As noted in last week's exegesis, John 13:31-14:31 is considered by a majority of scholars to make up the first unit of Jesus' farewell discourse. This lengthy discourse continuing through 16:33 or even 17:26 offers a unique body of material that has no parallel in the synoptic gospels. While last week's exegesis examined the opening statements of this crucial dialogue, this week's text focuses on what most scholars identify as the third and closing section of the first unit of discourse. If John 13:31-38 opens with Jesus blatantly, even bluntly, spelling out the genuinely frightening and confusing events that are about to unfold, these closing words offer a bit more comfort to the disciples.

Jesus is responding to questions put to him by his followers. Here he addresses the query the gosp…