31 When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and glorify him at once.”
Judas leaves the room and then Jesus announces that he is glorified and that in his glorification God is glorified. What does it mean to be glorified? The Abbot-Smith Greek lexicon describes glory from the Greek usage of the word used during Jesus’ time:
· Expectation, judgment, opinion.
· Opinion, estimation in which one is held, repute; in NT, always good opinion, hence reputation, praise, honour, glory:
· Visible brightness, splendour, glory: of light, of heavenly bodies; esp. that wh. radiates from God's presence, as manifested in the pillar of cloud and in the Holy of Holies.[1]
Now it is obvious that Jesus didn’t manifest visible light at this instance when Judas left, so we need to rule that out. The essence of glory that remain are honor, praise, and opinion. What I find interesting is that one of the modern definitions of glory is “praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent.”[2]
If Jesus was not glorified in the presence of Judas but only after he left, then this would fit with the definition that it is common consent. It would fit with Jesus’ being glorified by the good opinion of the remaining disciples. With this concept of glory, then God is not glorified in the presence of evil.
Evil must be removed from our lives if we are going to bring glory to God. Every time we overcome a sin by the power of the Holy Spirit, God is glorified. In a practical way, a watching world sees the changes in a person's behavior after coming to Christ and that brings glory to God.
33 “Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’”
This term of endearment that Jesus used to address his disciples is something new. Up to this point he has not addressed them in this way. It is the only place in the Gospels where Jesus calls his disciples little children. Jesus has spoken of little children two previous times. In Matthew 11:25-27 and the parallel passage in Luke 10:21-22, he announces that the Father has hidden what he had been preaching from the people who believe themselves to be wise and understand but revealed them to the little children. He also includes the fact that no one knows who the Son or the Father is except those to whom he chooses to know. In Matthew 19:14, he tells us that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the little children.
It is no wonder that Jesus refers to the disciples as little children because this is the introduction to what is called the Upper Room Discourse. The time that Jesus reveal himself, the Father, and the Holy Spirit in ways that they have not previously known. He is introducing them to the things of the kingdom of heaven that they will then convey to us. These things can only be understood by those whom Jesus chooses, the ones that the Father gives to Jesus.
The beginning of what they must learn is that Jesus is going to die on the cross, be buried, and resurrected, then return to the Father to stay. This is something that only Jesus can do. They could follow him in death, but they won’t be resurrected on the third day. They will seek Jesus in the tomb, but that isn’t where they will find him. He will come and appear to them as he desires.
They will seek him in a worldly fashion. They won’t have the spiritual eyes to understand that looking for his body is not going to save them. They are still like people today who seek to understand the historical Jesus but fail to seek him as their Savior, Lord, and Sovereign. They think knowing about Jesus and following his ways is sufficient for salvation and they don’t even really know what salvation means for they are not the little children to whom the kingdom of heaven belongs.
34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Jesus is preparing his disciples for his departure. He knows what they have in their hearts and most of that comes from their squabbling over who is to be first or greatest. This comes from nothing more than loving self above others. Jesus gives them the first command to counteract that. And of course, this applies to us today as well as the first disciples.
Too often, we read these verses and mentally stop at loving one another. Wow, that’s tough, but it is something I need to work on. I think I can do that. But how can we really love one another in the same way Jesus loved his disciples, the way he loves us? He just washed their feet; he is about to die for them. He has taught them and corrected them. When it comes right down to it, his love for us is unfathomable. It is beyond measure. It exceeds what we can do.
The only way we can even approach having Jesus’ love for others is to be so acquainted with Jesus that we become to be like him. Ah, that is the answer. We must be transformed from our old selves and put on Jesus.
· But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires (Rom 13:14).
· For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ (Gal 3:27).
· Put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness (Eph 4:24).
· Put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge after the image of its creator (Col 3:10).
· Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive. 14 And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony (Col 3:12-14).
· Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus (Phil 2:3-5).
That’s a big order and we so often think lightly about it. Then Jesus adds that the world will know we belong to him when we love each other this way. That’s probably why a lot of people use the hypocrisy excuse for not going to church. They don’t see us putting on Jesus and loving each other the way he did. That is a sad commentary on how well we love each other.
36 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”
Leave it to Peter to skip right past the “love one another” and focus on what is going to impact him negatively the most. Leave it to us to do the same thing. When we see a command in Scripture, something that is fundamental to living a godly life, do we skip over it to something else like a command for someone else that will make my life easier.
Jesus is so gracious. He doesn’t back Peter up and question him. “He dude, didn’t you catch the stuff about loving each other?” No, he recognizes Peter’s anxiousness about not being able to follow Jesus. He knows us and does the same for us. However, that doesn’t mean he lets us off the hook for following those commands we skip over. He deals with us where we are in the moment and he will come back to the things we skip, just as he will have to deal with Peter after his resurrection.
37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.
If we were only as brave as Peter at this point. He is untested and cocksure (pun intended) of himself. So far in his three years with Jesus, he has seen miracles, has been in Jesus’ inner circle, seen Jesus escape arrest and being stoned. His reaction is natural. He sees himself as always being at Jesus’ right hand and now Jesus is saying he can’t come along. He isn’t just saying he wants to always be with Jesus, he is saying he will take a bullet for him.
Jesus breaks into his self-confidence to assure him that by morning, he will not have just denied him but repeatedly denied him. At this point, I can see Peter getting a flashback to Jesus’s words, “But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven” (Matt 10:33 NIV). From this point on, we hear questions and comments from Thomas, Phillip, Judas, and “the disciples” but nothing more from Peter until he cuts off Malchus’ ear as Judas betrays him (John 18:10). When we are rebuked by the Lord whether from his word or through another believer, we should shut up and contemplate what is going on in our hearts.
Are we any different from Peter? Are we committed to Jesus with bravado only because we are living in a safe place and haven’t been tested? Yes, we are different. At this point in his life, Peter did not have the Holy Spirit living in him. We do. We are much better equipped to resist the temptation to deny Jesus. But we must not believe that we can keep from denying Jesus by our own will power or we will end up like Peter. However, the good news is that even if we do deny Jesus, we can also be restored just as he was. While Jesus clearly stated that anyone disowning him would not be in heaven, we also have many promises of restoration in the Bible, especially 1 John 1:9.
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