Videos from Fr Claudio Doglio
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The Preparation for the Passover of Jesus
Many of the Jews who had come to Mary, seeing what Jesus had done, believed in him. But some of them went to the Pharisees and told them what Jesus had done. Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered the Sanhedrin and decided to put him to death. What Jesus did for his friend Lazarus is a sign that can lead to faith, but it does not force us to believe. Faith, as a personal response, is free. Seeing the sign Jesus performed, many Jews believed. However, some refused to interpret that fact as a sign that Jesus was correct and that his claim to be God was reasonable, and they reported it to the authorities. The Sanhedrin convened in a solemn session and made a decision. At the end of Chapter 11, the Evangelist John shows how giving life to his friend Lazarus costs Jesus his life. The high priest, Caiaphas, says, intervening before the Sanhedrin: ‘You do not understand anything.’ It is an ironic statement. ‘You do not realize it is convenient for you that one alone dies for the people, and the whole nation does not go to ruin,”
The Evangelist notes that he said this because God inspires and enlightens him as the High Priest. He understood that it was good for Jesus to die, but at the same time, he also said that the Jewish authorities did not understand anything, and his thinking was distorted. He is projecting evil. He decides to eliminate Jesus as a dangerous figure physically; however, in doing so, he fulfills God’s good plan to give life to humanity. From that day, they decided to kill him.
Jesus no longer interacted publicly with the Jews. Instead, he withdrew to an area near the desert in a city called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples. Jesus remains distant because he controls when he is caught. He wants his arrest to happen during the Passover feast to fulfill his sacrifice as a Passover event of liberation, symbolizing the transition from death to life. Verse 55 of chapter eleven signals a change – the Passover of the Jews was approaching, and many people from the region went up to Jerusalem before the feast.
This is the third time the Evangelist mentions the Passover feast, indicating we are in the third year of Jesus’ ministry. This marks the start of the final phase of the story, and the climax is approaching. Six days before Passover, they prepare a meal for Him in Bethany. As we near the end—Jesus’ death and resurrection—the countdown begins. Readers recall that John’s account starts with a week, shifting focus from John the Baptist to Jesus over several days. It is now the sixth day. There was a banquet in Cana of Galilee, where everything started. Now, we find a dinner in Bethany, six days before Passover. The last week—the eschatological, decisive, and final week—begins with this banquet, which holds great significance. Lazarus, who was dead and brought back to life, is among the guests. Martha is serving, and Mary shows a gesture of deep affection. In traditional iconography, Mary is often dressed in red, symbolizing love and affection. Martha wears a greenish dress in the scene of service, representing labor, effort, and dedication.
The familiar scene from the story of Lazarus’s resurrection is now reenacted at the table. Mary, driven by deep love, makes a prophetic gesture. She takes three hundred grams of perfume made from pure nard, which is highly valuable. She anoints Jesus’ feet and then wipes them with her hair. The whole room is filled with the scent of that perfume. Remove the image of the sinner, who often overlaps this scene.
Mary of Bethany is not portrayed as a sinner. She shares a close friendship with Jesus and shows great generosity, even to the point of wastefulness. She offers three hundred grams of genuine nard perfume, which is expensive and could simply be used to anoint Jesus. However, Jesus interprets her act as prophetic. The scent filling the house symbolizes generous and unconditional love. It foreshadows what Jesus is about to do: lay down his life. Some might see her act as a waste of perfume, but, humanly speaking, Jesus’ life is being wasted. A young, bright man dies in a way that leaves many wondering what else he could have achieved. It’s a climax—a profound act of love that seems like excess. It reflects a God who loves beyond all human limits. This wise woman, participating in the banquet, in some sense, becomes a Eucharistic figure, prefigured through her gesture of love and generosity.
Judas embodies an economic mindset and rebukes her because she could have sold theointment for 300 denarii, which could have been used to help the poor. Jesus, who has always supported the poor, does not share this mercantile mentality. Judas will receive only 30 denarii for betraying Jesus, while that ointment was worth 300 denarii. An authentic disciple is not the one who focuses on calculating the cost. Instead, the one truly committed to Jesus, fueled by deep affection, knows how to give herself, not just in terms of organizing services but because she is personally dedicated to Jesus. From this, she gains a new capacity for loving others.
The next day, Jesus entered Jerusalem. Bethany isn’t far from the holy city. Jesus arrives in the capital triumphantly, greeted by the crowd. He then enters the temple in Jerusalem and begins teaching. The second part of chapter 12 of the Gospel of John features a collection of Jesus’ words from that final teaching session in the temple.
Some foreigners from Greece want to see Jesus and discuss with two apostles who have Greek names, Philip and Andrew. ‘We want to see Jesus,’ they say. But Jesus does not satisfy their curiosity. Instead, he changes the subject. He speaks of himself as a grain of wheat that must fall to the ground to produce much fruit. Jesus will be seen by the Greeks later. It is not curiosity about the human Jesus that can bring salvation to the Greeks. Let us not forget that the church where the gospel was born is the Greek church. It is a community of non-Jewish people speaking Greek. Jesus begins reaching out to those who will receive the gospel after his Passover. Not physically, but through the disciples’ witness, their words, the liturgy, the sacraments of the church, the gospel text, and the written testimony of the beloved disciple. Like a grain of wheat, Jesus must die on the ground to produce much fruit.
