Yohanes 13:14-16

13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. 13:15 For I have given you an example ¹  – you should do just as I have done for you. 13:16 I tell you the solemn truth, ²  the slave ³  is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger ⁴  greater than the one who sent him.

Yohanes 15:20

15:20 Remember what ⁵  I told you, ‘A slave ⁶  is not greater than his master.’ ⁷  If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. If they obeyed ⁸  my word, they will obey ⁹  yours too.

Yohanes 17:18

17:18 Just as you sent me into the world, so I sent them into the world. ¹⁰ 

Yohanes 20:21

20:21 So Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you. Just as the Father has sent me, I also send you.”

[13:15]  ¹ sn I have given you an example. Jesus tells his disciples after he has finished washing their feet that what he has done is to set an example for them. In the previous verse he told them they were to wash one another’s feet. What is the point of the example? If it is simply an act of humble service, as most interpret the significance, then Jesus is really telling his disciples to serve one another in humility rather than seeking preeminence over one another. If, however, the example is one of self-sacrifice up to the point of death, then Jesus is telling them to lay down their lives for one another (cf. 15:13).

[13:16]  ² tn Grk “Truly, truly, I say to you.”

[13:16]  ³ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[13:16]  ⁴ tn Or “nor is the apostle” (“apostle” means “one who is sent” in Greek).

[15:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “Remember the word that I said to you.”

[15:20]  ⁶ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:20]  ⁷ sn A slave is not greater than his master. Jesus now recalled a statement he had made to the disciples before, in John 13:16. As the master has been treated, so will the slaves be treated also. If the world had persecuted Jesus, then it would also persecute the disciples. If the world had kept Jesus’ word, it would likewise keep the word of the disciples. In this statement there is the implication that the disciples would carry on the ministry of Jesus after his departure; they would in their preaching and teaching continue to spread the message which Jesus himself had taught while he was with them. And they would meet with the same response, by and large, that he encountered.

[15:20]  ⁸ tn Or “if they kept.”

[15:20]  ⁹ tn Or “they will keep.”

[17:18]  ¹⁰ sn Jesus now compared the mission on which he was sending the disciples to his own mission into the world, on which he was sent by the Father. As the Father sent Jesus into the world (cf. 3:17), so Jesus now sends the disciples into the world to continue his mission after his departure. The nature of this prayer for the disciples as a consecratory prayer is now emerging: Jesus was setting them apart for the work he had called them to do. They were, in a sense, being commissioned.