John’s Last Supper Discourse
By Fr. Gavin Dunbar
John’s Last Supper Discourse
During Holy Week, the church reads the passion narratives of all four gospels – Matthew on Palm Sunday, Mark on Monday and Tuesday, Luke on Wednesday and Thursday, John on Good Friday. Given their length and importance, they take center stage; but at morning and evening prayer the church reads John’s account of Jesus’ teaching at the last supper (John 13-17). Since we rarely get to preach on these lessons, I am taking this early opportunity to say a few words about them – a kind of “reader’s guide”. This will only make sense if you read this along with John’s own words.
Some general remarks, about form and content. The language of John’s gospel is simple but its teaching is profound, and in large part because of the way it is structured. It is not a simple linear progression from one topic to another, but a complex tapestry that would need a flow chart to map, and a spiraling movement of thought, in which themes already broached are recapitulated, but each time in a new light or refinement of thought. So read accordingly.
As to content: John does not cover many elements of Jesus’ ministry that have already been addressed in the other gospels. (One major exception is Peter’s denial.) So there is no account here of the institution of the Lord’s Supper. Instead, John’s account begins with the footwashing (13:1-15), in which Jesus enacted what is taught in Philippians 2:5 -11 (the epistle for Palm Sunday), his own work of self-humbling service as a template for the humble service of the disciples to each other. He then announces his betrayal, his departure from the world, and the “new commandment” of mutual love (13:16-35). The announcement triggers a series of questions from four disciples, and in answering them, Jesus “spills the beans”, unfolding the implications for the disciples of his departure (13:36- 14:end). This last supper discourse is perhaps the most profound and sustained teaching for believers on the work Christ finished on the cross, and what it means for the relation of his disciples to the Father, to the Spirit, and to the world.
Though it is not in them to follow Christ now, as Peter proposes, Jesus assures them that his departure is for their benefit. Far from being left behind as “orphans” (the literal meaning of the word translated “comfortless” in v. 18), he prepares a place for them in the Father’s house, and he is himself “the way” to the Father’s house, the one who gives access to the Father. Moreover, the traffic on this “way” goes both directions, from man to God, and from God to man; for not only is there a place for them in the Father’s house, but the Paraclete, which is the Holy Spirit, is coming to dwell in them, in association with the Father and the Son. (The implications of this teaching about Father, Son, and Spirit in the unity of the Godhead were articulated in church tradition as the doctrine of the Trinity.) So not abandonment, but deeper, fuller and more permanent communion with Father and the Son in the Spirit, is the fruit of Christ’s going to the Father. Abiding in Christ is the key to this communion with God, and to its fruitfulness in in love, obedience, and good works (15:1-17).
The term “Paraclete” is translated “Comforter” in the King James Bible (someone who “fortifies” with encouragement and exhortation, as indeed the Spirit does), but the Greek word “Paraclete” means someone who is “called alongside” us to help us, or to speak for us, often in legal contexts. Thus, Jesus is himself our “paraclete” – or in the familiar translation, our “advocate with the Father” - who speaks to God for sinners and wins their deliverance from wrath into favor. But in 14:16 Jesus promises the disciples “another paraclete” to take his place, not to do what he has already done (to reconcile us to the Father), but as the advocate of Christ, who speaks for him and his finished work to the disciples and to the world (15:26-15).
In contemporary idiom, “world” is a neutral term, either geographical (the planet) or social (human society). In John, the primary meaning of the word is theological. It refers collectively to those human beings who do not know and love God and Christ, who have rejected him and his disciples, who will persecute them as they persecuted Christ (15:18-25). Nevertheless, it is precisely to this world that the Spirit and the disciples are sent to bear convicting and illuminating witness to Christ, to bring about the world’s conversion, and to guide the disciples deeper into the truth revealed in Christ (15:26-16:15). Though the world is hostile, the disciples are not alone or helpless. The sorrows of the cross are the birth pangs of new spiritual life (16:16-33); and by his going to the Father Jesus opened wide the gates of prayer in his name (16:23-27). Fittingly, however, Jesus concludes his discourse in his own prayer to the Father to whose glory he is now completing his return, with petitions for his disciples in the world (17:15-19), and for “those who believe on me through their word” (17:20-26), for their unity in the truth. With this prayer, he is now ready to complete the work he has been sent to accomplish.
GGD