John 13:2-172And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him; 3Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; 4He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. 5After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 6Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. 8Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10Jesus 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. 11For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. 12So 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? 13Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. 15For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. 16Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. (John 13:2‑17)
No longer could the Lord be the companion of His disciples in their pilgrimage on earth, yet He will not cease to be their servant in His new place in heaven. Thus, in the scene that follows, described in verses 2 to 17, we have an act of grace which, while closing the Lord’s service of love for His own on earth, foreshadows His coming service for His own when He takes His new place in glory. If He can no longer have part with us personally in the path of humiliation, He will make it possible for us to have part with Him in His place of glory. This, we judge, is the import of this gracious act of feet-washing. Throughout His perfect life the mind in Christ Jesus was ever to forget self in the service of love for others: and in this last act, though conscious of the dark shadow of the cross, the Lord is still forgetting self in order to serve His own.
Verses 2 and 3 introduce this lowly service by showing, on the one hand, its deep necessity, and on the other hand, the Lord’s perfect ability for the service.
The necessity of feet-washing is made manifest in that the disciples will be left in a world in which the devil and the flesh combine in deadly hostility to Christ. The reference to the betrayal of Judas in this opening scene, as also to the denial of Peter a little later, shows clearly that the flesh, whether in sinner or saint, is only material for the devil to use. The unjudged indulgence of the flesh had opened the heart of Judas to the devil’s suggestions. To betray one’s friend, and that too by the token of love, is repulsive even to the natural man; but the overpowering desire to gratify lust, prepares the heart to entertain a suggestion that is foreign to nature, and could only come from the devil.
In the presence of this fearful display of the power of the flesh and the devil, the prospect of being left in an evil world, with the flesh within and the devil without, may well appall the heart of the disciples. At once however our hearts are sustained by being directed from the flesh and the devil to Christ and the Father, to learn that “the Father hath given all things” into the hands of Christ. Great power is in the hands of the devil who hates us; but “all power” is in the hands of Christ who loves us. Nor is it only that “all power” had been given to Christ, but He was going to the place of power—He came from God and was going to God.
While feeling with His perfect sensibilities the treachery of a false disciple, and the coming denial of a true one, He, nevertheless, moved on in the calm consciousness that all power was in His hands, and that He was going to the place of power. In like manner He would have us to pass through a world of evil in the consciousness that He has all power and is in the place to exercise the power. Moreover, not only is the Lord in the place of power, with all power, but, in the scene that follows, He will let us know that He delights to use the power on our behalf. The One who has all power in His hands is the One who has all love in His heart. Thus it comes to pass that, moved by a heart of love, the One who has all power in His hands will take into those very hands the soiled feet of His way-worn disciples. The One who is Lord of all becomes the servant of all.
(Vv. 4, 5). To perform this gracious service “He riseth from supper.” He rises from the Passover supper, which speaks of His association with us in Kingdom glories (Luke 22:15, 1615And he said unto them, With desire I have desired to eat this passover with you before I suffer: 16For I say unto you, I will not any more eat thereof, until it be fulfilled in the kingdom of God. (Luke 22:15‑16)) to do that which leads to our communion with Him in heavenly glories. In the perfection of His grace He girds Himself for this last act of service, and, pouring the water into a basin, began to wash the disciples’ feet and wipe them with a towel wherewith He was girded.
(Vv. 6, 7). “Then cometh He to Simon Peter.” If others accept the Lord’s service in wondering silence, Peter, impelled by his forceful character, utters all his thoughts. Three times he speaks, each time exposing his ignorance of the Lord’s mind. His first utterance deprecates the Lord’s lowly service: the second utterance declines it absolutely: the last utterance impulsively submits to the service, but, in a way that would rob it of all its deep significance. Yet, as one has said, “If we are admonished by the mistakes of the disciples much more we are instructed by the answers which correct them.” In the Lord’s answer we learn the deep spiritual meaning of this last act of service.
To Peter it was incomprehensible that the Lord of glory should stoop to wash those wayward feet. Hence his first utterance is one of protest mingled with surprise— “Lord dost Thou wash my feet? The Lord answers, “What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.” Thus we learn that, at the moment, it was not possible for the disciples to discern the spiritual significance of the Lord’s act. Hereafter, when the Spirit has come, all will be made plain. Clearly then we learn that this service was not, as is often said, to teach a lesson in humility by an act of supreme humility on the part of the Lord. There would be no need for Peter to wait for a further day to discern the humility of the act. His very utterances show that the humility of the Lord was uppermost in his thoughts at that moment.
(V. 8). Undeterred by the Lord’s answer, which should have warned Peter to be silent until the hereafter of full enlightenment, he now boldly says “Thou shalt never wash my feet.” The Lord, in His patient grace, passing over the slight, corrects Peter’s impulsiveness by saying, “If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.” Brief as the answer is, we can see, now that the Spirit has been given, that it presents the spiritual significance of feet-washing. We learn that it symbolizes the present service of the Lord whereby He removes from our spirits everything that would hinder part with Him.
Let us note the Lord does not say, part in Me. Precious indeed is the service of feet-washing and yet it would never secure “part in Christ.” For this the greater work of the Cross was required, which, once accomplished can never be repeated. By this greater work part in Christ has been forever secured to every believer. Feet-washing is the symbolic setting forth on earth of a service continued in heaven—a service that enables believers on earth to hold communion with Christ in heaven: for do not the Lord’s words “part with Me” signify communion with Himself, in that scene of holy affection in the Father’s house? There is, indeed, the blessed fact that the Lord draws near to us and communes with us in our homes, as on the occasion when He entered the house at Emmaus; but part with Him, carries the yet more blessed thought that we can have communion with Him in His home, as was the case with the Emmaus disciples when, on the same night, they found the Lord in the midst of His gathered saints at Jerusalem. Again, do not the Lord’s words to the Laodiceans set forth this double truth, when He can say, “If any man hear My voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with Me.”
