WHAT DOES JOHN 13:3a MEAN?

In describing the Last Supper, John begins by saying, “Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God...” The question is, “What are all the things God had given him?”

One way to look at it is in terms of Jesus being established as the head of the Kingdom of God. Thus, Green says, “Jesus has not been set over a kingdom by Rome, for example, or put forward as ruler by the Jerusalem leadership. His kingdom is God's kingdom. This phrase means, second, that Jesus' kingdom derives its nature from God, with whose purpose Jesus is aligned.”

Others feel that in view of the context in the shadow of the cross, the “all” must refer to that imminent event. Schnabel expresses it this way: “As Jesus accomplishes the mission for which the Father has sent him, accountable to the Father in terms of both his works and his words, he exercises delegated authority (Jn 5:21-22, 26-27; 13:3; 17:2).”

Clarke also feels that this verse alludes to Jesus' victory on the cross: “One particularly illustrative example of Jesus' identification as one who serves in a menial capacity as a domestic slave (doulos) occurs in John 13, which describes Jesus wishing the feet of his disciples...It anticipates the betrayal by Judas (Jn 13:2), but also an ultimate victory given into the hands of Jesus by God (Jn 13:3). Throughout there is a repeated emphasis on Jesus' complete knowledge (Jn 13:1,3,11,17).”

I feel that Morris does the best job of expressing this aspect of “all” in John 13:3 when he states, “The threshold of Calvary seems an unlikely place for a statement of this sort. But John does not see the cross as the casual observer might see it. It is the place where a great divine work was wrought out and the divine glory shown forth. So he described it in terms of the Father giving of all things to the Son.”

And finally, R.E. Brown brings up another point in passing that is worth considering: “Since this was mentioned also during the ministry..., we cannot think that here it is a special power due to Jesus because he has already been glorified in 'the hour'...in John the handing over of all things to Jesus is not so much a question of universal authority as of salvific mission. The footwashing as an action symbolic of Jesus' death is performed because he knows that he has the power to save others and the power to lay down his own life for this purpose.”

What I would like to zero in on next is the fact, alluded to by Brown, that this is not the only place in the Gospel accounts where a similar statement is made regarding the things that God has delivered into Jesus' hands. Witness the following:

    “All things have been delivered to me by my Father...” (Matthew 11:27a; Luke 10:22a)

    “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hands: (John 3:35)

    “All that the Father gives me will come to me...and this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up at the last day.” (John 6:36-40)

In other passages, we read that the Father has given the Son (a) authority to execute judgment (John 2:26-27), (b) works for him to complete (John 5:36), and (c) care of his followers (John 10:29; 17:6, 9, 11-12).

But there is another aspect to what the Father has planned for the son in terms of “giving” or “delivering” (all the references are expressed with the Greek word didomai or its derivative paradidomai). In all these cases, it is Jesus who will be given over to or delivered into the hands of sinful men for crucifixion. For those passages, see Matthew 17:22; 20:18-19; 26:45; 27:2,18,16; Mark 9:31; 10:33; 14:41; 15:1,10, 15; Luke 9:44; 18:32; 20:20; 23:25; 24:7,20; John 18:30,35-36; 19:11,16).

And, most interestingly, both contradictory aspects appear together toward the end of John's Gospel:

    “The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one.” (John 17:22,24)

    “This was to fulfill the word that he had spoken, 'I did not lose a single one of those whom you gave me.'” (John 18:9)

    “Jesus said to Peter, 'Put your sword back into its sheath. Am I not to drink the cup that the Father has given me?” (John 18:11)

So paradoxically, Christ's glorification by the Father and deliverance of his followers came at the same time that evil men were delivering him up to die. And the end result is expressed at the conclusion of Matthew's Gospel when the risen Christ uses the verb “give” one more time:

    “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.” (Matthew 28:18)