The passover feast began on the 15th of Nisan at sunset. The passover lamb was slain the afternoon of the 14th of Nisan. The meal spoken of in John is the same Passover meal described in the synoptic gospels (Mark 14:18-21; Mat 26:21-25; Luke 22:21-23), but the emphasis is much different. The Synoptics give us the account of the institution of the Lord’s supper and John doesn’t even mention it. He is concerned much more with meaning and principles than ceremony and events, so he concentrates on the teaching of Jesus and doesn’t bother to mention some of the details of the meal. An address would usually be given at the Passover meal but the Synoptics do not give an account of what was spoken; we get that priceless teaching of Jesus from John alone in the following chapters, which are known as the Farewell Discourse.

Mark 14:18-21  While they were reclining at the table eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me—one who is eating with me.”  They were saddened, and one by one they said to him, “Surely not I?”  “It is one of the Twelve,” he replied, “one who dips bread into the bowl with me.  The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”

Matthew 26:21-25  And while they were eating, he said, “I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me.”  They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, “Surely not I, Lord?”  Jesus replied, “The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me.  The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born.”  Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, “Surely not I, Rabbi?” Jesus answered, “Yes, it is you.”

Luke 22:21-23  But the hand of him who is going to betray me is with mine on the table.  The Son of Man will go as it has been decreed, but woe to that man who betrays him.”  They began to question among themselves which of them it might be who would do this.

This Passover is the only sacrifice offered by Jesus Himself. The sacrifice offered by His mother at His birth was for her, not Him (Luke 2:22-24). If Jesus was in Jerusalem during any of the Passovers before His public ministry, He would have been the guest at a table, and not the head of a company. Of the three Passovers that have occurred since His minstry began, He had not yet gathered His disciples at the time of the first (John 2:13), so He could not have been the head of a company (which must consist of at least 10 people). At the time of the second, He was in Galilee or the region of Tyre and Sidon (Matt 15:21) where no sacrifice could be brought. “Thus, the first, the last, the only sacrifice which Jesus offered was that in which, symbolically, He offered Himself.” (Edersheim)

Luke 2:22-24  When the time of their purification according to the Law of Moses had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord  (as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male is to be consecrated to the Lord”),  and to offer a sacrifice in keeping with what is said in the Law of the Lord: “a pair of doves or two young pigeons”.

John 2:13  When it was almost time for the Jewish Passover, Jesus went up to Jerusalem.

Matthew 15:21  Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon.

The time has come for Jesus to leave this world and rejoin His Father. This marks the end of Jesus’ ministry. Up till now Jesus has ministered to men in general, but from now on His focus is totally on those close to Him, whom He loves intimately.

Jesus was always aware of the call upon His life and He always fully yielded Himself to it. No power has been able to stop or even delay the will of God for Him. Everything happens in the exact manner and at the exact time of God’s choosing, and this is because Jesus obeys at the very instant that He hears the command, giving us a wonderful example of how our Father would have us to be.

There must have been two conflicting emotions encompassing the heart of Jesus at this time — great joy at returning to the side of His Father and yet great sorrow at having to leave His disciples and the people who need Him behind. We have known those moments of seperation from loved ones and the tenderness we feel and express to them before they or we leave. So it is with Christ as He touches the hearts of these men in this upper room on this fateful evening. But the fact is that today He looks down upon us with the same tenderness etched on His face and the same compassion flowing from His heart. He feels the same toward us as He did toward His disciples that night. There is no lessening of the flow of love and tenderness that comes from His heart and never will be. After the sun and stars have died, His love for us will still remain. (Psa 118:1)

Psalms 118:1  Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures for ever.

“His own” = even though Jesus loves everyone, He has a special love for those who love Him. As Maclaren notes, “The rainbow strides across the sky, but there is a rainbow in every little dewdrop that hangs glistening on the blades of grass.” Jesus would have all men to be drawn to Him and give themselves fully to Him so that He could call them “His own” but many shut themselves out from the full expression of His love for them.

“who were in the world” = as a dying only parent of small children would desperately desire to help their defenseless soon-to-be orphans cope with the world in which they find themselves, so Jesus must have felt on that lonely night. But the analogy is not identical because Jesus is still alive and seated at the right hand of His and our Father and we are seated with Him in those heavenly realms (Eph 2:6). He is ever interceding for us (Rom 8:34), and not just with prayer. The expressions of His love for us actually increase as our needs increase. “The darker the night, the more lustrous the stars” (Maclaren) and the more we need Him, the more He comes through for us.

Ephesians 2:6  And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,

Romans 8:34  Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us.