Jesus Washes The Desciples' Feet

 

John 13:1-11

13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had 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 back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share 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, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

 

 

I think v.3 is the interpretative key to this episode:

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God...[John 13:3].

It is not just Jesus as the rabbi and leader of the twelve who gets down in a humble position and washes His disciples’ feet, it is the Word Himself!

P.S. In v. 7, yet again, we get an example of how the disciples cannot truly understand Jesus until after the resurrection.

QUESTION(S) OF THE DAY
What does it say about the nature of God that Jesus washes His disciples feet? What does it say about the nature of reality that this is what God is like? Would more unbelievers come to faith if they understood that this is what God is like?