^13:1 Before the festival day of the Pasch, Jesus knowing that his hour was come, that he should pass out of this world to the Father: having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them unto the end. (1728)
^13:2 And when supper was done, (the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him,) (1740)
^13:3 knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God; (1743)


1727. Above, the Evangelist set forth some of the events leading to Christ’s passion and death; in this part he shows how Christ prepared his disciples before his passion.

First, we see how he formed them by his example;

second, how he comforted them with his words, let not your hearts be troubled (John 14:1);

third, how he strengthened them by the help of his prayers, these things Jesus spoke, and lifting his eyes to heaven, he said (John 17:1).

Concerning the first he does two things:

first, he presents the example Christ gave for his disciples to imitate;

and second we see the weakness of the disciples, who were not yet ready to follow him, when Jesus had said these things, he was troubled (John 13:21).

Concerning the first he does three things:

first, he sets forth the example;

second, he shows that the example was useful, he came therefore to Simon Peter (John 13:6);

third, we see Jesus asking them to imitate it, then after he had washed their feet . . . he said to them (John 13:12).

Concerning the first he does two things:

first, he describes the love of Christ, who is giving the example;

second, the action in which he gave the example, and when supper was done.

Concerning the first he mentions three things:

first, the feast about to be celebrated;

second, the approaching death of Christ;

third, Christ’s burning love.


1728. The feast at hand was the Passover; so he says, now before the festival day of the Pasch.

Here we should note that some say the word ‘pascha’ comes from the Greek word for passion, and that this feast is called the Pascha because it is then that we celebrate the passion of our Lord. As a matter of fact, the word ‘pascha’ in Greek means to ‘suffer’. Yet the primary origin of this word is from the Hebrew word, ‘pesah’, which means a ‘passage’: it is the pesah, passage, or a passing over, of the Lord (Exod 12:11). This is the meaning the Evangelist gives it here because of two passings. The first was the passing of the angel striking down the first-born of the Egyptians and sparing the first-born of the Hebrews (Ex 12:12); and the other was the passage of the children of Israel through the Red Sea. So it was reasonable to call this feast the ‘pascha’. We can say that our Passover takes its meaning from both languages, Greek and Hebrew. For the passage of Christ from this world to the Father took place through his passion. He passed about doing good and healing all (Acts 10:38). Again, all of us who follow Christ have our own passage: either by reform and martyrdom, according to the saying, we have passed through fire and water and you have brought us to a place of refreshment (Ps 66:12); or by the desire of our mind aspiring to heavenly things: pass over to me all you who desire me and be filled with my fruits (Sir 24:19).


1729. This however is called festival day antonomastically. The Jews had three great feasts, when they gathered together in a place chosen by the Lord: the Pesah, when the lamb was sacrificed, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, that is, the Skenopegia (Exod 23:14). But the greatest feast was that of the Passover.

A problem arises as to why he says here, before the festival day of the Pasch, for the feast of the Passover is when the lamb was sacrificed, that is, on the 14th day of the month. So since he says, before the festival day of the Pasch, it seems that this was taking place on the 13th day, the day before the 14th. And indeed, the Greeks accept this, and say that our Lord suffered on the 14th, when the Jews were supposed to celebrate the Passover, and that our Lord, knowing that his passion was near, anticipated the celebration of the Passover and celebrated his own Passover on the day before the Passover feast of the Jews. And because it is commanded in Exodus (12:18) that from the evening of the 14th day to the 21st day the Hebrews should not have any leavened bread, they further say that the Lord celebrated not with unleavened bread, but with leavened bread, for before the festival day of the Pasch, because Hebrews did have leavened bread on the 13th day, that is, before the Passover.

But the other three Evangelists do not agree with this, for they say the time was the first day of unleavened bread, when the lamb was to be sacrificed (Matt 26:17; Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7). It follows from this that our Lord’s supper took place on the very day that the Jews sacrificed the lamb.


1730. The Greeks respond to this that the other Evangelists did not report this truly; and so John, who wrote the last of the Gospels, corrected them. But it is heresy to say that there is anything false not only in the Gospels but anywhere in the canonical Scriptures. Consequently, we have to say that all the Evangelists state the same thing and do not disagree.

To elucidate this it should be noted that, the feasts of the Jews began on the evening of the preceding day (Lev 23:5). The reason for this was that they reckoned their days according to the moon, which first appears in the evening; so, they counted their days from one sunset to the next. Thus for them, the Passover began on the evening of the preceding day and ended on the evening of the day of the Passover. We celebrate feasts in the same way; so something that takes place with us on the vigil of Christmas is said to have happened on Christmas. And so the other Evangelists, using this way of speaking, said that the supper took place on the first day of unleavened bread, meaning it took place on the evening before the first full day of the feast of unleavened bread. But here, John the Evangelist regards the Passover as that entire daytime which was celebrated, but not as the evening before, which was also celebrated. Thus he says, before the festival day of the Pasch.

Consequently, it is clear that our Lord’s supper took place on the 14th day in the evening.


1731. The death of Christ, which was approaching, was his passage from this world by his passion. And as to this he says, Jesus knowing that his hour had come: for this feast was a symbol of the passion of Christ: all these things happened to them as symbols (1 Cor 10:11). So he at once mentions the reality, that is, the passion of Christ. And as a way of showing that the word ‘pascha’ came from ‘pesah’, meaning a passage, he mentions his passage, that he should pass out of this world to the Father.


1732. Here the Evangelist mentions three things about the passion of Christ: first, that it was foreseen; second, that it was fitting; third, it was a source of benefits and exaltation.

It was foreseen and not fortuitous; so he says, Jesus knowing. He is saying in effect; Jesus suffered knowingly and willingly, not unexpectedly and unwillingly. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that should come upon him (John 18:4). The opposite is said of us: there is great affliction for man because he is ignorant of things past, and things to come he cannot know in any way (Eccl 8:7).


1733. The passion of Christ was fitting, first as to its time; and as to this he says, that his hour had come, which was the time of the Passover, when his passage would be by the cross: there is a time and opportunity for every business (Eccl 8:6). This is the hour of which he said, my hour has not yet come (John 2:4). Yet this hour was not a matter of fate, as though governed by the course and arrangement of the stars; it was determined by the disposition and providence of God. I say, therefore, it was determined for the Jewish Passover because it was fitting to this Jewish feast that the reality follow the symbol, that is, that when the lamb, which was a symbol of Christ, was sacrificed, Christ, who was truly the Lamb of God, should be immolated. You know that you were ransomed . . . not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot (1 Pet 1:18–19).

It was also fitting to the situation, for Christ was now glorified: now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him (John 13:31). He had already revealed the Father to the world: I have manifested your name to the men whom you have given me out of the world (John 17:6). What remained, therefore, was to accomplish his passion and the work of human redemption, about which we read: it is consummated, followed by, and bowing his head, he gave up his spirit (John 19:30).


1734. The passion of Christ was a source of benefits and glory, not of defeat, because it was in order that he could that he should pass out of this world to the Father, by making his human nature a partaker in the glory of the Father: I ascend to my Father and to your Father, to my God and your God (John 20:17). This does not mean that he would pass from one place to another, since God the Father is not contained by any place: do I not fill heaven and earth? (Jer 23:24). Rather, just as Christ is said to have come from the Father, not by leaving him, but by assuming an inferior nature like our own, so he is said to have returned to the Father insofar as, even in his human nature, he became a sharer in the Father’s glory. The life he lives he lives to God (Rom 6:10); every tongue should confess that the Lord Jesus Christ is in the glory of God the Father (Phil 2:11).


1735. Then when he says, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end, he commends the intense love of Christ; and this on four points.

First, because his love was first, according to not that we have loved God, but that he has first loved us (1 John 4:10). And as to this he says, having loved his own, suggesting that this was in advance of our love. I say he loved us before he created us: for you love all things that exist, and have loathing for none of the things which you have made (Wis 11:24). He loved us before he called us: I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you, taking pity on you (Jer 31:3). And he loved us before he redeemed us: greater love than this no man has, that a man lay down his life for his friends (John 15:13).


1736. Second, his love is commended as fitting, because he loved them.

Here we should note that God loves persons in various ways, depending on the various ways they are Christ’s. Now, one can be his in three ways. First, by creation; and God loves these by conserving their goods of nature: he came unto his own, and his own, by creation, received him not (John 1:11). Others are his by dedication, that is, those given to him by God the Father through faith: yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word (John 17:6); and he loves these by preserving their goods of grace. Finally, some are his by a special devotion: behold, we are your bone and flesh (1 Chr 11:1); he loves these by consoling them in a special way.


1737. Third, Christ’s love is commended because it was needed, since having loved his own who were in the world. Those who were already in the glory of the Father are his, because even our fathers of long time past were his insofar as they hoped to be set free by him: all his holy ones are in his hand (Deut 33:3). But these do not need such love as this as much as those who were in the world; so he says, who were in the world, that is, in body, but not in mind.


1738. Fourth, his love is commended because it was perfect, so he says, he loved them to the end. Now there are two kind of ends: the end in the intention, and the end in execution. The end in intention is that to which our intention is directed; and this end ought to be eternal life, according to, the return you get is sanctification and its end, eternal life (Rom 6:22). Again this end should be Christ: for Christ is the end of the law, that every one who has faith may be justified (Rom 10:4). But these two are really one end, because eternal life is nothing other than enjoying Christ in his divinity: now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent (John 17:3). From this point of view he says, he loved them unto the end, in order to lead them to himself, the end; or, to lead them to eternal life, which is the same thing. I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore, I have drawn you, taking pity on you (Jer 31:3).

The end in execution is the terminus or outcome of a thing; so in this sense, death can be called an end. Thus he could say, he loved them unto the end, that is, up to death. Used in this way, it can have three meanings. The first, mentioned by Augustine, is a very human way, and means that Christ loved his own until he died, but then no longer. This meaning is false: for Christ, who was not ended by death, by no means ends his love at death. Another meaning would take the word unto as indicating a cause; and then it would mean, he loved them unto the end, that is, his love for them led him to death: he loved me and gave himself for me (Gal 2:20). A third meaning would be this: although Christ had already shown them many signs of his love, yet to the end, that is, at the time of his death, he showed them signs of a greater love: but I told you not these things from the beginning, because I was with you (John 16:4). He would be saying in effect: it was not necessary then to show you how much I loved you, but now that I am leaving it is, so that my love and the memory of me might be impressed more deeply into your hearts.


