Chapter Thirteen
Jn. 13:1. Before the feast of Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come to depart from this world to the Father, showed by deed that, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.
The Lord even before all ages knew the hour of His death, and when it arrived, He performs a deed full of great love for mankind and condescension, showing great love for the disciples. For, intending to leave them, He displays the strongest love toward them. The words "having loved them, He loved them to the end" mean that He omitted nothing that one who loves deeply ought to do. Therefore, as a culmination of all things, He does this as well: He washes the feet of the disciples, so as to fully show His love for them and to leave them great consolation amid the afflictions that would befall them — consolation in the thought that He who loved them to the point of even washing their feet would not abandon them in their afflictions either. He calls the death of Christ a "departure" because of His ascension after the resurrection.
So, since He was about to depart from this world, He shows love toward His own, and He calls the disciples His own by reason of their closeness. To God all people are His own by right of His creation, which is why it is said: "He came unto His own, and His own received Him not" (John 1:11). But the saints are His own because they are close to Him, just as here He called the disciples His own. He added "who are in the world" because there are others who are His own as well, for example, Abraham and the patriarchs; but they are not in this world, because they have departed from here. These His own, who are in the world, He loved to the end, that is, He showed perfect love toward them.
Jn. 13:2. And during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Simon's son Iscariot to betray Him,
The Evangelist, marveling that Christ washed the feet even of the one who had resolved to betray Him, says: "When the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas." Thus to the very end He cared about the correction of the betrayer. And the words "during supper" are not placed without purpose, but to show the inhumanity of Judas, since even participation in the supper did not change him.
Jn. 13:3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God,
"Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands," that is, had entrusted to Him the salvation of the faithful, and it was now necessary to show them everything pertaining to salvation, among other things, also to wash the feet of the disciples, for by this humility is established as law…
And in another way: knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands and that He came forth from God and was going to God, His glory would not be diminished if He washed the feet of the disciples. For He did not seize glory, so as to fear its loss, and therefore refuse to undertake any humble deed. Such a feeling is experienced by those who do not possess true nobility. Since they have seized glory for themselves, they do not wish even to stoop, lest they lose what does not belong to them and what they have seized. But He was King of all and Son of God. For this is what the words "came forth from God" mean, that is, from the essence of the Father, and again "was going to God." Therefore His glory, when He is so exalted and so great, would not be diminished if He washed the feet of the disciples. Note, I ask you, that if humility is the deed of one who comes forth from God and goes to God, then pride is evidently the deed of one who comes forth from demons and goes to demons.
When you hear that "the Father delivered all things to Him," do not think that this reveals the powerlessness of the Son, but rather equal honor and unity of mind with the Father. For if from the statement that the Father delivered all things to Him, the Son appears to you as powerless, then you should also consider the Father powerless. For to Him as well, as the apostle says (1 Cor. 15:24), the Son "will deliver the kingdom." But this is not the case; rather, "delivering" signifies, so to speak, unity of mind, cooperation, and the good pleasure of the Father.
Jn. 13:4. He rose from supper, took off His outer garment, and taking a towel, girded Himself.
Jn. 13:5. Then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the feet of the disciples and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.
Note also the supreme degree of humility. For He does not wash before supper, but when all have reclined at table, He alone rises while the others rest. He lays aside His garments, teaching us to make ourselves unhindered and light for service. He girds Himself with a towel, doing everything Himself—both the washing and the drying. He pours in the water, doing this Himself as well, and not commanding another to do it. All this is an example and a law for us of how we ought to serve, namely: with all diligence, doing everything ourselves and not making use of the service of others.
Jn. 13:6. He comes to Simon Peter, and he says to Him: Lord! Are You going to wash my feet?
The Lord washes the feet of Peter not first, although he held primacy among the disciples, but perhaps the betrayer, being bold and shameless, reclined above Peter, and the Lord washed his feet. How is this evident? From what follows. "He began," it says, "to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them, then comes to Simon Peter." From this it is evident that the Lord did not wash Peter first. For if the Lord had not washed someone before Peter, the evangelist would not have said "comes to Simon Peter." Of the other disciples, no one would have dared to receive the washing before Peter, but the betrayer could have had the audacity to do so. For if the Lord had begun to wash any of the other disciples, that one, whoever he might be, would not have allowed the Lord to do so and would have said the same thing as Peter: "Lord, do You wash my feet?" But this objection did not follow. Therefore, of the other disciples, the Lord washed the betrayer first, and then Peter. And the rest, instructed by Peter's example, naturally did not object, but accepted such a great honor rendered to them by the Lord.
Consider also what power the words of the apostle Peter have. Will You wash my feet with those hands by which You cleansed lepers, raised the dead, opened the eyes of the blind? Will You, Who did this and more than this, wash me, a servant and an unlearned man; and not my hands, not some other more honorable member, but my feet, the last member of all, considered especially dirty and dishonorable?
Jn. 13:7. Jesus answered and said to him: What I am doing you do not know now, but you will understand afterward.
What does the Lord say? He says: "What I am doing, you do not know now; My deed contains within it a profound humility, which I am also teaching you. Yet afterward, when you will cast out demons in My name, when you see My ascension into heaven, when through the Holy Spirit you learn that I sit at the right hand of the Father, then you will understand that He who humbled Himself to the point of washing your feet is the very same One who gives you such power over demons and who ascended and was glorified with the Father, having been in no way diminished by His humility. Therefore, you too must implant within yourself humility, which does not diminish but rather exalts."
Jn. 13:8. Peter says to Him: You shall never wash my feet.
Peter deeply respects his Teacher, and therefore stands in awe of Him and does not accept service from Him. Although on another occasion Peter received a rebuke from the Lord (Matt. 16:22–23), and to avoid that rebuke he should have now accepted the washing from the Lord. Nevertheless, since the deed now being performed by Christ is very important, Peter resists, and does not consider that the Lord might perhaps reprove him again even more severely, as one who is disobedient.
Jn. 13:8. Jesus answered him: If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.
What then does Christ say? He does not say to Peter, "I am teaching you humility, and for this reason I wash your feet." For Peter would have said to Him, even with an oath, that I will have humility even without the washing of feet. What then does the Lord say to him? That which, according to the Lord's knowledge, could especially touch Peter's heart — that is what He sets before him, as a kind of threat. "If," He says, "I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Since Peter more than all the other disciples desired to be together with Christ, which is why he also asked Him where He was going, and out of love promised to lay down his life for Him (John 13:36–37), the Lord shakes his soul with this threat. "If," He says, "I do not wash you, you have no part with Me."
Jn. 13:9. Simon Peter says to Him: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Peter, having heard such a fearful threat, was as firm in his resistance as he was equally, and even more, strong in expressing his agreement; for he offers even his head for washing. In both cases he is guided by love: he resists the washing because he greatly honors the Lord; he agrees because he does not wish to be separated from Him.
And I ask you: when you see that someone strongly insists on his own way out of foolishness and promises with an oath "I will not do such-and-such," then out of respect for the oath persists in what he did not consider well, and because of this suffers harm in soul or body, then make fitting use of the example of the apostle Peter, who insisted on his own way, but when he saw that his insistence could separate him from Christ, he abandoned it.