NOTES for Joh 13:21-38

Believers, and also unbelievers, often have to hear something like this: the main problem for a person is that he cannot meet God or Christ personally. If only everyone saw with their own eyes, then there would be no unbelievers; everyone would believe. But here is the situation of the Last Supper. Judas not only sees Christ face to face, but also breaks bread with Him. One could hardly be closer or clearer. And yet he does not change at all. He does not begin to trust the Teacher more than before. And he certainly does not repent of anything. On the contrary, he goes and does what he intended to do. And, strange as it is, Jesus tells him to do it quickly. What is this: a desire to dot the i's as quickly as possible? Maybe.

But another possibility exists: Judas is being given one last chance. Jesus, of course, perfectly understood what Judas intended to do: He sees the human heart through and through, as God sees it. Judas's plan was not a secret to Him, as it was to His disciples. But Jesus understands something else too: a person has a chance for repentance and conversion until the very end. Meeting God face to face, of course, by itself does not guarantee a good outcome. Just as fellowship with Jesus at one table and the breaking of bread with Him did not lead Judas to a good outcome. But such a meeting can become a moment of decision. And what it will be depends on the person's own choice. Meeting God only gives this choice form, makes it visible and conscious for the person himself.

And then a person has a new chance for repentance and conversion. Of course, there are no guarantees that he will use it. There are no guarantees at all in spiritual life. But if there is a chance, it must not be taken away from a person. And Jesus leaves Judas this last chance. He says to him: act. Do what you have planned. Of course, this is not approval of betrayal. It is rather a push that brings a person out of stupor. Since you have decided, do it.

Such words usually bring a person out of spiritual stupor and indecision. And he begins to act. Then there is also a chance that the person will change his mind. That he will change his decision, even at the last moment. Judas did repent, after all; he directly told the high priest that he had betrayed an innocent man. True, he said it too late, when everything had already been done. The decision came late, and the repentance was incomplete. This incompleteness led Judas to suicide. But he received his last chance. And he used it as he wanted and was able.

The Lord has given us a new commandment (see John 13:34), a commandment that did not exist before in the Old Testament. We may recall the commandment to love our neighbor (see Lev 19:18), but it is not the same thing, as Jesus Himself says. It is a new commandment. But what is the difference? In both cases, after all, the Lord calls each of us to love... In the second case, however, He speaks of mutual love—love for one another. “Love one another”: Jesus addresses these words to His disciples, to a community of people, precisely because mutual love requires effort from everyone. We cannot shift everything onto our neighbor, thinking that it is hard for us while he, as a Christian, is obliged to love. Yes, these words were spoken to a group of people so that no one could turn away and pretend not to know or understand what was meant. This is how the Lord turns us toward one another, making us open ourselves and labor as we hear His voice: “Love one another.”

The Savior's words about love as a new commandment may at first glance seem somewhat strange. What, after all, is new here? In the gospel era everyone knew that the essence of the Torah came down to two commandments: love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself. This was a commonplace of the rabbinic tradition of that era. So what is new in Jesus' commandment about love? First of all: it is the love of the Kingdom. Love one another as I love you - this is the main meaning of the commandment Jesus gives. But what does the love of the Kingdom mean? The Bible says a great deal about love. And if we reflect on all that is said, we can conclude that in the Bible love is first of all a relation.

An intention directed toward a person or toward God. First of all will, not emotions and not reflections. But also relations in the sense in which people say that they unite people with one another. Love is the striving for communion; hatred is the unwillingness to commune. And if there are no relations, no intention, then there is neither love nor hatred. But the medium within which communion takes place remains natural in our world. Psychic. And the psyche is part of nature, though a very special part.

And our communion in this world remains in many respects a natural process because of the medium in which it takes place. Intention as the basis of communion is spiritual, while the medium is natural. In the Kingdom, however, everything is different. Natural structures exist in themselves according to the laws of nature. But the Kingdom is not nature; its structure is formed by relations. The relations of its inhabitants with God and with Christ, their relations with one another, and finally the relations of Christ Himself with His heavenly Father as the foundation of the Kingdom, form its, the Kingdom's, structure.

But the nature of the Kingdom, or rather what replaces nature in it, is love. God's breath, filling the Kingdom, becomes love in it. And all relations in it are possible only as relations of love. Love is the medium of the Kingdom, in which all interactions among its inhabitants take place. And the meaning of the new commandment Jesus gives is precisely that His followers should live in this medium. That they should abide in the Kingdom. Together with Him. This new life is Christianity.

Before the denial, immediately after the Last Supper, Peter thought he could serve God, that his love was enough, that he had everything needed to lay down his life for Christ, to follow Him. We too often think: "Well, I definitely have strength for this; I would never go that far," and so on. And then we act even worse, or fail to handle something even less difficult.

Peter was defeated because he did not say to Jesus: "Help me stand firm; give me the strength to follow You." He said, as we often do, that he would do it, relying on his own strength. After the denial, after repentance and forgiveness, Peter became the head of the Church; he now knew that all hope must be placed in God.

Often even the people most unsure of themselves are in fact extremely self-reliant. We do not fully realize that without God we could do nothing, including, and especially, following Him. But if we ask Him not to allow a denial, if we ask God for faithfulness, He will give it.