John chapters 13–17, takes place during Jesus’ last night of mortality. It begins with a private gathering in a room upstairs or in the upper part of Jerusalem and then ends on the Mount of Olives. Unlike the Synoptic Gospels, John does not include the Passover at the Lord’s Last Supper, nor the sacrament (which we will look at next week). John included the sacrament symbols in Jesus’ “Bread of Life Sermon,” but does not repeat them here. 

Traditionally, Jews from around the Roman Empire came to Jerusalem for one of the three major pilgrimage feasts (Passover, Pentecost, Tabernacles). At each feast, the city swelled from ten to a hundred times its size. The permanent residence of ancient Jerusalem is estimated between 20,000 and 35,000 people, but Josephus’ claims at Passover the city held two million (most assume Josephus’ numbers are exaggerated).1