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Jesus Washing the Disciples' Feet. Joh_13:1-20
At the Passover meal:
v. 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
v. 2. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray Him,
v. 3. Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God,
v. 4. He reset from supper, and laid aside His garments, and took a towel and girded Himself.
v. 5. After that He poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
John introduces the story of the last evening of Christ's. life in a very exact and impressive way. Jesus had spent the time since Tuesday evening at some place outside of the city, probably at Bethany. He had now returned to Jerusalem, where two of His disciples had prepared the Passover meal for Him and the apostles. The announcement or introduction to the feast had taken place. After the disciples had reclined about the table, Jesus, as the head of the household, had uttered the thanksgiving, or benediction, over the wine and the feast, Himself drinking the first cup. It was at this point, when the feast proper had not yet commenced, that the washing of hands (and feet) usually took place. The evangelist also characterizes the attitude of Jesus. The Lord knew, by virtue of His divine omniscience, that His hour had come, the last great hour of His life, the consummation of His destiny on earth. He must leave this world, in the state of His human nature, in which He had given His whole life as a sacrifice. His way of glorification would be through death, but away from this world to the Father, by resurrection and ascension. Love of those that were His own according to the will of His Father, that had been given Him as His peculiar and particular friends, had been the keynote of His entire bearing toward them all His life. And so He wanted to give these men, who were attached to Him as His friends in a most particular sense, evidence of His love to the very end. His love remained steadfast through all His suffering and in spite of all their lack of faith. Such is the Savior's love at all times toward His weak and erring children, a seeking, searching, enduring love. "How do these words agree with the story? Very fine; if one only pays close attention. For in that he says: Jesus knew that the hour was there for Him to go out of this world to the Father, he wants to awaken a special diligence that we should mark this work and the preaching that He does concerning it with all diligence, since the Lord, almost in the last hour, when He was to depart out of this life, wanted to proclaim this to us. Now this is certainly true: what our dearest friends say and do shortly before their end moves us more and goes more deeply into the heart than other things which they may have spoken or done during the time of their life. For when it comes to that point, then both scolding and joking is past with the dying, and what they then say or do comes from their heart and is their true, serious opinion. It was now the time that the Lord should go from the world, the disciples, however, should remain there still longer; they had need of such example and instruction, if otherwise they wanted to remain His true disciples and not allow the example of the world to seduce them. " When supper had been served, when the meal proper was about to begin, Jesus did a peculiar thing. By this time the devil had not only suggested the betrayal to the heart of Judas, but had fully taken possession of his heart. Jesus, at the same time, was fully conscious, even as a mere human being, that the Father had given all things into His hands, See chap. 3:35. Even in the state of humiliation God had given to Jesus the full measure of divine omnipotence. With His exaltation He then, as true man, entered upon the full and free use of His divine omnipotence and providence. But here the thought is most prominent that God had entrusted to Jesus the carrying out of the great counsel of love. In a way, the responsibility for the redemption of the whole world now rested upon Him alone. He had gone out from the Father with a full knowledge of the requirements governing the proposed atonement for the sins of the world, and He knew that He must bring His work to a successful close and, even as true man, go back into the bosom of the Father. It was not that Christ was looking forward into a hidden future; He was fully conscious and aware of all that would happen to Him, It is that fact which emphasizes the willingness of the Lord to enter upon the great Passion.
The evangelist, having thus brought out the dramatic intensity of the hour and its importance in the history of salvation, makes the action of Jesus under the circumstances stand out all the more prominently. He arose from the sofa upon which He was reclining for the meal, He took off His outer garments, since they would hinder Him in the work He intended to perform, He took a long linen cloth, or towel, and girded Himself with it, tying it around His waist after the manner of the servants performing the work. For His object was to perform the foot-washing. There being no slave present, the office would naturally fall to the lot of the humblest in the little circle. But these men, far from feeling humility at this time, started a quarrel as to who should be accounted the greatest, Luk_22:23-27. The lesson was to be impressive and have a lasting effect, and it had, by the account of John, who noted every detail most carefully. Jesus put water into the basin which was commonly used for that purpose, and then very deliberately began to wash the feet of His disciples and to dry them with the towel with which He was girded.