Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end.
John's Gospel turns a corner here: the public ministry is over, and Jesus now speaks as One on His way out of the world. Everything that follows — the towel, the basin, the farewell talk — grows out of what He knew and whom He loved.
The verse opens with what Jesus knew. One writer weighs how complete that knowledge was.
He was the only man whom nothing took by surprise. All was read and known and felt in the presence of God His Father. He knew all along that He was to die. He knew its form, its character, and its aim — in God's purpose, and in the malice of man and Satan. Here we see more: how near it now was, and how immense its consequences, stood before His mind.
None of that cooled His love. Another writer lists what He saw waiting for Him:
He knew every detail: the malice of Satan, the treachery of Judas, the denial of Peter, all the disciples forsaking Him, the bitter persecutions of the Jews and of the Romans, His crucifixion. More dreadful than all of these, He knew He must suffer the judgment of God for our sins. These things are not mentioned here. Yet through it all His love for His own stayed as full and pure as it had been from the beginning.
The wording is striking. It does not say He was cast out of the world, though He was; it says He would depart out of it, to the Father.
This is the language belonging to the One who came into the world with a mission to carry out, and when it was complete He would go out of it quietly, calmly, confidently, in the blessed consciousness that what He came to do had been gloriously done. He came forth "from the Father" (16:28) and He travelled through a sin-ridden world, His footsteps constantly dogged by those who always tried to prove His moral failure; thank God they could not.
This departure also marks a structural break in the book. From here on, the Christ speaks as one already on the other side.
All through the Gospel, from chapter 1, He is unknown to the world, and rejected by the Jews. "He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him." But from chapter 13 He speaks as going out of the world and ascending on high.
Early in this same Gospel the words "His own" described a nation that turned Him away. Here the same phrase marks out a unique company in the world.
John's Gospel records the rejection of our Lord Jesus Christ very early. Yet in these wonderful words in John 13 we read that there was still something in the world that He called His own... If what was His own in John 1:10 was kept from Him, and if His own people Israel refused Him, that only brought the eternal purpose to light. In the world that would later crucify Him, He has brought to light a unique company that He gladly owns as distinctly His own.
One writer starts from an ordinary human joy:
The human heart has a peculiar joy in having something it can call its own. It is not so much the value of the thing owned, as the simple awareness that it is mine. Now it is just like this that Jesus speaks of us. He tells me that I am His, and that He delights in its being so.
Time is not the main point of this phrase. One writer traces the word itself:
The expression "He loved them to the end" does not simply mean that He loved them to the end of His pathway... Look at another expression in the New Testament, in Hebrews 7:25: "he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him." This word has the same root as "end" in John 13:1. It means that He loved them completely, He loved them utterly, He loved them abidingly.
Another puts the same thought in terms of cost:
He loved not merely till the end, as a question of time, however true this may be, but taking up each need, and bearing all the labour for them, whatever the draught on it, unremittingly and without wavering.
Leaving them did not end His service.
He had loved His own, He loved them to the end; His heart did not give them up, but He knew that He must leave them. Would He cease to be their servant in love? No, He would be it for ever. Everything was ready for His departure, even the heart of Judas. The wicked treachery of Judas lay below Him; the glory He was about to enter lay above Him. Neither one separated His heart from His disciples. He ceases to be their companion; He remains their Servant.
- Knew. He saw it all ahead — Judas, Peter, the cross — and none of it lessened His love for His own.
- Departed. No one drove Him out. He went out to the Father, His mission finished and His communion with the Father unbroken.
- Owned. Rejected by His own nation, He still found in the world a company He gladly calls "His own."
- Loved. "To the end" means to the uttermost — completely, utterly, abidingly — not merely to a date on a calendar.
- Served. Because that love could not stop, He kept serving: He ceased to be their companion, but He remains their Servant for ever.
And during supper, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas [son] of Simon, Iscariote, that he should deliver him up,
Two forces sit at the same table in this verse. One is the love of Jesus for His own. The other is a plan of betrayal, already planted in the heart of one of the twelve men Jesus chose to be with Him. John names the source of that plan and names the man. Then he shows the Lord rising from the meal to serve.
Older translations read "supper being ended." Commentators read it the other way: the meal was still going on. The timing matters, because of what the Lord does next.
The Authorised Version treats the phrase as meaning the end of the meal. But I agree with those who take it as the arrival of the time for supper. The wonderful action we are about to hear of confirms this. There is no doubt that it was usual to have the feet washed before supper, not after.
