Maundy Thursday John 13:1-17, 31b-35

This guide has been updated and expanded. Our Maundy Thursday guide for 2026 on John 13 incorporates this material along with additional commentary, illustrations, and discussion questions. Check it out here.

At this point in the Gospel we move out of the streets into the quiet of a room. “The noise of the cosmos has died away: the stillness of night prevails” (Bultmann). And yet, in [that] quiet room, Jesus is preparing his disciples for the mission to the world on which he will send them. And the word cosmos occurs no less than forty times in the five chapters [13-17] which begin…