Then
he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said, “You are not all clean.” So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.
John 13:6-13
John 12 [44.] Jesus cried out and said, “Whoever believes in me, believes not in me, but in him who sent me. He who sees me sees him who sent me. I have come as a light into the world, that whoever believes in me may not remain in the darkness. If anyone listens to my sayings, and doesn’t believe, I don’t judge him. For I came not to judge the world, but to save the world. He who rejects me, and doesn’t receive my sayings, has one who judges him. The word that I spoke, the same will judge him in the last day. For I spoke not from myself, but the Father who sent me, he gave me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak. I know that his commandment is eternal life. The things therefore which I speak, even as the Father has said to me, so I speak.”
John 13 [1.] Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God, and was going to God, arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel, and wrapped a towel around his waist. Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
John 13 [7.] Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.”
John 13 [8.] Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!”
Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
John 13 [9.] Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
John 13 [10.] Jesus said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” For he knew him who would betray him, therefore he said, “You are not all clean.” So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither one who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen. But that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’ From now on, I tell you before it happens, that when it happens, you may believe that I am he. Most certainly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.”
John 13 [21.] When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, “Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.”
Meaning:
Jesus had risen from supper, wrapped a towel around his waist, and begun washing his disciples’ feet (John 13:3-5). This was the work of the lowest servant, and Peter could not bear it. Their conversation explains what the washing meant.
- “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
At the same supper Jesus said, “I am among you as one who serves” (Luke 22:27). Peter would understand “later,” after the cross and resurrection.
- “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me”
Peter refused outright, but Jesus’ reply turned the act into a picture of salvation. To have a “part” with Jesus is to share in him and his inheritance. No one can belong to him without first being cleansed by him. Paul writes that God saved us “through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit” (Titus 3:5).
- “Not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
Peter swung to the other extreme. Jesus explained that a person who has bathed needs only his feet washed. A guest who had bathed would only get dusty feet on the way. In the same way, a disciple who has been cleansed by Christ does not need to be saved again, yet needs daily cleansing from the sins picked up along the way.
- “You are not all clean”
One disciple was not clean. Jesus washed the feet of Judas too, knowing what he was about to do.
- “You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly”
Jesus did not deny his authority; he affirmed it. The one who truly is Lord had taken the servant’s place, and this prepares for his instruction that they should wash one another’s feet (John 13:14-15). Paul describes the same humility: Christ “emptied himself, taking the form of a servant” (Philippians 2:7).
The Significance of John 13:6-13
- Receiving before giving
Before serving, the disciples had to let Jesus serve them. Christian life begins by receiving his cleansing.
- Daily cleansing
Believers who have been made clean still need to bring their daily failures to him, trusting that he continues to wash and restore.
Cross-References:
Luke 22:27: "But I am among you as one who serves." Jesus' words at the same supper.
Titus 3:5: "he saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit," The cleansing that gives a part with Christ.
Philippians 2:7: "but emptied himself, taking the form of a servant," The Lord who became a servant.
Conclusion: When Peter protested that his Lord should never wash his feet, Jesus taught that no one can have a part with him without being washed by him. Those who have been cleansed need only ongoing cleansing, yet one disciple at the table remained unclean. The Teacher and Lord took the servant’s place, showing the humility that leads to the cross.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible