Boyd's Commentary. R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation

      EXPOSITION

       I. WASHING THE DISCIPLES’ FEET (JOHN 13:1–11)

      Verse 1 opens with the description of the scene of Jesus and His disciples before the Feast of the Passover. Knowing His hour had come and it was time for Him to depart from this world and go back to the Father, Jesus was having a final meal with His disciples.

      Knowing who Jesus was, where He was from, and where He was going was central to John’s depiction of Jesus throughout the Gospel. Jesus was mission-driven and had been given authority by His status as the Word who had been enfleshed (John 1:14). The restatement of Jesus’ status helped to further set the shock experienced by His disciples as even more understandable. Verse 3 makes clear Jesus was operating according to a divine plan and timing. It further pressed the claim that He was God in the flesh or that He and the Father were one (10:30). Jesus was moving and thinking in a dimension in which normal human beings are unable to operate. He was not operating according to the rules of time or space but rather on a divine plane that demands His essence more than the world to which He had come to offer salvation.

      Confident of His identity coming from God and in His intent to go back to God, Jesus rose from supper, laid aside His garments, and wrapped Himself with a towel. This He did to prepare Himself for what He was going to do next—He began to wash the disciples’ feet.

      While it isn’t clear if Peter was the first disciple Jesus came to, Peter’s protest was clear. “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” (13:6, NRSV) exemplified the shock and wonderment of all of the disciples in regard to Jesus’ actions. In ancient Near Eastern culture, being at someone’s feet, being stepped on, or even being struck by someone’s shoe was a tremendous insult. Washing someone’s feet was a humbling and humiliating act of domestic servitude, relegated to those who were considered of a lower subservient class. It’s no wonder Peter and the rest of the disciples were apprehensive about Jesus washing their feet. To them, the prestige and pedigree of Jesus absolved Him of ever having to be subject to such lowly duties. Nevertheless, Jesus washed their feet and offered a disclaimer while doing so, “You do not know what I am doing, but later you will understand” (10:7, NRSV). This was Jesus’ way of assuring the disciples they could trust everything would be made clear in due time. This He said to address their confusion with both His current actions and what would happen to Him later.

      This did nothing, however, to settle Peter’s resistance to the Lord relegating Himself to the status of a servant. In disgust, he expressed his discomfort by telling Jesus, “You will never wash my feet” (13:8, NRSV). Jesus’ rebuttal to Peter was quick and firm, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me” (13:8, NRSV). Either Peter would be washed by Jesus or he would be excluded from being an heir to the Kingdom. The force of His words of consequence was devastating to Peter. In reaction to Jesus’ ultimatum, Peter took the extreme opposite position. Almost with the same breath of saying “You will never wash my feet,” he instructed Jesus to wash not just his feet but his hands and head as well. Once again, Peter missed the point, so Jesus corrected him saying, “One who has bathed does not to wash, except for the feet” (13:10, NRSV). Because the popular footwear during that time was open-toe sandals, the feet always were dirty and in need of washing. Through Jesus’ act of washing His disciples’ feet, He demonstrated the example of humility, servitude, and love. While washing the disciples’ feet, Jesus used the analogy of being clean to affirm that because of their acceptance of Him as their Lord, they were clean, though not all of them. This referred to Judas of Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus the Christ.

      Amazingly, even as Jesus demonstrated servanthood by washing the disciples’ feet, He also showed redemptive love. Even as He acknowledged Judas’s future betrayal, He presumably washed his feet. Judas did not leave the gathering until later in the passage at verse 30. Judas even participated in the final meal! Instead of singling Judas out, Jesus offered a cleansing before the ultimate act of sinful activity, betrayal of the Son of God. Jesus understood that more than most, Judas needed a cleansing not only of his feet but of his soul.

      Later in the passage, Jesus gave a new command to love one another, excluding outsiders and enemies. Much scholarship has been devoted as to why John’s Gospel does not include some form of Jesus’ words found in the Synoptic Gospels to love one’s enemies and outsiders. However, if we read this passage in light of the pericope’s context, even though Jesus did not say to love your enemies, He showed what it is to love your enemies. He loved Judas even in his betrayal. While making this point, the text illuminates there is always a choice in response to divine love or any form of love. Though Jesus showed Judas love by including him in the foot washing, Judas did not cease his plans to hand Jesus over to those who would later crucify Him. Jesus loved him anyway.