Now he adds, “My soul is troubled; what must I say? Father, save me from this hour? But precisely for this reason, I have come to this hour. Father, glorify your name.“ This is theJohannine version of the Gethsemane moment narrated by the Synoptics. John anticipates it and shows Jesus’s anguished soul, full of agony. Humanly, he would have asked: deliver me from this moment. But his whole life is oriented toward this hour. Again, this is another essential term in Johannine theology. In Cana, as you remember, Jesus said, “My hour has not yet come.” But now the hour has come. Now is the hour, the definitive Passover.
He has come for this; therefore, he does not withdraw but faces a difficult situation. He asks the Father: “Glorify your name.” It is similar to the prayer ‘Our Father.’ May your name be sanctified, or your will be done. It reflects his way of speaking and his willingness to carry out the Father’s plan. Then came a voice from heaven: “I have glorified him and will glorify him again.” We can understand this as the Johannine version of the transfiguration. The Synoptics describe an episode on the mountain in Galilee where a voice from above says, “This is my Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” John narrates more simply how God’s voice from heaven speaks of Jesus’ glory. The glory is the weight and the powerful presence of God. He glorified him. ‘I have shown that he truly is my representative and will glorify him again.’ In the resurrection, Jesus’ glory is fully revealed. The disciples recognize that he is the only-begotten Son of the Father, filled with the gift of revelation.
One more important word John puts in Jesus’ lips at this moment is: “Now is the judgment of this world; now the prince of this world will be thrown out, and when I am lifted up from the earth, I will draw everyone to me.” These words evoke a sense of what is aboutto happen. Now, at this moment, the judgment takes place.
The separation and condemnation of the prince of this world, the sinister figure and enemy who is thrown out and cast down, signify the moment he loses power. Jesus announces that he is about to be lifted up. This is an ambiguous, typically Johannine expression with a double meaning. Lifting up can mean being placed on the throne and ascending in glory, or hanging from the infamous wooden cross and facing death. ‘When I am lifted up from the earth, when I rise to heaven, and when I go to the cross, I will draw all people to myself.’ Which of these two meanings does Jesus mean? We should not choose between them. In this context, John means both the cross and the glory. When Jesus is lifted up on the cross, his glorious exaltation occurs. He ascends to the throne, takes on divine power, and draws everyone to himself. This act of love drives Jesus to the cross. It is a force that gathers all of humanity, taking away the power of the prince of this world, who fosters division and hatred. Only the self-giving love of Jesus, offering his life, can overcome the diabolical power that separates and pits humans against each other and against God.
At this point, the Evangelist wraps up the story. He notes that they still did not believe in him despite all the signs. The prophet already predicted this, making it inevitable. Faith is a voluntary act; Jesus does not force people to accept him. He offers, and it’s up to each person to accept or reject him.
Chapter 13 marks the start of the Gospel’s final section, often called the ‘Book of Glory’ or the ‘Book of the Hour.’ However, this section doesn’t begin exactly at the start of chapter 13. We already saw in verse 11:55 that a reference to the Passover indicated a transition, so we can think of chapter 12 as a kind of buffer. It functions either as the conclusion of the first part or as an introduction to the second part. This is a slow-moving moment with repeated references to the Passover. The Passover of the Jews was near (11:55), six days before the Passover feast (12:1). “Before the Passover feast, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to pass from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.” It acts as a kind of prologue.
In 13:1, we see the solemn start of the Passover supper, the final moment of Jesus’ earthly meeting with his disciples. The Evangelist highlights Jesus’ full awareness. He knows that his hour has come—the long-awaited and desired moment. It is the time to leave this world and go to the Father. This language is paschal, recalling the passage and symbolizing Jesus’ death as a passage to the Father. Everything that happened before was characterized by love; even what will happen now is motivated by love. The Evangelist uses an important phrase to say that he loved them ‘eis telos’—’usque ad consummationem.’ It does not just mean until the end or until his last breath; instead, it signifies the goal or purpose. The ‘telos’ is the end, the goal. (In Italian/Spanish, ‘telos’ = ‘the goal’ is feminine, and ‘the end’ is masculine, reflecting its double meaning as a word that can be masculine or feminine.)
Here, John means to say that Jesus loved His own until the very end. What does that mean? It refers to reaching the end of the mission, specifically fulfilling the work of human redemption. This phrase encompasses the entire section. Looking at the other end of this Book of Glory, at the end of chapter 19, the last word that the Evangelist John reports Jesus saying on the Cross is ‘thethelesthai,’ meaning ‘it is finished.’ It shares the same root as ‘telos.’ Everything is complete—not just in the sense of being finished, but in the sense of being fulfilled. Everything has been brought to completion. The work of God, therefore, has been accomplished.
The central part of chapters 13–21 of the last section of the Gospel focuses on fulfillment. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them until he brought all of humanity to the fulfillment of love. Jesus knows this and, therefore, knowing that everything had been given into his hands and that he came from God and to God would return, he gets up from the table, removes his clothes, and begins the farewell meal of the spiritual testament with the washing of the feet.