Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He would depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, 4 *got up from supper, and *laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He tied it around Himself.
Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet
5 Then He *poured water into the washbasin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel which He had tied around Himself. 6 So He *came to Simon Peter. He *said to Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not realize now, but you will understand afterwards.” 8 Peter *said to Him, “You will never wash my feet—ever!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” 9 Simon Peter *said to Him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.” 10 Jesus *said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them. 18 I do not speak about all of you. I know the ones I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’ 19 From now on I am telling you before it occurs, so that when it does occur, you may believe that I am He. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, he who receives anyone I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” John 13: 1-20 LSB
John 13: 1-20
V.1 Jesus knowing that His hour had come - He has made it clear that the times are in the Father's hands, that He has not come to destroy the law or the prophets, but to fulfill them, and no one takes His life, rather He gives it. The time of the cross, the time that Psalm 22 and Isaiah 53 pointed to, that time had come. A thousand years before Christ came, the Psalmist penned the 22nd Psalm.
14 I am poured out like water,
and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax;
it is melted within my breast;
15 my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
16 For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet—
17 I can count all my bones—
they stare and gloat over me;
18 they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots. Psalm 22: 14-18
Vs. 1b-4 Having loved His own who are in the world - This is about love, for God is love, and this is the revelation of that toward us. For context, from Luke we know that the disciples were also having an argument at this time about which of them would be the greatest in the kingdom. Everyone was trying to stake their claim, politic their reasoning for being elevated. Jesus, in the midst of all this, and knowing that His time had come, removes his outer garment and puts on a towel, humbling Himself to the place of a servant.
…10The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness. 11I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down His life for the sheep. 12The hired hand is not the shepherd, and the sheep are not his own. When he sees the wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and runs away. Then the wolf pounces on them and scatters the flock.… John 10: 10-12
The Humility of Love. Selfless humility is the soul of love. Put it another way: only humble people love, and your capacity to love is directly related to your capacity to humble yourself. You understand that? That is a simple biblical truth and principle. Only humble people love. The humbler you are, the less interested you are in yourself, the greater your capacity to invest yourself in somebody else. They are related to one another proportionately. The lower you go in self-concern, the higher you go in concern for others. The more you sacrifice of you, the greater you will sacrifice for others.
True love, biblical love, the love that we’re talking about here is full devotion of the one who loves to the needs and well-being and blessing and joy of the one loved. Now, I understand that in the world it is possible for people to have sacrificial love for other people, to make great sacrifices and to genuinely care on a human level for someone else. But for us as believers, we are commanded to love everyone like that, everyone without regard for any returning benefit. In its purest form, biblical love is completely unselfish. That’s not true of human love. There’s a reciprocating reality there that gratifies the person who loves, but for us love in its purest form is completely unselfish. It is indifferent to personal gain. It has no concern about personal satisfaction or fulfillment.
This kind of love in its pure form is complete commitment to the joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment of others at any cost, at any point, at any sacrifice. That’s the kind of love that we are called to demonstrate. Now, Paul summed all that up by one statement, “Love seeks not its own. Love seeks not its own.” It’s not looking for what gratifies the person who loves. Love is completely indifferent to its own desires. It wants only to spend itself on others. Paul says that. - J Mac
24 A dispute also arose among them as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25 Jesus said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26 But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27 For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves. 28 You are those who have stood by me in my trials. 29 And I confer on you a kingdom, just as my Father conferred one on me, 30 so that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom and sit on thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. Luke 22: 24-29
V. 5 Began to wash the disciple's feet - A picture is worth a thousand words or so I've heard, but there aren't words sufficient for this. Nonetheless it's a worthy meditation, think about it, you know no one who has ever stooped so low, it's impossible for you to, you don't come from that high, so you can never be so humbled. This is the King of glory, this is the Messiah, the Christ, God the Son, the purest thing to ever step foot on this planet, and He is going to wash the feet of those who are too busy arguing over preeminence to realize the moment in history that they are now living in. They are about to witness the time, the event that all else hangs on, rides on, a humiliation of the grandest scale, and He starts it out here with them. They haven't yet grasped His becoming human, being born in a manger, that He was fashioned in the sort of humility that we should want to wear. The sinless One is about to become the sacrifice to save sinners. This is not the kind of acts we associate with royalty, yet He is so far above any earthly ruler.
