will you really lay down your life for Me?” Jesus is rebuking Peter’s self-confidence. Then Jesus tells Peter that he will disown Him three times that very night (v38).

We might wonder how a man like Peter, whose passion for Jesus was always so intense, could betray Him. Jesus said in Luke 22:31-32, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Satan is there, and Jesus effectively says that Satan has asked to destroy him, but Jesus has prayed for him to prevent destruction – unlike Judas. Knowing that Peter would betray him, Jesus instructs Peter in Luke’s gospel to strengthen his brothers when has turned back. So Peter’s (certain) repentance and restoration will not only prove that his love for Jesus is real, it will strengthen that love, enabling Peter to go to his own death by upside down crucifixion for the truth of Jesus Christ. Peter will indeed lay down his life for Jesus (v37), but it won’t happen until he learns that it is Jesus’ love and grace and mercy and strength that makes his own love genuine. In his own strength, Peter can do nothing. Jesus will explain this further in John 15:5: “Apart from Me you can do nothing.” See Philippians 2:13.

This is the case for us as well; we mustn’t rely on ourselves for perseverance, but we may still wonder why or how it works. Why does God grant Satan any of his demands? Why does God tolerate Satan’s activity at all? Why doesn’t God put Revelation 20 in action right now? Why doesn’t God cast Satan into the lake of fire right now? Why go on century after century, permitting Satan to wreak this kind of havoc in the Church? Why does God allow ABC or XYZ to happen? Maybe the answer is, “I don’t know.” That’s the test of faith: to walk hand in hand with God – and persevere in so doing – when He doesn’t give you the answer, except that on the pages of Scripture as a glimpse of the answer. The connection between suffering and glory, as Jesus has been speaking about in regard to Himself, is not merely chronological, but it is causal. There is no path to glory except via the pathway of suffering and trial, and many a Christian has discovered the glory of overcoming suffering, on the other side of battle with the evil one.

Many commentators have pointed out that the comparisons and contrasts of Peter and Judas are the theme in this chapter. We know later that Judas betrays Jesus and feels only remorse over his own condition and situation – this remorse leads to depression and suicide. Peter betrays Jesus and feels a deep and bitter repentance that leads to restoration and transformation. But what’s the difference here in this chapter alone? It seems that there was a sinister attitude in Judas – he didn’t even speak (though in Matthew 26:25, he did say, “Surely not I.”). But Peter was almost naïve to the circumstance. He had no evil intentions, unlike Judas. And so for us, we may often exhibit Peter-like denials, motivated by momentary lapses in reliance on God or pride sticking its nose where it does not belong. And let us repent of those occasions. But let us repent all the more when we show ourselves to be more Judas-like in our malicious and pre-meditated acts and patterns of sly and treacherous and deceitful sin.