1739. Then when he says, when supper was done, he describes the act by which Christ gave his example.

First, he mentions the time of the action;

second, the dignity of the one acting: knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands (John 13:3);

third, his humility: he rose from supper (John 13:4).

He describes the time in two ways:

in one way, as the time of Christ’s love;

in another way, by emphasizing the sin of Judas: the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him.


1740. In regard to the first, he says, literally, when supper was done. Note that both things that are permanent and things that are successive are said to be done or made. A permanent thing is said to be done or made when it has come to the perfection of its proper species and form; thus a house is said to be done or made when it has proper form. But in something which is successive, it is said to be made or done when it is over or is finished; thus the world is said to have been made when it was completed. But even things like this can be said to be made or done when they receive their appropriate species.

So when he says here, literally, when supper was done, he does not mean it was finished and over with: for after Christ washed the feet of the disciples, he returned to his place and gave the morsel to Judas. When supper was done rather means that it was prepared and now brought to his own species: for the group had already begun to eat, and then Christ got up. Thus Christ washed the feet of the disciples during supper.

We read about such a supper in Luke, a man once gave a great supper (14:16). A breakfast and supper are different. What is given at the beginning of the day is called a breakfast, while what is given at its end is called supper. Likewise, that spiritual nourishment suitable for those beginning is called breakfast, while that nourishment appropriate for the advanced is more like a supper.


1741. Then when the Evangelist says, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, he depicts the time by emphasizing the sin of the traitor. He mentions his sin for two reasons. First, the better to bring out the evil of Judas, who in spite of so many tokens of love and humble service, considered committing such a great sin: the Psalm says: even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted his heel against me (Ps 41:9).

And second, the better to show the wonderful love of Christ who, although knowing this, treated him with love and humility by washing his feet: with those who hated peace I was peaceable (Ps 120:7).


1742. But can the devil put anything into our hearts? It seems he can, for a Psalm speaks of things sent by evil angels (Ps 77:49).

To explain this, we should note that what is in a person’s thought and will is said to be in his heart. So the statement, when the devil having now put into the heart of Judas, should be understood to refer to his will.

Understanding it the above way, there are two ways something can be put into our heart. First, directly; and in this way only one who has the power to move our will from within can put something into our heart. Only God can do this; consequently, he alone can directly move our will: the king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand, in the power, of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will (Prov 21:10). But because the will is also moved by an external object, something apprehended as a good, it follows that anyone who brings to mind, or suggests that something is good is said to put something into our heart indirectly, by making us apprehend something as good, which in turn moves our will. This happens in two ways. By an external suggestion, and then one person can put something into another’s heart; or by an interior suggestion, which is the way the devil puts something into our heart. For our imagination, since it is a physical reality, is subject to the power of the devil when God allows it. So, whether we be awake or asleep, he forms in it certain images which, when apprehended, move our will to desire something. And so the devil puts something into our heart, not directly by moving our heart, but indirectly, by suggestion.


1743. Then, knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands (John 13:3), he considers the dignity of the one acting, for the greater you are, the more you must humble yourself (Sir 3:18). So the Evangelist, about to speak of Christ’s humility, treats first of his very great dignity because of his knowledge, and this is to the fourth.

First saying, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands. For spiritual gifts are such that they are not unrecognized when given: now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is from God, that we might understand the gifts bestowed on us by God (1 Cor 2:12). Thus, Christ knew what had been given to him by God; and the Evangelist mentions this so Christ’s humility would be more admirable. For sometimes it happens that a person is of great dignity, yet because of his simplicity he does not realize it. If such a person were to do something humble, it would not be regarded as worthy of great praise: if you do not know yourself, O fairest among women (Song 1:8). But if someone does know his own dignity, and still his affections are inclined to what is humble, his humility should be praised. And this is why the Evangelist says, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands; and he still did not neglect to do what was humble.

Second, we see his dignity as to his power, because the Father had given all things into his hands, that is, into his power. God gave, in time, to Christ as man, what was in the power of the Son from eternity: all authority in heaven and earth has been given to me (Matt 28:18). He says, the Father had given all things into his hands, for two reasons. First, to show that Christ did not suffer against his will. For if all things were in his hands, that is, in his power, it is clear that his enemies could do nothing to him against his will. Second, because when a person of little importance is honored, he easily becomes proud; nor does he do anything humble, lest it seem to lessen his dignity. But when one of great dignity is honored, he does not neglect the humble things. And so Christ’s dignity is mentioned here.

Third, we see his dignity because of his nobility, when he says, that he had come from God and was going to God: living with God (Wis 8:3).

Fourth, his dignity because of his holiness, because he was going to God, for our holiness lies in our going to God. He mentions this because since Christ is going to God, it is special to him to lead others to God. This is done especially by humility and love; and so he offers them an example of humility and love.