John 13: 1 – 17
Others Centered
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.
In another chapter 13 of different book in the bible named 1 Corinthians we read this statement penned by the apostle Paul in verse 13, “And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”
When we were young our lives existed individually. Everything was about us. But as we grew it should have been extended to care about others. In fact the apostle Paul said in the eleventh verse, “When I was a child, I spoke as a child; I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.”
We naturally should love our parents, our brothers and sisters, friends, grandparents, and other relatives. In other words we should move from being totally self-centered to others centered. This transformation can occur in a thousand different ways, but I have never seen it occur without the insight that we are on this earth for a greater purpose than just serving ourselves. You are constantly preoccupied with “me” and what you like and what others think of you and why things aren’t going your way. It reminds me of the joke about the gorgeous girl who spoke about herself endlessly and then tried to make amends “But enough about me. Let’s talk about you. Tell me what you like about me.”
The ultimate ‘others centered’ person is the servant of others. In teaching His disciples we read in the Gospel of Matthew this instruction, “But he who is greatest among you shall be your servant.”
Our Lord Jesus Is going to show His disciples and us that He was ready to be the prophesied ‘Suffering Servant’. Father God proclaimed Him to be His Anointed Holy One Who would give His life a ransom for others including you and me when He proclaimed, “Behold! My Servant whom I have chosen, My Beloved in whom My soul is well pleased! I will put My Spirit upon Him, and He will declare justice to the Gentiles.
Two major lessons come out from this passage. The first is that of the example that our Lord Jesus was giving of true humility in love and service. He stressed that His disciples were similarly to behave as He has (13.13-17). The second is what is to be learned from His statement to Peter about the need for those who have already been bathed only to wash their feet. It was indicating that He was the source both of their initial cleansing and of their daily cleansing, and that the former was permanent in its effectiveness. Once a person has been truly cleansed by Him the effectiveness of that cleansing is permanent. All that is then required is to deal with daily sins as they occur.
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.
Our Lord Jesus knew at this particular Passover that ‘His hour had come’. This was why He had come into the world, in order to be the Lamb of God (1.29). And He was fully aware of what lay before Him.
In the light of the fact that His hour had come He took the next step in His self-abasement. He would reveal Himself as the One Who was the Servant, Who would give His life as a ransom for many (Mark 10.45).
So in the face of the unbelievable suffering to come He turned His thoughts, not to Himself, but to His disciples, whom He had loved constantly. They were His constant companions and He treasured them. Now He would reveal His love for them to its fullest extent. In the hour of His trial He would not allow Himself to be taken up with His own thoughts but would take time to reveal to them the inner secrets of God.
2 And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
John will, from this point, deliberately play down the fact that it is the Passover meal, even to the extent that he does not describe the instituting of the Lord’s Supper (Holy Communion). That this is deliberate is clear. He was well aware that the early church was very familiar with the facts of that Supper. He thus wanted to concentrate on the fact of The Lord Jesus’ preparation of His disciples for their witness to the world. He wanted the time to be seen as the time when The Lord Jesus revealed inner truths about the future, something of which the early church was less aware. But all are aware of the shadow that lies behind it.
Please note that what now happens indicate that Satan did not understand what God was doing, and was, without realizing it, conniving in his own destruction. There is something ironic about his haste to get Jesus to the cross which would turn out to be the cause of his own defeat. So it is clear that while he was aware of Who Jesus really was, he was not aware of the means that He would use to save men. While he must have been aware of what Jesus had taught he clearly could not conceive of such divine self-giving. It was totally outside his understanding and beyond his comprehension. Thus he was prompting Judas to betray Jesus to the authorities, thinking thereby to foil His purpose, only for it in the end to be revealed as bringing about God’s purposes.
As I mentioned before our Lord Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas was the weak link among the Apostles (John 6.70-71). But we must remember that Judas, at least to begin with, was his own master, and that Jesus gave him every chance to think again. What he did was of his own choosing. In the end, however, money turned out to be more important to him than his belief in Jesus, and this should be a grim warning to us all.
A lesson learned here is that after completing Satan’s plan he leaves you alone to face the wrong that you have done. Later Judas genuinely regretted his action. The paying back of the money to the Temple treasury, where it would then be held separately to be repaid to the contracted, and if not claimed would be used for public works. It was a recognized means of cancelling a contract when the other party refused to accept the money back (Matthew 27.5), and it is quite possible that at that stage he could have repented and been forgiven.
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.
The contrast given here is deliberate and striking. Judas was set on the pathway of greed and betrayal – all self centered. Our Lord Jesus was set on the pathway of humility and loving service – totally others centered. For in full knowledge of His glorious status as the One into Whose hands ‘all things’ had been delivered, and as the One Who had come from God and was returning to God, He performed the duties of the lowest servant. He put off His robe and, like a slave, began to wash the disciples’ feet. Here He was depicting in an earthly setting the amazing humility He had shown when ‘being in the form of God He thought not equality with God a thing to be grasped at, but humbled Himself, taking on Himself the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man’ (Philippians 2.6-7). To Him humble service was the prime honor.
