Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet
JESUS WASHES HIS DISCIPLES’ FEET
JOHN 13:1-11
Jesus now prepares his disciples for their future mission.
So far Jesus has been putting his claims, by deed and word, before the people of God, whose response has been largely negative. Now the last appeal has been made to the Jews. The rest of the Gospel has been called “The Book of the Passion.” The great sign is that of his death and resurrection. This is preceded by the discourses which explain it and its consequences. The teaching is now no longer given openly to the world but privately to his disciples.
The Feast of the Passover gives us the theological setting for what follows. The festival which commemorated the great act of redemption of the Old Covenant was to be the setting of the great act of redemption of the New. The hour, which Jesus or the evangelist had referred to earlier as not yet having arrived (2:4; 7:30; 8:20), has now come (12:23). Jesus must return via death to the Father. His mind was fully assured of his divine origin and destination. The necessary work of the traitor, inspired by the devil, was already in hand. In this context, where so many other emotions may have been present, his dominant characteristic is love. This is shown in a demonstration of humble service towards his disciples.
The foot-washing also had a symbolic meaning. Peter at first impetuously refuses to be washed and then asks to be washed all over! But Jesus explains that when a man has once been made clean all over, then this is all that is necessary afterwards. All his disciples apart from Judas had been made clean.
Notes 13:1: NEB: “now he was to show the full extent of his love”—not only in the foot-washing—but in the cross. 13:2: for the devil and Judas, see 6:70f.; 13:27. “His own” are now the disciples rather than the Jews (1:11), but it is the member of the Twelve, who was probably the only Judean and who bore the very name of Judah, who was to betray him. 13:4: “laid aside”—the same word as is used for laying down his life (10:11,15,17f.). 13:7: the Spirit would enlighten them and show them that they needed to accept service from Christ before they could serve. 13:10: there is a once-for-all cleansing, symbolized by baptism and dependent upon the “baptism” of Christ in his death (Mark 10:38; Luke 12:50). There is also the need for daily cleansing and forgiveness. Some manuscripts, however, omit “except for his feet.”