Further it would seem that feet-washing is not strictly a symbol of our Lord’s service as the Advocate, nor of His priestly grace, though indeed it partakes of the nature of both. The priestly work of the Lord has in view our infirmities: the advocacy of the Lord deals with actual sins. Feet-washing removes the dullness of soul, and chilling of the affections that may arise in the pursuit of the daily life, and which effectually hinder communion with Christ where He is.
Weariness and weakness of body may hinder us from being a witness for Christ here; then the priestly grace of Christ is active to support us in our infirmities. Alas! we may break down and sin, and no longer be fit to witness for Christ; then the Advocate restores the soul. If however the affections have been chilled, though there may be nothing to disturb the conscience, there will be a grave hindrance to communion with Christ, and then the service of feet-washing comes in to remove the hindrance. There is, moreover, the further difference between advocacy and feet-washing, that, whereas advocacy restores our souls in the place where we are, feet-washing restores our spirits to communion with Christ in the place where He is.
In the days of Israel’s journeying it was incumbent upon the priests to wash their feet before they entered the tabernacle. They might indeed have been fit for the people, the camp, and the wilderness, but fitness for the Lord’s presence could only be secured by feet-washing. Hence the laver was before the door of the tabernacle (Exod. 30:17-21; 40:30-3217And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, 18Thou shalt also make a laver of brass, and his foot also of brass, to wash withal: and thou shalt put it between the tabernacle of the congregation and the altar, and thou shalt put water therein. 19For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat: 20When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the Lord: 21So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations. (Exodus 30:17‑21)
30And he set the laver between the tent of the congregation and the altar, and put water there, to wash withal. 31And Moses and Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet thereat: 32When they went into the tent of the congregation, and when they came near unto the altar, they washed; as the Lord commanded Moses. (Exodus 40:30‑32)).
(Vv. 9-11). What then is the nature of the service that is symbolized by feet-washing? The answer to Peter’s first remark has shown that it has a spiritual significance; the answer to his second word tells us the end that it has in view; the answer to his last remark will indicate more clearly the nature, or manner of the service.
Peter, having obtained some glimpse of the blessedness of feet-washing, now goes back on his very determined avowal that the Lord shall never wash his feet. Moved by his real affection for the Lord, and with characteristic impulsiveness he says, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Whatever ignorance his remark betrays, it certainly expresses an affection which values part with Christ.
The Lord replies, “He that is washed all over needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit” (N. Tn.). In Scripture water is often used as a symbol of the cleansing effect of the Word of God. At conversion the Word is applied by the power of the Spirit, producing a thorough change, and imparting a new nature, which entirely alters the thoughts, words, and actions of the believer—a change signified by the Lord’s words “washed all over.” There can be no repetition of this great change, but those thus washed all over may oft-times grow dull of spirit. As the travelers’ feet are soiled and wearied by the dust of the road, so the believer, in contact with the daily round, the duties of the home life, and the pressures of business life, as well as the continual conflict with evil, may often be wearied in spirit and thus hindered from having communion with Christ in His things. It is not that he has done anything that conscience would take account of, calling for confession and the work of the Advocate, but his spirit is wearied and needs to be refreshed, and such refreshment Christ delights to give if we will but put our feet into His hands. Turning to Him He will refresh our souls by presenting Himself before us, in all His perfections, through the Word.
Thus through the Lord’s gracious answers to Peter we learn the spiritual character of this service, the end that it has in view, and the manner of its accomplishment.
Alas! there was one present for whom it would have no meaning: for the Lord has to say, “Ye are clean, but not all. For He knew who should betray Him; therefore said He, ye are not all clean.” The betrayer had never been “washed all over.” He was unregenerate, and as such would never feel the need, nor know the refreshment of the Lord’s gracious service.
(Vv. 12-17). Having finished this service and resumed His seat at the table, the Lord gives us further instruction as to the service of feet-washing. While essentially His own service, yet it is one that He often carries out through the mediation of others. Thus we are put under the obligation, and given the privilege, of washing one another’s feet. A blessed service, carried out, not by seeking to correct one another. (however necessary at times), still less by finding fault with one another, but by ministering Christ to one another, for only a ministry of Christ will bring refreshment to a wearied soul. Years after the scene in the upper room the Apostle Paul will tell us that one of the qualifications of a godly widow is that she has washed the feet of saints (1 Tim. v. 10). This surely does not imply that she was simply a rebuker of evil, or a corrector of faults, but rather that she refreshed the drooping spirits of the saints by coming from Christ with a ministry of Christ.
Did not Onesiphorus wash the feet of the Apostle Paul, for of him the Apostle can write, “He oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain” (2 Tim. 1:1616The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain: (2 Timothy 1:16))? Again, did not Philemon carry out this obligation towards his brethren, for to him Paul can say, “The bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother” (Philemon 77For we have great joy and consolation in thy love, because the bowels of the saints are refreshed by thee, brother. (Philemon 7))? Was not the Lord Himself directly carrying out this blessed service when he spoke to His wearied servant Paul by night, saying, “Be not afraid... for I am with thee” (Acts 18:9, 109Then spake the Lord to Paul in the night by a vision, Be not afraid, but speak, and hold not thy peace: 10For I am with thee, and no man shall set on thee to hurt thee: for I have much people in this city. (Acts 18:9‑10))?
Moreover feet-washing not only ministers refreshment to the wearied soul, but rejoices the heart of the one who carries out the service, for the Lord can say, “If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”