13:1–17:26 These five chapters recount the ministry of Jesus to the disciples in the upper room, a ministry accompanied by a meal. The other Gospels indicate that the Lord’s Supper was instituted on this occasion, but John does not say so, perhaps because he viewed the institution as sufficiently covered in the three Synoptic Gospels, Matthew, Mark, and Luke.

The relationship between the Synoptic accounts and John’s Gospel has been extensively discussed by many commentators. The Synoptic Gospels all state that the meal alluded to in 13:2 was the Passover meal (Matt. 26:17–30; Mark 14:12–26; Luke 22:7–23). John, on the other hand, implies that the meal took place on the eve of the Passover, and that Jesus died at the precise time when the Passover lambs were being slaughtered (13:1, 29; 18:28; 19:14, 31, 42). Among scholars who accept the truthfulness of John and the Synoptic Gospels, several possible solutions have been proposed. See notes 19:14; Matt. 26:17.