Farewell Discourse

In the New Testament, chapters 14–17 of the Gospel of John are known as the Farewell Discourse given by Jesus to eleven of his disciples immediately after the conclusion of the Last Supper in Jerusalem, the night before his crucifixion.

[6][7] The key themes of the prayer are the glorification of the Father and petitions for the unity of the disciples through love.

[8][9] The discourse is preceded by 13:31–38 (just after Judas leaves the last supper), in which Jesus gives the remaining eleven disciples the New Commandment to "love one another" and predicts Peter's denial of knowing him during his upcoming crucifixion.

[11] This discourse is rich with Christological content, e.g. it reiterates the Pre-existence of Christ in John 17:5 when Jesus refers to the glory which he had with the Father "before the world was".

[12] The three components here are:[2] At the start of this part Jesus tells the disciples that he will go to the Father, causing them to be nervous about his departure.

[16] This part is a meditation on Jesus as the source of life for the community and builds on the pattern of discipleship in the gospels.

[13] This pattern of discipleship reemphasizes the Good Shepherd teachings in John 10:1–21 in which one "lays down his life" in obedience.

[6] The prayer takes place at a unique time in the ministry of Jesus, at the end of his final instructions to his followers, and at the start of his Passion.

[20][21] The Jesus Seminar has argued that verses John 14:30–31 represent a conclusion, and that the next three chapters have been inserted into the text later.

This argument considers the Farewell Discourse not to be authentic, and postulates that it was constructed after the death of Jesus.

[11] Fernando Segovia has argued that the discourse originally consisted of just chapter 14, and the other chapters were added later, but Gary M. Burge opposes that argument given the overall theological and literary unity of the work and that the discourse has much in common with the gospel as a whole, e.g. the themes of Jesus' death and resurrection and his care for his own.