When people entered a house to dine it was the custom of a servant of the house to wash their feet, to remove the dust and grime accumulated in their journeying on the dusty roads, and that our Lord Jesus Is copying this act. However, please notice that His action was ‘during the supper’ and ‘He rose from supper’ in order to do it, while the feet washing would have occurred sometime before the meal, that is before the supper commenced.
In truth someone in the group should have known that this service was not done and took the lead in doing so. I think all mothers make this remark to kids and their husbands – ‘Did you wash your hands? So, it wouldn’t have been rare that the guys just sat down and went for the food. The fact that the other guys did not make a move to take over for The Lord Jesus suggests that they saw the whole thing as unusual and did not know what to do because they were not sure what Jesus was doing.
It may well be that His action followed their discussions as to which of them would be the greatest (Luke 22.24), in which case a quiet rising at that point to wash their feet would have been all the answer to that question that He needed to give. He was thereby bringing out that they were not to think of greatness but of being servants.
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.”
I like Peter because many of his failures match mine. This incident reveals Peter’s unawareness to spiritual things going on around him. But its repetition was not in order to draw attention to Peter but to draw attention to the significance of the words that passed between him and The Lord Jesus. It indicated that He was beginning His unique time of voluntary submission, which began with the washing of the feet, would continue in His prayers in Gethsemane, and would reach its final fulfillment on the cross of shame. And it was all for them - and for us.
The picture here is of a guest who, having bathed at home only requires to wash his feet to remove the stains of the journey. Here The Lord Jesus was saying, ‘I have already in the past bathed you so that you are clean, but now I am preparing you for your part in what lies ahead’. The bathing refers, of course, to the work of the Spirit by which Peter had been born of the Spirit and forgiven his sins, the ‘washing of regeneration’ (Titus 3.5). Now by the washing of the feet He was pointing to a further work of the Spirit which they would enjoy continually as a result of His death. Without that they would be ineffective. The prophet Isaiah says in chapter 52 this, “How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him who brings good news, who proclaims peace, who brings glad tidings of good things, who proclaims salvation, who says to Zion, “Your God reigns!”
They were also being reminded that even the forgiven sinner becomes defiled and needs daily forgiveness, and that this was something that was freely available to them from the Lord. And in view of what was to come they especially needed it at this moment. Peter above all needed to be prepared in heart, for ‘Satan has desired to have him’ to test him out as we learn in the Gospel of Luke 22.31, “And the Lord said, “Simon, Simon! Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.”
By this we know that our Lord Jesus will continue to minister to us so that we can daily be made clean but only if we are willing to receive it. John goes on to explain this act in his first letter chapter 1 which says, “5 This is the message which we have heard from Him and declare to you, that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin.8 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
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.
Having washed their feet, The Lord Jesus first act was to take His clothes and reinstate Himself as their ‘Teacher and Lord’. Then, having done so, He brought home to them the lesson of what He had done. As He had humbled Himself on their behalf, so must they be willing to humble themselves on each other’s behalf, and on behalf of all the people of God.
In other words no task was to be seen as too lowly for them in ministering to God’s people and to each other. His people would in the future need constant attention and ministry in order to maintain their walk with God. And this was a personal and humbling task, to be carried out by the meek and lowly. The servant of God was not to stand above His people, but to kneel before them. For once a so-called servant of God begins to feel his own importance; he is failing in his task. He has ceased to be (even if he still calls himself so) the servant of all.
Some Christians believe that Jesus' command here is binding on the church in a literal sense. They practice foot-washing as an ordinance of the church along with water baptism and the Lord's Supper. But Christians through the centuries have believed that Jesus meant that His disciples should follow His example by serving humbly rather than by specifically washing each other's feet, and nowhere else in the New Testament do its writers treat foot-washing as another ordinance.
The book of 1 Timothy 5.10 speaks of foot washing as an example of humble service along with a number of others, but not as an ordinance of the church. It was the attitude of humility that disciples should have toward one another that was the point that Jesus was making, not simply the performance of a ritual which loses its point with modern clothing. Furthermore Jesus called foot-washing an example implying that there were to be other examples of the same attitude. It was an appropriate example of humble service in a culture where people wore sandals and soiled their feet easily in the heat of the day.
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.
This statement is so patently true that it cannot be denied. He was saying, ‘as I am greater than you and have done this, so you too must be ready to behave in the same way’. The trouble is that the Lord Is so deeply humble and so ready to serve that it makes it difficult for us arrogant humans to follow suit. We are so the opposite of being humble. I know of many ministers today who are one way when it is show time and another in life. We are good at putting on an act at the right time when we feel it necessary, but we find it difficult to do it all the time, especially when it is out of the limelight. It is one thing to know these things. It is another to do them. But blessing only follow if we do them.