The suggestion did not fall on neutral ground. Judas had a known appetite, and the enemy knew its price.
Judas was a covetous man. He loved money — a very common love in every age. He had preached the gospel. He had walked in company with the Lord Jesus during the days of His public ministry. He had heard His words, seen His ways, experienced His kindness. But, sadly, though an apostle, though a companion of Jesus, though a preacher of the gospel, he had no heart for Christ. He had a heart for money... Satan knew this. He knew the particular craving of Judas. He was fully aware of the price at which he could be bought.
That appetite had a history. The fall came in steps, not all at once.
We can see three steps in his fall. First there was the unjudged covetousness which led him to become even a thief (John 12:6). Then came the action of Satan. He put it into Judas' mind to recover part of his loss (John 13:2). The three hundred pence which the ointment was worth had not come into his hands, and in the end he settled for ten per cent of that sum. Lastly Satan entered into him. The master spirit of evil took personal control. Nothing was to go wrong in the arrangements that would bring about the Lord's death.
Verse 2 and verse 27 describe two different things, and the distance between them is a warning.
Judas was clearly there, and the devil had already put it into his heart to betray the Lord (v. 2). Afterwards the Lord gave him the piece of bread, and Satan entered into him (v. 27). Satan drove him to carry out his purpose. That is the fatal result of not refusing at once a first suggestion or form of evil (1 Thess. 5:22).
The devil was out to ruin a soul as well as to strike at the Lord — and Judas never knew whom he was selling.
Here we are reminded of the devil's hostility to the Lord, and of his readiness to ruin an immortal soul forever, set against the unchanging love of Christ towards His own... Who was Judas betraying? He little knew. But here the writer tells us. It was the One into whose hands the Father had given all things. Judas, therefore, the chief priests, and the devil must all be subject to His power, to be dealt with as He wills. All are absolutely at His disposal. As a man Judas saw Him. He betrayed a man, very likely hoping that the Lord would escape by some act of power, so that His enemies would lose their prey while he kept the money.
The betrayal came through someone inside the circle, and that is part of its horror.
So it was with Jesus. The enemy's hate came out most strongly as the love of God showed itself in Him and through Him. But how crushing to human pride that the devil worked through a man and a disciple, the close, personal, honoured follower of the Lord Jesus!... In that holy company he had trifled with sin, with the greed that always clung to him. Now the devil prompted him to gratify it by betraying the Son of God.
Yet the plot did not stop the Lord's service to His own. It went ahead at that very hour.
Nothing can stop or hinder this service for His own. He girds Himself to wash the disciples' feet at the very moment of Judas' betrayal of Him (John 13:2). He owns all things. He came from God and He is going to God. That dignity does not hold Him back from this service either. On the contrary, He uses His power in humbling Himself to serve His beloved ones.
- Snare. Judas loved money, and the enemy knew the exact price at which he could be bought.
- Suggestion. The devil put the plan into his heart. At this stage it was still only a suggestion, not yet a takeover.
- Surrender. A first suggestion not refused at once opened the door; by verse 27 Satan had entered him.
- Sovereignty. The man he sold was the One into whose hands the Father had given all things. So Judas, the priests and the devil were all at His disposal.
- Service. In that same hour Christ rose and washed His disciples' feet. Nothing could stop His love for His own.
[Jesus,] knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he came out from God and was going to God,
Between the last supper and the cross, John tells us what was in the mind of Jesus. Not fear. Not the betrayal already in motion. He knew what the Father had put in His hands, and He knew where He came from and where He was going. What He does with that knowledge is the surprise of the chapter.
One writer asks us to weigh what Jesus knew, and then to watch what any other person would have done with it.
Notice how the Holy Spirit has recorded this for us: "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands." Everything the Lord did in this chapter, He did in the full consciousness of the unmatched dignity the Father had put upon Him. His right hand was full and His left hand was full. The Father had put all things into the hands of Jesus, whom men despised. The Father had committed to Him the whole range of the glory of God: the control of angels, the blessing of men, the judgment of devils; things in heaven, things on earth, and things under the earth. This was proof of the absolute confidence the Father placed in Him. He knew it, and knowing it, what will He do? What would any other man have done? Would he not have unveiled the glory before the astonished eyes of those who had despised Him? Did Jesus do this? No. He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, tied a towel around His waist, and washed His disciples' feet.
The scene has been read alongside Paul's description of Christ emptying Himself. The two accounts are placed side by side, with one careful limit.
