Commentary - John 13:31-35

Bird's-eye view

This short, dense passage marks a pivotal moment in John's Gospel. Judas, the son of perdition, has just departed into the night, and his exit acts as the trigger for the final act of Christ's earthly ministry: the passion. With the betrayer gone, the atmosphere of the upper room changes. Jesus turns to the faithful remnant and delivers what amounts to a coronation speech, though it is a coronation of the most paradoxical kind. The theme is glory, but it is a glory achieved through the shame of the cross. Jesus announces that the moment for His glorification, and consequently the Father's glorification, has arrived. This glory is not a future, abstract reality; it is immediate and bound up in the events about to unfold.

Flowing directly from this revelation of glory is a new kind of community ethic. Jesus gives His disciples a "new commandment": to love one another. This is not new in the sense that love had never been commanded before, but it is new in its standard and its source. The disciples are to love "as I have loved you," which is a sacrificial, self-giving, covenantal love demonstrated most fully on the cross. This love is not merely an internal affection; it is the definitive, external mark of true discipleship. It is the flag by which the Christian community is to be known by a watching, unbelieving world. In essence, the glory of God revealed in the cross is to be reflected in the love of the church.

Outline

Context In John

This passage occurs in the Upper Room Discourse, which runs from John 13 to 17. This is Jesus' final, intimate instruction to His closest followers before His arrest and crucifixion. Chapter 13 begins with the striking act of Jesus washing the disciples' feet, a profound lesson in humble service that sets the stage for the new commandment of love. It also contains the tense moments of Jesus identifying His betrayer, Judas. Judas's departure (John 13:30) is the event that cleanses the room, so to speak, allowing Jesus to speak freely and openly to His true disciples about the meaning of His impending death and the nature of the life they will live after His departure. What follows this section is Jesus' teaching on His identity as the way, the truth, and the life (John 14), the promise of the Holy Spirit, the vine and the branches (John 15), and His great high priestly prayer (John 17). This passage, therefore, serves as the thematic gateway to the entire discourse, establishing the cross as the locus of God's glory and love as the central ethic of the community born from that cross.

Key Issues

The Hour of Glory

We live in a world that is glory-crazed and glory-confused. For us, glory means victory, power, applause, and recognition. It is the gold medal, the corner office, the name in lights. But when Jesus announces that His hour of glory has come, He is talking about something entirely different. Judas has just gone out to fetch the authorities. The machinery of betrayal, arrest, false trial, scourging, mockery, and crucifixion is grinding into motion. And Jesus says, "Now is the Son of Man glorified."

This is the central paradox of the Christian faith. The glory of God is not displayed in a show of brute force, but in the self-giving, sacrificial love of the cross. At the cross, all the attributes of God converge in their most potent display. His justice is satisfied, His wrath is poured out on sin, His holiness is vindicated, and His love is lavished upon the undeserving. The cross is not a tragic accident that God had to salvage; it is the pinnacle of redemptive history, the moment when the wisdom and power of God were put on display for all the cosmos to see. When Jesus speaks of glory here, He is redefining it for us. He is teaching us that true glory is found not in self-exaltation, but in self-sacrifice for the good of others and the honor of God.

Verse by Verse Commentary

31 Therefore when he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now is the Son of Man glorified, and God is glorified in Him;

The departure of Judas is the starting gun. The presence of the betrayer, the one who walked in darkness, was a restraint. But now that he is gone into the night, the final, glorious work can commence. Jesus' first word is "Now." The hour He has spoken of throughout John's gospel has finally arrived. This is the moment. And the business of this moment is glorification. Notice the tight, reciprocal relationship. The Son of Man, a title Jesus uses for Himself that emphasizes both His humanity and His messianic authority from Daniel 7, is glorified. But His glory is not a solo performance. In the very same act, God the Father is glorified "in Him." The Son's perfect obedience, His willingness to go to the cross, displays the righteousness and love of the Father. The cross is not just about Jesus; it is a Trinitarian event that puts the very character of God on display.

32 if God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and will glorify Him immediately.

This continues the theme of reciprocal glory. The "if" here is not expressing doubt, but is stating a condition that has just been met. Because the Father is indeed glorified in the Son's sacrificial work, a necessary consequence follows: the Father will glorify the Son "in Himself." This refers to the vindication of the Son in His resurrection, ascension, and session at the Father's right hand. The cross is not the end of the story. The shame of Friday is answered by the glory of Sunday morning and the exaltation that follows. The Father will not let His Holy One see corruption. And this glorification will happen "immediately." There is no long delay. The path from the cross to the crown is a direct one. The resurrection follows hard on the heels of the crucifixion. The whole event, from death to exaltation, is one seamless, glorious work of God.

33 Little children, I am with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

The tone shifts from the high theology of glory to tender, pastoral care. He calls them teknia, "little children," a term of deep affection and endearment. He is preparing them for His physical absence. He states the hard reality: "I am with you a little while longer." His departure is imminent. He then repeats something He had earlier said to His opponents, the Jews (John 7:34; 8:21), but the meaning here is different. When He said it to the unbelieving Jews, it was a statement of judgment; they could not come because they would not believe. When He says it to His disciples, it is a statement of temporary, functional necessity. They cannot yet follow Him through death to glory because they have work to do on earth. He must go first to prepare a place for them. It's a statement not of permanent exclusion, but of present mission.

34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.

In light of His departure, Jesus gives them their marching orders. It is a commandment, not a suggestion. And it is a "new" commandment. The command to love one's neighbor was, of course, central to the Old Testament law (Lev. 19:18). What makes it new is the standard: "as I have loved you." The disciples had just witnessed the ultimate expression of this love in the footwashing, and they were about to witness it consummated on the cross. This is not a sentimental, squishy love. It is a rugged, sacrificial, covenantal love. It is a love that serves, a love that lays down its life for a friend. This is the new fuel for the community's life together. The quality of their relationships is to be a direct reflection of the quality of Christ's love for them.

35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

Here is the apologetic force of Christian community. How will a skeptical world be convinced that this band of disciples truly belongs to Jesus? Not by their political power, not by their slick marketing, not by their impressive buildings, but "by this": their observable, tangible love for one another. This love is to be the church's uniform, its identifying mark. When Christians love each other in a way that mirrors the sacrificial love of Jesus, it provides compelling evidence to the world that their Master is real and that His gospel is true. This is a high and difficult calling. Our incessant squabbles, divisions, and backbiting are a countersign, a betrayal of our identity. But a community genuinely characterized by self-giving love is the most powerful gospel proclamation there is.

Application

This passage puts its finger directly on two of the modern church's greatest weaknesses: our misunderstanding of glory and our failure to love. We are tempted to seek a glory that the world understands, numbers, influence, success. Jesus teaches us that true glory is found at the foot of the cross, in humble service and sacrifice. We must repent of our worldly metrics of success and embrace the cruciform life. This means dying to self, serving when it is inconvenient, and finding our joy not in being exalted but in seeing Christ exalted.

And this glory must be worked out in the context of the local church. The new commandment is not an abstract principle for all humanity; it is a specific charge given to the covenant community. We are to love one another. This is intensely practical. It means forgiving those who have wronged us within the church. It means bearing one another's burdens, not just in theory but in practice. It means preferring others, speaking well of them, and defending their reputations. It means our fellowship is not just a social club based on shared interests, but a supernatural communion based on a shared Savior. The world is starved for this kind of community. When they see a people who genuinely love one another, who handle conflict with grace, and who serve each other sacrificially, they will see the glory of Christ and be forced to ask why. Our love is our argument. May God give us the grace to make it a convincing one.