02 Apr 26 | The Washing of the Feet
Jesus washes feet knowing exactly who he is, exactly where he is going, and exactly who is about to betray him, and does it anyway.
The Gospel: John 13:1-15
¹ Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end. ² The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, ³ fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, ⁴ he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. ⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Master, are you going to wash my feet?" ⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later." ⁸ Peter said to him, "You will never wash my feet." Jesus answered him, "Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me." ⁹ Simon Peter said to him, "Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well." ¹⁰ Jesus said to him, "Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all." ¹¹ For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, "Not all of you are clean." ¹² So when he had washed their feet and put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, "Do you realize what I have done for you? ¹³ You call me 'teacher' and 'master,' and rightly so, for indeed I am. ¹⁴ If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another's feet. ¹⁵ I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.
Today’s Focus
He knew his hour had come and that the Father had placed all things in his hands. He knew Judas would hand him over before morning. He got up from the table, tied a towel around his waist, and washed every pair of feet in the room including the betrayer’s. The word John uses for loving them to the end is the same root as the word Jesus uses on the cross when he says it is finished. What begins here is completed there. The foot washing is not an illustration of a principle. It is the permanent shape of life in the community he is forming. The question it puts to every reader is not whether the image is moving. It is whether you are willing to take up the same posture toward the people in front of you, including the ones you already know will let you down.
In the Margins
Jesus knew His hour had come. We hear that He loved His own, which refers specifically to the disciples in the room. The phrase translated as to the end is eis telos in Greek, and it carries more than the English suggests. It means both to the end of time and to the fullest possible extent, to completion. John uses it here as the theological header for everything that follows in the passion narrative. The same root appears in John 19:30 when Jesus says it is finished, tetelestai, from the cross. The foot washing and the cross are framed by the same word. What begins here is completed there.
John also specifies that Jesus knew the Father had placed all things in His power and that He had come from God and was returning to God. This detail is placed before the foot washing deliberately. The one who rises from the table is not a servant who does not know his own worth. He holds all authority, knows His divine origin and His divine destination, and gets down on His knees with a towel anyway. The humility here is not born of low self-regard. It is sovereign love expressed from a position of total power.
Foot washing in the first century was among the lowest forms of service available. Roads were unpaved, feet were dirty, and the task belonged to the lowest slave in a household. Jewish tradition held that while a disciple could assist his teacher in many ways, washing feet was specifically exempted because of how degrading it was. Even a student was not expected to do what was reserved for slaves. Jesus is taking up the role that no one present would have been willing to perform, and John slows the narrative down to make sure the reader sees each step. He took off His garments, took a towel and tied it around His waist, and then poured the water. The deliberateness of the description is John’s way of ensuring nothing is glossed over.
Isaiah 52 introduces the suffering servant as one who will be exalted and lifted up, but whose path to exaltation runs through humiliation and service. The foot washing enacts the servant’s posture before the passion enacts the servant’s suffering. The early Church made this connection immediately and it is not difficult to see why.
Peter resists from a genuine place. The idea that the one he has confessed as the Christ should perform the act of a slave seems to contradict the proper ordering of things. Jesus cuts straight through it. Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me. The word translated as inheritance is meros, covenant language meaning the share and portion belonging to someone counted among God’s people. To refuse what Jesus is offering is not humility. It is to place yourself outside the relationship entirely. Peter overcorrects immediately, asking for his hands and head as well. Jesus holds the line. The point is not maximum washing. The point is receiving what He offers in the way He offers it.
When Jesus declares the disciples clean He adds that not all of them are. He has washed every pair of feet at that table, including Judas’s. The physical act has been extended to the one who has already decided to hand Him over. The distinction between clean and not clean is not about who received the water, rather who has received what the washing points toward. Judas has been served by the one he will betray, and it has not changed what he has already chosen. The love is extended to him anyway.
The word Jesus uses when He tells the disciples He has given them a model to follow is hypodeigma, a technical term in the Greek Old Testament for an authoritative pattern given for imitation, not merely for admiration. He is not illustrating a principle and leaving it open for interpretation. He is establishing the permanent shape of life in the community He is forming. The inversion of status He has just enacted is not a one-time event to be remembered once a year. It is the ongoing posture of everyone who bears His name.
The question this passage puts to us is not whether we find the imagery of Jesus’ servitude moving. It is whether we are willing to take up the same posture toward the people in front of us, including those who may not deserve it, and including those we already know will let us down. That is what love looks like in the manner Jesus has shown. He knew it would not be easy, but this is a benchmark that has been set by the Lord Himself.
Reflection Question
Who in your life are you waiting to deserve your service before you give it?
A Small Invitation
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