John 13 Verses 1-17

John 13:1 “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.  

2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put 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 was come from God, and went to God; 4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5 After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 

6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. 

12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”  We make two points from this verse: 

1.  This verse teaches us Jesus unending love for his own people.   

2.  Some have thought that because this verse says that the event of washing the disciples’ feet took place before the feast of the Passover, that it was disassociated from the communion service which the Lord instituted.  However, we must remember that three things took place as the good man’s house that night: the communion service; supper; and the feast of the Passover.  The order would appear to be supper; communion service; and feast of the Passover.  In the previous gospels the washing of the saints’ feet is not discussed.  However, by following the timing of events that followed the feast of the Passover, we see that the washing of the saints’ feet took place on the same evening.  

After the feast, the Lord gave some very precious teaching and instruction to the disciples and then went out into the Garden of Gethsemane.  In the book of John the instructions continued from chapter 13 through chapter 17.  Beginning with chapter 18 the Lord took Peter, James and John apart into the garden.

“And supper being ended, the devil having now 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 was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.  After that he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”  There are several lessons taught to us in this passage: 

1.  The Devil had already put it in Judas Iscariot’s heart to betray Jesus.  As we will see later, Jesus knew that was the case. 

2.  No knowledge from the Father was being withheld from the Son.  Jesus knew that the Father had given all things into his hands.  Included in this all things was the redemption of all the sins of the elect family of God.

3.  Jesus knew that he had come from God and that he was going back to God.   

4.  All of the elements of the washing of the saint’s feet are given unto us in the description of the Lord’s washing of the disciple’s feet.  There was a wash basin with water; he laid aside his garments; he girded himself with a towel; and he washed the disciple’s feet.   

“Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?  Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.  Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.  Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.  Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.  For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”  From this we glean several lessons: 

1.  To Peter, the Lord’s washing of the disciple’s feet was completely contrary to what he had learned in the world.  In the world a servant would wash the master’s feet.  A master would never wash the disciple’s feet.   

2.  When Peter asked: “Lord, dost thou wash my feet?” he was questioning the properness of what the Lord was doing.  The Lord told Peter “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”  Thus, the Lord fully intended that He would make known to Peter what he was doing. 

3.  When Peter said, “Thou shalt never wash my feet,” the Lord answered, “If I wash thee not thou hast no part with me.”  With great speed, Peter changed his mind and said, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.”  The prospect of losing fellowship with the Lord caused Peter to quickly change his mind. 

4.  “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.  For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”  Washing of the disciples feet based on the Lord’s statement is not about cleansing from sin, but as the Lord stated they were clean every whit, with the exception of one.  Of course that one was Judas Iscariot.

“So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?  Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.  Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”  Here the Lord gave the disciples several reasons why they should wash one another’s feet: 

1.  The Lord and Master washed the disciples’ feet, therefore the disciples should wash one another’s feet. 

2.  The Lord gave us the example and we should follow his example.  The example was set forth for us in verses 4 and 5.   

3.  The servant is not greater than his Lord.  If the Lord has washed the disciple’s feet, then if the servant refused to wash feet, he would be setting himself up as being greater than his Lord. 

4.  “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”