John 13:5–11

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.

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.

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.

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.

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."

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.

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."

In the full awareness of His personal dignity He rose. He took a towel and a basin of water, and went on to wash the disciples' feet — a service usually done by slaves in wealthy homes. Peter expressed his astonishment: "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Both pronouns are emphatic. The Son of the living God doing menial service for a Galilean fisherman! Peter could not bear the thought.

Peter was too self-confident. He was ignorant not only of himself and of the defiling scene around him, but of the depth and constancy of Christ's love. So he says to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" We grant that he could not know what had not yet been revealed. But was it fitting in him, was it reverent, to question what the Lord was doing? He may have thought it humility in himself, and honour to the Lord, to decline so menial a service at His hands. But Peter should never have forgotten this: Jesus never said a word and never did an act except what was worthy of God and showed the Father.

The others accept the Lord's service in wondering silence. Peter, driven by his forceful character, says everything he thinks. Three times he speaks, and each time he exposes his ignorance of the Lord's mind. His first words play down the Lord's lowly service. His second refuses it outright. His last impulsively accepts the service, but in a way that would strip it of all its deep meaning. Yet, as someone has said, "If the mistakes of the disciples warn us, the answers that correct them teach us far more."

The Lord answers, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." So we learn that at that moment the disciples could not grasp the spiritual meaning of the Lord's act. Later, when the Spirit has come, He will make it all plain. Clearly then this service was not, as many say, a lesson in humility taught by the Lord's own act of supreme humility. There would be no need for Peter to wait for a later day to see the humility of the act. His very words show that the Lord's humility was uppermost in his thoughts at that moment.

When we come to these communications (John 13), what is the first thing He brings out? Not salvation, for we already know we are saved for eternity. There is no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. But we do need provision to keep us clean while on the journey, and the Lord gives this at the opening of the chapter.

Now Peter should have said, "If the Lord stoops down to wash my feet, it must be because His love is at stake, His glory is at stake, the will of His God and Father is at stake, and, more than that, because I need it." All our needs only give occasion to bring out the Lord's grace and to display His glory. Who would want to be without that? So it is not a question of whether it suits me. I am sure I need it. The question is whether it suits Him.

We need not wonder at Peter's reluctance to let the Lord serve him in this way. The Master at the feet of the servant naturally seemed out of place. But what shall we say when we remember that He now, in glory, stoops to do that lowly service for the humblest believer on earth? It was love to the end. Love to the end it truly shows — love no creature could have predicted or even guessed at.

To Peter it was unthinkable that the Lord of glory should stoop to wash those wayward feet. So his first words are protest mixed with surprise: "Lord, do you wash my feet?" The Lord answers, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." So we learn that the disciples could not then discern the spiritual meaning of the Lord's act. Later, when the Spirit has come, everything will be plain. Clearly, then, this service was not what people often say. It was not a lesson in humility taught by an act of supreme humility on the Lord's part. Peter would not need to wait for a later day to see the humility of the act. His own words show that the Lord's humility was uppermost in his thoughts at that moment.

But the gentle Lord answered him in fullness of grace: "What I am doing you do not know (οἶδας) just now, but you will know (γνώσῃ) afterwards." Was this not a serious but compassionate hint to Peter, if he had been in the mood to learn? He should have gathered from the Lord's words, even if he did not at once bow to His act, that there was a meaning worthy of Him. He thought it due to the Father, in truest and lowliest love to the children, to wash their feet. He should have gathered more than this: what he did not know of himself then, he was to learn afterwards. I take it this means after His rejection and death, resurrection and ascension, when the Holy Spirit would be given to guide them into all the truth.

Only when the Holy Spirit came down was there the spiritual understanding to learn the meaning of this action. All through the Lord's life people misunderstood His words. Until a person has the Holy Spirit, there will never be knowledge of the mind and ways of God. Having life does not mean having power and understanding. The possession of the Holy Spirit marks the difference between believers now and those of past times.

The Lord's action here is deeply symbolic. To take from it only the lesson of humility is, I do not hesitate to say, to miss the point of the teaching. We see it must have a deeper character by reading from verse 7 to verse 10. It is essential to having part with Christ. It is, in fact, the Lord's present service in the Father's presence for His people in this world.

And all this shows us that forgiveness is one thing. Communion with Christ, as the object that fills our hearts, is quite another... Mark His ways of love with Peter. "What I am doing you do not understand now," Jesus had said, "but afterward you will understand." The time had come when Peter should know the action of the washing of the Word in the reality of its blessing. He should also welcome the love of Jesus that stooped to do it.

What weighty words! "Now" and "Afterwards"! How much we all need to remember them! Often "now" is wrapped in darkness we cannot see through. We cannot explain our Father's dealings at all... We are wholly taken up with "now." Dark, unbelieving reasonings fill our minds. Then those precious words fall on the ear in a still small voice: "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand."