V. 8 You will never wash my feet - ever - Simon makes a great point here, there is something so other worldly, so out of place about this, the order seems wrong. I think if Jesus would have asked Simon to wash His feet he would have jumped to the task, but there is a tension they have here with each other, and I think there would have been some grumbling and resentment about washing each other's feet, especially when they were all having visions of grandeur. I have known many people that say their gift is teaching, so they don't show up when it's time to help a widow whose yard is out of control or needs a ride to the doctor. They like the spotlight, not the dirty feet, that's just not their thing.
V. 8b If I do not wash your feet you have no part with Me - There is a huge spiritual principal that moralist miss here, that they need to be washed, regenerated. No one comes to the Father, no one is made right with God without this cleansing.
…4But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, 5He saved us, not by the righteous deeds we had done, but according to His mercy, through the washing of new birth and renewal by the Holy Spirit. 6This is the Spirit He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior,… Titus 3: 4-6
V. 9 But also my hands and my head - He has believed in Christ. Peter knows Him to be the one with the words of eternal life, and he does not want to be separated from Him. He is quick to speak, his thoughts just sort of pour out of his mouth, but there is a genuine growing love for out Lord.
V. 10 He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet - This is such a powerful verse here, I think if I was Peter I would have gotten the next lines done in a tattoo.
V. 10b And you are clean - To hear that from Jesus, "You Are Clean". That would play over and over in my head every day. That should make you run quickly to the throne of grace, you are saved because of what Christ is doing by being the spotless Lamb, and yes, it doesn't seem fitting for Him to wash your feet considering even the little you know about your state as a sinner, but there's no other way. You are saved based upon your believing in Him Who was sent from above, and you are saved because of His willingness to suffer far more humiliation than this foot washing, this will go all the way to the cross. The cross makes us clean, we are washed in the blood of Christ, and the foot washing is the realization that we are still walking in the filth of this world, that we still, in these bodies, sin, and we need to repent. This is sanctification, this is the Christian life, you don't lose your salvation, but you desire more and more to be clean, and you run to Jesus about the dirt, you don't want to remain contaminated.
What did Jesus mean when He said, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me”? Well, He was not out of the illustration and into the reality. He was talking about the need that Peter had to be spiritually cleansed. He needed what Ezekiel promised in the New Covenant: the washing, the washing. He needed what Paul wrote to Titus about; the washing of regeneration. He needed spiritual cleansing, and Christ was condescending, humiliating Himself, going all the way to the cross to provide the means of that spiritual cleansing.
Peter, you can’t stop this humiliation. I’m going all the way down, past foot washing, way past foot washing to the cross. You have to accept it. You have to accept My humiliation, all the way down to the cross because that is the only way you will be cleansed. That is the means of your cleansing. Peter was already saved by what Christ had not yet done and wouldn’t do until the next couple of days, but it had already been applied to him, as to all Old Testament believers.
So Jesus says, “Nobody has a safe relationship with God unless that person has been cleansed by Jesus. If I don’t wash you, if I don’t wash you, you have no part with Me.” Let me expand that a little. There is no salvation in any other name than the name of Jesus Christ. There is no forgiveness, no washing from sin, no redemption other than through Christ. “No man comes to the Father, but by Me.” “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life.”
“You want to have a relationship with God? It comes through Me. If I don’t cleanse you, you are not clean. You have no part with Me. The only salvation is through Jesus Christ.” So our Lord goes from this simple act to draw the spiritual truth, to lay it down for all generations including us. Well, when He said that, obviously, Peter wanted the full treatment. Jesus follows up on this spiritual truth in verse 10. Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed, needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean and you are clean.”