In John 13 you get in symbolic language what Philippians 2 plainly declares. He who "did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped," who "made himself nothing," is shown by John as "laying aside His garments" — not His deity, but His glory. He humbled Himself. And in wonderful grace He took the place of a servant: He took a towel and "tied it around His waist."
The verse names where He was going: back to God. One writer draws two things from that word.
It says "to God" in verse 3, because this affirms that Christ returns in the spotless divine perfection in which He left God. He is just as perfect as ever, and He goes back as such to God — He goes back just as He came. He did not go half way, but came from God and went back to God. And then He must bring us into the same place too. Either He must give us up, since He could not stay here where we are, or He must do everything needed to fit us to be where He is.
Another writer follows the two halves of the verse: out from God, and back to God.
He came out to reveal God; no created being could do that. Having done that, He went back to God. He did not come a Man from heaven; He came out to take the body prepared for Him. But if so, He did not go back as He came out. He took manhood in order to go there, and He has gone there as man. He did so because He is taking up again the place He had left, the place that belongs to Him as God. In this sense He has carried manhood to the throne of God. As people often say, God has come out and Man has gone in, in the same blessed One.
The "all things" were His, but the moment to take them up had not come.
The time has not yet come for Him to take possession of the "all things" the Father has given into His hands. But He rises to secure what is more precious to Him than everything else: the unbroken and unrivalled possession of our hearts, against all that would dispute it with Him.
His words to Peter settle what the washing was for.
His own words explain it all: "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me" — older translations read "no part with me." What do we learn from this? That all His people have a part with Him. They share all the benefits of His life and death. The Father loves them as He loves Christ Himself. They have a part with Him in His future glory. They are heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ. He washed their feet knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands. In doing so He declared this: the love He had for His disciples while He was with them in the world would go on after He had left them.
- Knowing — Everything He does next flows from what He knew: the Father had put all things in His hands.
- Given — He did not use that glory to impress anyone. He laid aside His garments — never His deity.
- Coming — He came from God to reveal God. He went back in the same spotless perfection, carrying manhood to God's throne.
- Claiming — He left the universe unclaimed for now, and reached first for our hearts.
- Sharing — He stooped so we could have part with Him — sharers in His love, His glory, His inheritance.
rises from supper and lays aside his garments, and having taken a linen towel he girded himself
At supper with His disciples, Jesus stood up and did the work of a slave. Every movement counts — rising, laying aside His clothes, taking the towel, tying it on — and each one raises the same question: why?
One writer sets what Jesus knew about Himself against what He then did:
Everything the Lord did in this chapter, He did in the full consciousness of the incomparable dignity that the Father had put on Him. His right hand was full and His left hand was full. The Father had put all things into His hands — into the hands of Jesus whom men despised... He knew it, and knowing it, what will He do? What would any other man have done? Would he not have unveiled the glory before the astonished eyes of those who had despised Him?... He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, tied a towel around Himself, and washed His disciples' feet. In the tenderness of divine love He did for them the labour of a slave!
Was the meal over when He stood up, or just starting? One writer weighs the wording against the custom of the day:
The Authorised Version treats the phrase as meaning the meal had ended. But I agree with those who take it to mean that the time for supper had come. The wonderful action we are about to hear of confirms this. Without doubt, the custom was to wash the feet before supper, not after.
Commentators differ on what the removed clothing pictures. Some see in it an earlier and greater stooping:
With this consciousness He rises from supper: lowly service is to follow the sweetness of communion. He laid aside His garments. This quietly reminds us that He laid aside the garments of Godhead glory and dignity, to serve as a man in the place of subjection. Then He took a linen towel and tied it around Himself, for His aim was the blessing and comfort of His disciples.
Others read it as the setting aside of His rank in that room:
He rose up from supper, put aside His garments and tied a towel around Himself. In doing this He put aside His place as their Lord and Teacher and became a servant to each one. They held Him in the deepest respect. For Him to stoop down and do so lowly a task as washing their dirty feet was itself a proof of the love and tender feeling He had towards them. It also showed He was willing to go right down to the lowest level to meet their needs.
The towel is not decoration. It is working clothes. One writer traces the picture behind it, and what it lays on us:
The figure comes from the apron a slave tied on, so that he could work hard without soiling his clothes. The Lord had a far different motive. He stooped lower still when He tied on a linen towel to wipe the feet of His own, which He washed clean from defilement. This was holy love; and this alone compels us to tie on humility.