Now Peter ought to have said, "If the Lord stoops down to wash my feet, it must be because His love is concerned, His glory is concerned, the will of His God and Father is concerned, and, more than that, I need it." For all our needs only give occasion to bring out the Lord's grace and to show His glory. Who then would wish to be without that? So it is not a question of whether it suits me. I am sure I need it. The question is not whether it suits me, but whether it suits Him.

Notice that the Lord does not say, part in Me. The service of feet-washing is precious, and yet it could never secure "part in Christ." That took the greater work of the Cross. Once accomplished, that work can never be repeated, and it has secured part in Christ for ever to every believer. Feet-washing is an earthly picture of a service that continues in heaven. That service lets believers on earth hold communion with Christ in heaven. For do not the Lord's words "part with Me" mean communion with Himself?

This assurance is solemn, and not for Peter only. It is for all who make light of the same gracious provision on His part, who forget or have never grasped their own need of it. The question is not so much about life as about fellowship — about a part with Christ rather than in Him, though the two cannot really be separated. Christ was going on high to God; Peter and the rest were still on earth, surrounded by defilements along the way. Christ would neither reduce His love to His own, nor treat their failures lightly. So the disciples' feet needed washing, since walking through the world soils them. And this is carried on by the word applied to the conscience by the Spirit. The believer bows, judges himself, and is cleansed in practice. His communion returns, and he can enjoy the things of Christ. He has part with Him.

Still the Lord waits on His own, girded, with the basin and towel, ready Himself to do the work so needed, so impossible to do for ourselves. "If I wash you not." So He expects, not clean feet, but feet to be cleansed; and the cleansing is what He has undertaken to perform, and we may safely — though not carelessly — leave it with Him.

In John 13 the Lord is sitting with the disciples as their companion in the world. He knew that the glory was His and that He was going to it. In the perfect holiness of His nature He says to Peter, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with me." I am going away, but I am not going to give you up. I must have you with me where I go, and dirty feet will not do for heaven.

Sadly, I fear that too often, like Peter, we resist the wholesome water of the Word — and with less excuse than he had. He might have pleaded that he did not know Christ's intention; we cannot. We know now that He would only shape us by it for deeper intimacy with Himself, for we are His own. But we love too well something He must detach us from. And yet it is Jesus who stoops to wash you! My brother, my sister, can you say to Him, "You shall never wash my feet"? Yet we say it in effect if we are afraid of the truth and try to turn its edge away from us and our ways.

"Then He comes to Simon Peter." The others accept the Lord's service in wondering silence. Peter, driven by his forceful character, says everything he thinks. He speaks three times, and each time he exposes his ignorance of the Lord's mind. He first objects to the Lord's lowly service. Then he refuses it outright. Then he accepts it on impulse, but in a way that would rob it of all its deep meaning. Yet, as someone has said, "The mistakes of the disciples warn us, but the answers that correct them teach us far more."

Peter objects to the Lord humbling Himself to wash his feet. Then he learns that this washing is essential if he is to have part with Jesus where He was going. And so we learn more. His wonderful service for us includes recovery from sin and the restoration of the soul. But it goes much further, in love that cannot bear a cloud between us and Him. He provides for the removal of whatever would block the light and joy of His presence. Peter thought he could not have too much of such washing.

It is a question not so much of life as of fellowship — of a part with Christ rather than a part in Him, though the two cannot really be separated.

The Lord's warning alarms His servant. At once he runs to the opposite extreme: "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head." Now Peter cannot have too much. He wants the whole bath again, as if all the value of his earlier washing could evaporate, and he needed it as much as if it had never happened. But it is never so. To see and enter the kingdom of God one must be born again, born of water and of the Spirit. But this is never repeated. The new birth allows no such repetition.

The Greek words for "washing" in John 13 differ in meaning, and that difference teaches important truth. The word in John 13:10 is louō, "to cleanse, wash thoroughly." Anyone cleansed in this sense never needs that washing again. He is, as the Lord said, "completely clean." Yet to have "part with" Christ, he still needs his feet washed, because of the dirt he picks up along the way. Here the word is niptō, an action used only on parts of the body.

Christianity holds both truths together. It never weakens the basic and eternal character of the new birth. And it never denies how vital continual self-judgment and confession are. The bathing is never repeated. The feet-washing is always needed here on earth, if we claim to have communion with Christ.

The dust of the road soils and tires a traveller's feet. In the same way the believer meets the daily round, the duties of home life, the pressures of business life, and the constant conflict with evil. His spirit often grows weary, and that keeps him from sharing Christ's things with Him. He has not done anything the conscience would take account of, calling for confession and the work of the Advocate. His spirit is simply tired and needs refreshing. Christ delights to give that refreshment, if we will only put our feet into His hands.

