Jesus’ Love and the World’s Hatred: Just as it is possible to imagine a stage of the tradition when the only farewell discourse was 13:31–35, so it is possible to imagine a stage when the discourse extended to 14:31 but no further. There is a smooth transition from that verse’s summons to “leave” to the statement in 18:1 that Jesus “left with his disciples and crossed the Kidron Valley.” At the end of chapter 14, the reader expects the group to leave and the discourse to end. Instead, the discourse continues, as Jesus seems to make a new beginning.

In a manner reminiscent of the public ministry, he combines a particularly vivid and concrete metaphor with an “I am” formula (cf. “I am the bread of life,” 6:35, 48; “I am the gate for the sheep,” 10:7, 9; “I am the good shepherd,” 10:11, 14). A…