You don’t need another bath. They would have bathed in the morning when they left probably Bethany, staying maybe with Martha and Lazarus, Mary. They would have left and walked all the way to whatever went on that day, and then finally to the upper room. They didn’t need a bath. They just needed their feet washed. This is so magnificent. He’s saying, “Peter, you don’t need salvation. You just need some clean-up. You are clean.” I want you to look at that. - J Mac
…8If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10If we say we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar, and His word is not in us.… 1 John 1: 8-10
V. 11 Not all of you are clean - Judas has traveled so far with Jesus, but he is about to do the unthinkable.
There was one unsaved person there, and our Lord makes clear that He says that. “You are clean, you men, but not all of you.” What an incredible moment to hear that your salvation is valid. You say, how do I know my salvation is valid? I read it to you in 1 John, because you confessed Jesus is the Christ, because you love God, because you obey His commands, and because you love one another. That’s the evidence. That’s the evidence. You’ve been bathed. You’re clean. You don’t need to be cleaned again. You just need periodic foot washing. Well, what does that mean? - J Mac
Vs. 12-15 If I then, the Lord and the Teacher - Technically He is the Lord, King of kings, and that title makes us the servants. Those who obey Him as Lord will know Him as Savior, but He is also the teacher, there is none greater. In the end every knee will bow because He sits above the heavens, has made everything, even those that now deny Him. But look at His teaching, it makes me taste vomit in my mouth when I think of those who go into "ministry" to be touted, to be served. Look at the Savior, you are nothing like Him, where is your humility. He has just put His disciples in check, "I am the Lord, I am the teacher, this is the example I set before you". If I am His student, really His servant, then this is Who I must imitate. Not for show like at summer camp when they have us wash feet as we are giggling or like these silly hipster churches. This was an every day reality for people who walked dusty roads in sandals and reclined sideways at the table. Your feet were next to your neighbor, not hid under the table, and they probably stunk. Man there are so many layers here, can you handle someone at church coming and telling you about your stinky walk, that they can see where you've been by looking at your feet and they want to help you get clean?
V. 16 A slave is not greater than his master - If you can't humbly look to the needs of others like Christ did, then you are saying that you are above Him. You are like Judas, this is as far as you will make it, and then it's going to set in, "I don't want this, it's the diva life for me, I am a little god, people should be falling over themselves and paying a lot of money to be anywhere near me." Judas doesn't want to be a slave of Christ; he wants to be held up high, and he will hang himself over it. Be meek and lowly, be quiet and gentle, have the sort of countenance that brings peace because it doesn't need to be made much of.
…27and whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave— 28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.” 29As they were leaving Jericho, a large crowd followed Him.… Matthew 20: 27-29
V. 18 I know the ones I have chosen - This is always a difficult one for people, they always think it was their original idea, their weighing out of options, but Jesus tells His disciples:
…15No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not understand what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because everything I have learned from My Father I have made known to you. 16You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit— fruit that will remain— so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you. 17This is My command to you: Love one another.… John 15: 15-17
V. 19 So that when it does occur - He had just wrapped up verse 18 with a quote of a prophecy from the Psalms.
…8“A vile disease has been poured into him; he will never get up from where he lies!” 9Even my close friend whom I trusted, the one who shared my bread, has lifted up his heel against me. 10But You, O LORD, be gracious to me and raise me up, that I may repay them.… Psalm 41: 8-10
V. 20 He who receives anyone I send receives Me - Not everyone will want to hear the message, but there will be some, and you and I are only responsible to do what we see Christ doing, not to change men's hearts. We need to know this simple gospel, as He has spelled it out for His disciples over and over again. We need to be humble enough not to get in the way of the gospel, and realize that we can never stoop so far down as our Lord. Love those He sent, pray for them, pray that their feet stay clean and that they don't say or live contrary to God's word.
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