John 13:36-38

‘Simon Peter says to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow me later”. Peter says to him, “Lord, why can't I follow you even now? I will lay down my life for you.” Jesus replies, “Will you lay down your life for me. I tell you emphatically, the cock will not crow before you have denied me three times”.'

The disciples were still not sure what was happening, and what Jesus meant, and so Peter asks Him where He is going. Jesus' enigmatic reply makes Peter recognise that perhaps death is involved. That, however, does not put him off. He is ready to die for Jesus, or so he thinks. Yes, immediately. Let them go to death together. It was not a question of later. And he meant it.

How careful we should be in our boasting. We all know what happened with Peter. Just as Jesus says, he will shortly deny Jesus three times out of craven fear. But at least he would be there. He did his best but it was just too much for him. All the disciples learned a new lesson in humility that night, and the wonder of their forgiving Lord. No wonder then that Jesus recognised the need for His words of encouragement. But when we think of their failure we must also remember the sinister and dark forces that were at work. All the forces of Hell had been gathered for the coming battle.

Yet in contrast with Judas, out of Peter's failure would come a new beginning. Only his feet would need to be washed. We too may fail Jesus out of weakness. But if we are willing He will restore us so that we have the strength to overcome. Being His is never a guarantee that we will not fail. It is rather a guarantee that we will not finally fail, because He is our shepherd.

Mark has ‘before the cock crow twice' (John 14:30). His is probably the more exact rendering. Rarely does a cock crow just once, and Jesus knew it. But the remaining Gospels are thinking of ‘the cock crow' as an event of timing each day rather than picturing the actual happening.

Note on The Passover.

The Passover - Was the Last Supper the Passover Meal?

The Passover was the great Jewish festival which commemorated the slaying of the firstborn in Egypt, and the following exodus from Egypt of the Israelites (Exodus 12:24), together with those who joined themselves with them (the ‘mixed multitude') and became Israelite by adoption (Exodus 12:38). The passover lambs were slain on the afternoon of the 14th Nisan (14 days after the new moon roughly in March/April), following the offering of the daily sacrifice, which, by the time of Jesus, was put back in order to leave time for the slaying of the passover lambs, which had to be slain in great numbers. The Passover meal was eaten in the evening (the commencement of 15th Nisan, for the Jewish day began at sunset). There was a specific pattern followed at the meal, although variations within that pattern were allowed. The celebration of the Passover was connected with the seven day feast of Unleavened Bread which by this time was so closely linked with the Passover that the whole eight days of the feast could be called The Passover (Luke 22:1) or Unleavened Bread (Mark 14:12). This specific link with the Passover, which was there from earliest times, is confirmed by Josephus, the Jewish first century AD historian.

It was celebrated in Jerusalem in smallish groups (ten males or more) in individual houses within the city bounds, each group having a lamb. The lambs were slain within the Temple area, which confirms that they were sacrificial offerings. Movement during the evening was restricted to a limited area, although Gethsemane came within that area. Jews living within a reasonable distance were expected to gather in Jerusalem for the feast, and even those who lived far afield among the Gentiles (the Dispersion) made great efforts to attend. Thus Jerusalem might contain around 200,000 people at Passover time (Josephus' estimate of 3,000,000 is almost certainly exaggerated. It would not have been possible to sacrifice sufficient lambs to meet his figures within the restricted Temple area in such a short time).

The Passover meal would begin with the ritual search by candlelight for any leavened bread which may have been overlooked (it was forbidden at the feast) and the Passover meal would then be eaten reclining. It included the symbolic elements of roasted lamb, unleavened bread, bitter herbs, some other condiments and four cups of red wine mixed with water, at specific points. The first cup was drunk with a blessing (Luke 22:17 probably refers to this cup, although some refer Luke's reference to the second cup), followed by the washing of hands by dipping in water. Some of the herbs would then be dipped in salt water and given out After this the eating surface would be cleared, and the second cup would be filled.

Before the drinking of the second cup the story of the original Passover was recounted in a dialogue between father and eldest son (or if necessary suitable substitutes). At this stage the Passover meal would be brought back to the table and each of its constituents explained. It is quite possible that one question would be (as it was later) ‘what means this bread?' The reply was ‘this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate when they were delivered from the land of Egypt'. (Note the ‘this is --'. It was not, of course, but it represented it)

After these explanations the second cup would be drunk, accompanied by the singing of part of the Hallel, and then there would be a further dipping of the hands in water. After this came the breaking of one or two of the unleavened cakes, which was  followed  by the giving of thanks. Pieces of the broken bread with bitter herbs between them were dipped in a mixture and handed to each of the company (see John 13:26), and it would appear that then the company would themselves dip bread and herbs into the mixture (Matthew 26:23; Mark 14:20). This was the real beginning of the actual Passover meal. The Passover lamb would now be eaten. Nothing was to be eaten thereafter, although in later times the eating of a final piece of unleavened bread followed. After a third dipping of hands in water the third cup was drunk, again accompanied by a blessing. This cup was considered of special importance. The singing of the Hallel was completed with the fourth cup (see Matthew 26:30; Mark 14:26), and this was followed by prayer. It must be remembered that this was a feast and not a service so that eating and general conversation would be taking place throughout, except at the solemn moments.

It is quite clear that the first three Gospels (the Synoptic Gospels) show the Last Supper of Jesus to be the Passover meal. Jesus sent two of His disciples (Peter and John - Luke 22:8) to ‘prepare the Passover' (the lamb, the unleavened bread, the bitter herbs, the wine, etc), so that He could ‘eat the Passover with His disciples' (Mark 14:12 and parallels). It was probably one of these who went to the Temple area with the lamb for slaying. The room was ‘furnished and ready' which may mean that the owner had provided what was necessary. We are told that they ate the meal reclining (Matthew 26:20; John 13:23) as would be expected at the Passover meal.

