One of his disciples—the one whom Jesus loved—was reclining next to him — the Beloved Disciple appears for the first time in John's Gospel at the moment of deepest intimacy and greatest danger, positioned literally at Jesus' side, closest to his heart (literally reclining on his bosom in the posture of covenant fellowship). The epithet "whom Jesus loved" is not sentimental but theological: it marks the Beloved as the one who receives Jesus' love most fully, who rests in the knowledge of being chosen. The positioning at the table foreshadows John's position at the cross and at the empty tomb; this disciple will be present through death and resurrection.

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