 |
| THE LAST MEAL TOGETHER |
| The longest, most emotional night of Jesus' life. |
| "You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy." 16:20 |
| John devoted one-third of his book to the last 24-hour period Jesus spent on earth. The next five chapters (13-17) describe one of the scenes from that period, and nothing like these chapters exists elsewhere in the Bible. In their slow-motion, realistic detail, they provide an intimate memoir of Jesus' most anguished evening. Leonardo da Vinci immortalized the setting in his famous painting The Last Supper, with the participants arranged on one side of the table as if posing for the artist. But John gives few physical details; instead, he focuses on a whirlpool of emotional currents. John holds a light to the disciples' faces, and you can slmost see the awareness flickering in their eyes. All that Jesus had told them was slowly setting in. As for Jesus, "having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love" (13:1). Jesus Prepares to Leave Never before had Jesus been so direct with them. Around the table he avoided parables and painstakingly answered the disciples' redundant questions. Never was he more "theological." He alone fully recognized the significance of this last evening before his death. The world was about to undergo a convulsive trauma, and the 11 fearful men with him were his hope for that world. "It is for your good that I am going away," Jesus said (16:7), but the disciples were too busy discussing the meaning of "going away" to comprehend the good that would follow. Nevertheless, Jesus kept explaining until at last the disciples showed signs of understanding. God's Son had entered the world to reside in one body. He was leaving |