It is possible that the breaking of bread by Jesus ‘after He had given thanks' was the same as the breaking of bread at the feast but if so it is noticeable that Jesus gave thanks beforehand because He was enduing it with a new meaning. It could, however, have been that Jesus introduced a second breaking of bread, establishing a new pattern with a new significance. ‘This is my body' parallels ‘this is the bread of affliction which our fathers ate'. In the latter case it was clearly symbolic, a partaking with the fathers, as it were, in their affliction, but with a sense of real participation. Thus the former is also to be seen as symbolic, a partaking with Jesus, as it were, in His sufferings and their consequence, again with a real sense of participation. The wine, which Paul calls the ‘cup of blessing' (1 Corinthians 10:16), was probably the third cup given a new significance.

Some have argued that it could not have been the Passover meal. They have argued:

1). A trial would not have been held on Passover night.

2). The disciples would not have borne arms on that night.

3). Simon of Cyrene would not have been ‘coming in from the country' the following morning.

4). Some Synoptic passages are inconsistent with it e.g. Mark 14:2.

However these arguments are not convincing. Passover time, while the pilgrims were still in the city, might be considered precisely the time when a ‘false prophet' should be executed in order that ‘all Israel might hear and fear' (Deuteronomy 17:13). Furthermore the whole affair was carried out in haste probably because Judas' information made it possible for it to be done secretly and Jesus was there available. They dared not miss such an opportunity.

Mark 14:2 merely expresses the plan of the authorities, which was subject to change if circumstances demanded, while some suggest translating ‘feast' as ‘festal crowd' rather than ‘feast day' which is quite possible.

There was no prohibition of arms being carried at the Passover.

‘Coming in from the country' need not mean that Simon had been outside the prescribed limits, and indeed he may not have been a Jew. Besides it would always be possible that he had been delayed by some cause beyond his control so that he had arrived late for the Passover.

But this immediately faces us with a problem. John 18:28 seems to suggest that Jesus died at the same time as the Passover sacrifice. That would mean that the scene in John 13 occurred on the night before the Passover feast. Yet as we have seen the other Gospels make clear that Jesus officiates at the Passover feast (Mark 14:12; Luke 22:7), and there can be no doubt that both are depicting the same feast.

However what must be borne in mind is that John 18:28 may be speaking of ‘the Passover', not as meaning the Passover feast itself, but in a general sense as including the whole seven day feast (compare John 2:23 where ‘the feast of the Passover' is clearly the seven days of the feast and Luke's use in Luke 22:1). so that ‘eating the Passover' may refer to the continual feasting during the week (unleavened bread had to be eaten throughout the week and there would be thank-offerings as well) and not to the actual Passover celebration, in which case there is no contradiction.

We can compare with this how in 2 Chronicles 30:22 the keeping of the Feast of the Unleavened Bread (John 13:13) which includes the Passover (John 13:15) is described as ‘eating the food of the festival for seven days'.

Against this, however we should note that ‘to eat the Passover' does at least include eating the Passover supper in the Synoptics (Matthew 26:17; Mark 14:12; Mark 14:14; Luke 22:8; Luke 22:11; Luke 22:15). Although that does not necessarily tie the escorts of Jesus to using it in the same way after the Passover supper has passed.

Alternately it has been suggested that in fact the men involved had been so taken up with the pursuit of Jesus into the night as a result of Judas' unexpected offer to lead them to Jesus in a place where he could be taken without fear of the people, that they had not yet had time to complete their Passover meal. We only have to consider the facts of that night to recognised how involved their night had been! They may well have been disturbed in the middle of their Passover meal and have convinced themselves that such a delay was justified in order to deal with Jesus at what was clearly a crucial moment. Once they had dealt with Him they could go home to finish ‘eating their Passover', which had been suddenly delayed for reasons of state, with contented minds.

In the same way his reference to ‘the preparation of the Passover' or ‘the Friday of the Passover' (paraskeue tou pascha) (John 19:14) can equally be seen as referring to the ‘preparation' for the Sabbath occurring in Passover week, i.e. the Friday of Passover week, as it certainly does in verse John 19:31, and therefore not to the preparation of the Passover feast itself. Basically the word paraskeue does mean ‘Friday' as well as ‘preparation' and the term Passover (pascha) was used to describe the whole festival. If this be the case he gives no suggestion that Jesus died at the same time as the Passover lamb.

Another alternative answer suggests that not all Jews celebrated the Passover on the same day. We do know that the Essenes had their own calendar to which they rigidly adhered, and forbade their members to follow the orthodox calendar, and they would therefore celebrate the Passover on a different day from the priests. And there are grounds for suggesting that Galileans, an independent lot who were looked on by Judeans as somewhat unorthodox, may well have celebrated the Passover a day earlier than Judeans. Thus it may be that Jesus and His disciples, who were Galileans, followed this Galilean tradition, if it existed, and celebrated the Passover a day earlier than the priests.

A further possibility that has been suggested is that in that year the Pharisees observed the Passover on a different day from the Sadducees, due to a dispute as to when the new moon had appeared that introduced Nisan. This is known to have happened around this time. Jesus would thus have been able to observe the feast of the Passover with His disciples and then die at the same time as the Passover sacrifices.

The suggestion that John was either mistaken or changed the day for theological purposes is the least likely explanation. The early church was far too well aware of the fact that the Last Supper was ‘the Passover feast' for such a change to be accepted, and John would have had it firmly pointed out to him by his ‘backers' (John 21:24). We must not assume that the leaders of the early church were dimwits. Nor does John emphasise anywhere that Jesus died at the same time as the Passover lamb. Had this been his intention he would surely have drawn attention to it more specifically.