1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.” 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you. 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. 18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’ 19 Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He. 20 Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.”
Preamble
Chapters thirteen to seventeen are some of the most poignant in all of Scripture. For it is here that Jesus having withdrawn with His disciples away from all the worlds hostility and unbelief, will now prepare them for His Departure back to the Father.
Commentary
Vs. 1 “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.”
And so Jesus’ knowing that this would be the last time that He would be with them in His mortal body before His Crucifixion Death, and so having loved His own who were in the world, for He loved them to the end, (thus Jesus did not forget or forsake them when He knew He was going home to the Father in heaven), instead in loving them and wanting to continue with them, will now give them (and us all) one last example of His love for them (and us all), so that we all might have the same heart and love and humility of service towards each other as well.
Vs. 2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
Having then shared an intimate meal with his beloved disciples, and the devil having also put it in Judas Iscariots heart to betray Jesus; because Judas himself had long ago started living a pattern of betrayal towards Jesus, and so for him to now betray Jesus to death for his love of money was no big step for him to take, all it took was a little prodding from the devil, who planted the seed thought, but Judas Iscariot himself will now be the one to carry out history’s most evil betrayal!
Vs. 3-5 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. 5 After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Jesus then confident of His place with the Father, that His Father had given all things into His hands, including His own free-will to chose to suffer Crucifixion death or not, for Jesus’ place and return to God the Father as He has always had and has always been was not dependent upon His going to the Cross for His disciples and us all, that was already assured Him. His motive then as John already noted was His love for them and us all (vs. 3). Jesus then now rising from the supper and laying aside His garments, literally His outer robe, but figuratively His Royal Robe as the Son of God, will now gird Himself with a servant’s towel (vs. 4), and having poured some water into a basin, Jesus begins to wash the disciples feet, and to wipe them clean and dry with the towel with which He had girded himself (vs. 5). This washing then of the disciple’s feet before He was to be Crucified is likewise then symbolic of the washing and renewal and cleansing that Jesus Himself does to us (though His Holy Spirit) because He has now girded Himself with the towel of salvation for everyone who believes in Him by which He cleanses us from all sin through His shed blood!
Vs. 6 Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, “Lord, are You washing my feet?”
When Jesus came to Simon Peter to wash his feet, Peter was totally taken aback that His Lord would stoop to do such a thing.
Vs. 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.”
Jesus though knew exactly what He was doing, which was more than giving them an example to follow (vs. 8), but His example was preparing their hearts (and ours) to be willing to do anything in the service for our fellow brethren. No task then is beneath us, as no task was beneath the Lord Jesus Christ when He also willingly served God the Father and died for us all.
Vs. 8 Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”
Peter though is adamant that His Lord and Savior should never wash his feet! However, Jesus knowing that what He was doing was symbolic of His washing us clean by His shed blood on the Cross, now says to Peter, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Thus, only those who have been washed clean by the Lord Jesus Christ; washed and cleansed by His Sacrificial blood; (and thus also renewed and sanctified by His Spirit); have any part in Him (1 Cor. 6:11; Eph. 1:7, 2:13; Col. 1:14, 20; Heb. 9:14; 10:19-22; Peter 1:2 etc.).
Vs. 9 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
When Simon Peter heard Jesus say that unless He washed him, he would have no part with Him, he had an immediate change of heart! And so, Peter wanted not just his feet washed but also his hands and head! For Peter initially in not wanting Jesus to wash his feet did not want to see Jesus in such an “undignified” state. However, Jesus’ suffering indignity was not His serving His disciples by washing their feet, rather it would be during His trial and at the Cross where His humiliation and service towards God as His Sacrificial Lamb would be the gateway to our glorification with Himself!
Vs. 10-11 10 Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”
Jesus now responds to Peters exuberant desire to be fully washed by Him by returning to the literal sense and His example of His washing their feet by saying, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” Which again is Jesus combing the literal as well as the Spiritual. For the disciples were already completely clean because of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and so they would be washed by Christ’s blood and then regenerated by His Holy Spirit after Jesus was Crucified and His Holy Spirit poured out. However, as Jesus says there was one amongst them who was not clean, whose heart did not accept Him and who was going to betray Him, and so in washing all the disciples feet Jesus was not cleansing them of their sins there, rather He was giving them an example of humble service to follow, through which He also revealed through Peters zeal to be completely washed by Him that they were already clean because of their faith in Him, and thus they would all be washed and renewed and thus transformed and saved, except one and that one was Judas Iscariot His betrayer.
Vs. 12 So when He had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
When Jesus had finished washing the disciple’s feet and sat down again, He began by asking the disciples if they knew what He had just down, that is if they understood the example that He had just given them.
Vs. 13-15 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.
And so, in asking the disciples if they understood what He had just done in washing their feet, Jesus now reminds them that they all call Him and Teacher and Lord which is well and true for them and all to do. However, in calling Jesus Lord and Teacher we must remember that if He washed the disciple’s feet as an example of humility and service, we too must be willing to wash each other’s feet! For Jesus has given us all an example that we should all do as He has done! Now this may not be literal foot washing as most of our cultures do not now practice such things on a regular basis. However, it is not the washing of one another’s feet that is important, it’s the willingness to humble oneself and take on the lowest of duties in the service of our fellow brethren that is being shown us by Jesus here! Nothing then should be above us when it comes to serving each other. For that is the point that Jesus is making in doing such things. For love cannot grow healthy disciples where there is hierarchal and or arrogant thinking, where one feels or acts superior to another! For it is only Christ’s love expressed and manifested through us by our willingness to serve each other in any duty or capacity that makes the church viable for us and for all.
Vs. 16-17 16 Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
Therefore, Jesus makes it clear that though He is our Superior, yet He Himself bowed Himself down to serve us all, so that we might know how to serve each other! And so, no one should think themselves above serving their brethren in any capacities if they truly are following the Lord Jesus Christ. For Jesus also says that if we know these things blessed are we when we do them (vs. 17), because only then are we truly walking in His footsteps which is the greatest privilege of all, to follow Him and to live out His example towards each other and towards all! And so, when we do these things we will be blessed because we will have the favor of God in heaven look down and shine on us! For to be approved by God is everything! For mans approval comes by walking like the “self-made” men of the earth, but God’s approval only comes by following the example of His Son!
Vs. 18 “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’
Jesus now makes it clear that not all of them would be His willing followers, for Jesus knows whom He has chosen, and though Judas Iscariot was there amongst them, sharing that intimate meal and moment with them, Jesus did not choose him to be His disciple, rather Judas was chosen and was there in fulfillment of the Scripture, which says, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’ (Psalm 41:9)
Vs. 19 “Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He.”
Therefore, Jesus now tells His disciples He has said these things so that when His betrayal by Judas Iscariot comes to pass, they may believe that He is the One to whom all these Scripture are referring too!
Having then prepared His disciples to be His Servants in the Gospel ministry Jesus now says of them, of everyone who truly is sent by Him and thus comes in His Name and His Service, that in receiving one of us who believe in Him, and thus is sent by Him, one is also receiving Him, and receiving the Lord Jesus Christ is also receiving God the Father whom likewise sent Him! The connection then between Father, Son, and His disciples is undeniable.
Scripture Quotations
New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.
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