Our Lord washed the feet of His disciples as a symbolic act. He said, "The one who has bathed [Greek louō, to wash the WHOLE body] does not need to wash [Greek niptō, to wash A PART of the body], except for his feet, but is completely clean." The first washing matches the ceremonial washing of the priests all over, which was never repeated. The second matches the washing of the hands and feet at the bronze basin, done again and again.

The "washing of regeneration," the cleansing brought about in new birth, never needs to be repeated. Despite everything in this world that works against it, the effect is permanent... In how many ways we are reminded of the unfailing character of God's precious grace! The love that has laid hold of us for eternal glory is not going to be defeated in what it has taken in hand to do. The washing of the feet can be repeated again and again, but not the bathing of the whole person.

There is the first bathing, the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit, which is never repeated. But there is the need of having the feet washed whenever they are defiled along the way. Neither one refers to blood, but to water — necessary as it is that Christ's blood washes us from our sins for redemption.

Now water is a well-known symbol for the Word... Paul speaks even more directly when he uses the phrase, "the washing of water by the Word," and this in connection with cleansing — though there it is the Church, not the individual believer (Eph. 5:26). It is very clear, then, why the Lord used water in the scene before us. He was showing that after He left, He would cleanse their feet — their walk — by applying the Word. How, then, is this application of the Word produced? When we sin, the Lord undertakes our cause with the Father. He then exercises the office of the Advocate. The result for us is that the Spirit of God begins to deal with us about it, in God's own time. He brings the sin to our memory and applies the Word to our consciences. This produces self-judgment in us and leads us on to confess our sin, and so we are restored.

There is no repetition of that first and absolute cleansing of the person. If our feet get defiled as we walk through a muddy world, that defilement must be washed away, because it hinders our communion with Him. And He sees to this as Advocate with the Father, if we sin. The firm foundation of God stands, and our standing remains. But if we defile our feet, He deals with us by His word and Spirit, and so restores the communion that had been interrupted. He applies His advocacy to this need now that He is on high.

Then note that the washing of the feet, even by the Lord, gave neither life nor salvation. It is not for sinners but for saints, and is done only for the latter. That it gives neither life nor salvation is plain: Judas was not left out of the washing with actual water on that occasion. The time to unmask him had not come, so his feet were washed with the rest. Was the Lord unaware of what this man really was? He told them all that He was not. In the washing of regeneration Judas had no part. Being born of water and of the Spirit was an inward change he was a complete stranger to. Only for those who first have part in the washing of regeneration does the Lord now wash the feet.

He used two words for wash, the first of which means to wash all over, or bathe. So He said that a man who has been bathed needs only to wash his feet. He was pointing to the two washings of the priests. First came the bathing when they were set apart for their office (Lev. 8:6), which happened once for all. Then came the frequent washings of hands and feet every time they entered the sanctuary (Ex. 30:19). This once-for-all bathing is ours when we are born again... So here, the Lord said to the disciples, "You are clean," adding, "but not every one of you" — with Judas in mind. Despite all his claims to faith, no new birth had ever reached Judas.

The washing of the feet, even by the Lord, gave neither life nor salvation. It is not, as we have said, for sinners, but for saints, and is done only for them. That is clear from one fact: the Lord did not leave Judas out when He washed with actual water that evening. The time to unmask him had not come. The Lord washed his feet along with the rest... In the washing of regeneration Judas had no part.

The new birth holds and is never repeated, because it stays true and good. When one who is born again fails, that failure comes under Christ's active love and advocacy. He brings the soul to judge himself, so that fellowship is restored. Again, the case of Judas is not one of losing life. It shows that he had never been born of God, and no Scripture ever says he was.

Until Judas showed himself by betraying the Lord, he had his place among the apostles. We learn later why he was counted among them — so that the Scripture might be fulfilled (13:18; 17:12) — while the Lord knew all along what he was, and the terrible sin he would commit. No one could deceive Christ. He knew what was in man (2:25). He knew that some of the crowd which had followed Him across the water did not believe (6:64). He knew who would betray Him (13:11). He is a Divine Person who knows all about everyone. He let that knowledge appear only as circumstances arose.

There was one who was not born of water. Satan took advantage of that very one, and all the more because he was so near Christ. Nothing hastens the ruin of a man who has not received life from God like being near Christ. Someone may come into the presence of Christ not to receive life, but to push his own will and his own plans. He becomes nothing but the prey of Satan, and that in the form of direct opposition to the Son of God.

There was one present for whom it would have no meaning. The Lord has to say, "You are clean, but not every one of you." The betrayer had never been "washed all over." He had never been born again. So he would never feel the need for the Lord's gracious service, and never know its refreshment.