Standing up marked a change of place. He was about to leave them, but leaving would not end His service:
He could no longer stay with them on earth. He had to leave them; but even so He would not give them up. He would make them fit to be where He was... They were all supping together here at the same table. But He leaves this position, just as He left His personal company with His disciples, by going up to heaven, by going to God. But, if He does, He still girds Himself for their service, and takes water to wash their feet. Although in heaven, He is still serving us.
The service He does for us leaves a duty behind:
We are to copy the action of our Advocate. If we rejoice in the service He is doing for us in this role, we must never forget the duty laid on us to serve one another. Is there not room here for much heart-searching? Do we know our own duty as well as we know the teaching about Christ's service to us?
- Knowing — He acted in full awareness that all things were in His hands, and used that dignity to do a slave's work.
- Rising — leaving the table shows He could not stay with them on earth. He stood up to make them fit for where He was going.
- Laying aside — the garments He removed picture a stooping. Writers differ: some see the glory of Godhead, others His place as Lord and Teacher.
- Girding — the towel is a slave's apron, and that same holy love is what obliges us to tie on humility.
- Continuing — the girding was never untied; from heaven He still serves, and asks us to serve one another.
then he pours water into the washhand basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the linen towel with which he was girded.
Jesus stoops down and washes the feet of His twelve disciples. Commentators see two things at once: a real act of lowly service, and a picture of what He keeps doing for His people.
The details of the scene follow the custom of the day, and each step lowers Him further.
In that country, if a man invited you to his house, the first thing he did was provide water for the feet. In Genesis 18:3-4, Abraham did this; in Luke 7 the Lord reproaches Simon that he did not. The Lord takes here the place of host, and provides the water, and He also takes the slave's post, and washes their feet. The Lord of glory stoops down and washes the feet of these twelve men. It was perfect grace. He who was God stooped down and became a man. Then, as man, He stooped to do something few of us would have the grace to do.
He put water in the basin, not blood. That choice separates two works of Christ.
Notice carefully that the question here is water, not blood. Readers of John's Gospel will have seen how much he makes of "water" as well as "blood." His first letter also says the Lord came by water and blood — not by water only, but by water and blood (1 John 5:6). He purifies as well as atones. He uses the word to cleanse those who are washed from their sins in His blood.
That distinction matters most at the moment a believer fails.
And if we do fail, this is no question of putting away sin, and of blood. It is a question of water. Christ is then an advocate, pleading for us to restore our souls. In John 13 He did not put blood into the basin, but water... I have defiled my feet, and then I get water, and not blood. Water, as a figure, always signifies the application of the word by the power of the Holy Spirit.
He washed one part of them only, and the choice was deliberate.
The Lord washed the disciples' feet, not their hands. Hands are for work and the feet for walking. His action has a meaning in connection with our walk in the world. We pick up defilement as we pass through this world. And defilement cuts off communion with the Lord... We must come to Him with our failures, our stumbling, imperfect walk, our defilement. We place ourselves in His hands, as the disciples placed their soiled feet in His loving hands. His own perfect light then searches us to the core and shows what has defiled us. Once we are cleansed, we can enjoy His fellowship and have part with Him. This needs confession and self-judgment on our side.
So what does the washing gain for us? The answer is about now, not later.
Here we see the Lord putting us in contact with the Word — the water of purification. He Himself applies it by the Spirit to our consciences and our walk. His aim is to give us a present part with Him, not a future one. "If I do not wash you, you have no share with Me."
The towel finishes what the water begins.
There was something else to be learned in the selfless act of the Lord. The water He poured out and used removed the dirt and defilement. With the towel, it also set "His own" clean and at ease in His presence. There was to be no distracting element upon them. He would have them know comfort and rest.
Jesus told them to do for each other what He had done. One writer warns that we can copy the props and miss the point.
Our Lord said, "I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you." He certainly did not mean that we should copy Him in the mere preparations for that service — the girding with the towel, the pouring of water into the basin. Many show great skill at such preparations. But they break down at the act of feet washing, because they refuse to kneel down to reach the brother's feet... "If I do not first judge in myself the flesh I see active in my brother — for the same exists in me — I am not fit to wash his feet."
- Stoops — He takes both the host's place and the slave's place, providing the water and then kneeling to use it.
- Water — the basin holds water, not blood: He atones by blood, and goes on purifying by the word.
- Feet — hands are for work, feet for walking; He deals with the defilement our walk through the world picks up.
- Part — the share He gives is present, not future: no washing, no communion with Him now.
- Towel — He finishes the work. He wipes His own clean and at rest, then tells us to kneel and do the same for each other.