John 13 - The NIV Application Commentary on the Bible: One-Volume Edition

Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet (13:1–17). It may seem odd that although John records Jesus’s final meal before his arrest, he does not record the well-known details of the Lord’s Supper as we have them in the Synoptic Gospels and Paul (1 Cor 11:23–26). This is certainly not because John felt the meal was irrelevant. John wants to supplement (or interpret) the well-known tradition with new things that will give a more complete theology of the sacrament not seen elsewhere.

In the Synoptic setting, two important motifs appear. First, Jesus uses the imagery of the meal to point to his death (body broken, blood poured out). Next, Luke tells us that there was a dispute about greatness that night, and Jesus responds by telling the disciples about true servanthood. In John 13, these two themes appear in sequence.

If we are correct that John views the meal as a Passover meal, 13:1 likely hints that the footwashing was an event that took place just prior to the celebration of the dinner. As the meal is being served, Jesus interrupts the ceremonies in order to demonstrate the depth of his love for his followers.

Jesus’s decision to wash his disciples’ feet is anchored in his assurance of his relationship with God. He knows both his origins and his destiny and thus understands the authority he has been given. This gives him the courage to do something his followers never expected. The task of footwashing was so menial that Jewish slaves were exempt, and the job kept for gentiles. When done by a wife (for her husband), a child (for his/her parents), or a pupil (for his teacher), it was always an act of extreme devotion. In no way do we find those with a higher status washing the feet of those beneath them. When Jesus takes off “his outer clothing” and wraps a towel around himself (v. 4), he is adopting the posture of a slave.

Peter reflects how shocking the deed must have seemed. The depth of his devotion to Jesus defines the strength of his objection. But Jesus is not simply giving them a lesson in humble service; he is doing something that symbolizes his greater act of sacrifice on the cross. Only after “the hour” when Jesus is resurrected will any of this make sense. But Peter continues to object in the most strenuous way, and Jesus’s rebuke is carefully worded. “If I do not wash you . . .” means that the question is not simply one of washing, but a question of who does the washing. Peter must participate in the work of Jesus (vv. 8–9). He lacks a cleansing that only Jesus can supply.

If Peter is not washed, he cannot have any “part” (Gk. meros) in Jesus (v. 8). Jesus is talking about eternal life and union with him. If so, then the footwashing is symbolic of something more than a gesture of fellowship. It is only the death of Jesus (and its acceptance by the believer) that brings eternal life.

Peter’s zeal to gain this inheritance is one more example of Johannine misunderstanding. Peter concludes that if footwashing gains an inheritance with Jesus, what would a thoroughgoing washing gain? Jesus’s initial reference to bathing points to his own work. This is the bathing that makes one clean all over. The plain sense of Jesus’s words seems clear and almost proverbial: if you have been cleansed already, you don’t need to wash further. The cleansing work of Jesus—footwashing, symbolizing spiritual cleansing on the cross—is complete in itself and therefore Peter does not need to pursue more.

The curious return to the subject of Judas in verses 10b–11 indicates that Jesus’s work of footwashing has not changed Judas’s heart. The fact alone that Jesus washed Judas’s feet is stunning and is a testimony to Jesus’s patience and love for his followers (even the man who betrays him). Judas is now a man in the grip of the darkness.

As with so many of Jesus’s powerful acts, here too he provides a discourse explaining what he has just done. But while the subject of the footwashing in verses 2–11 pertained to Jesus’s salvific work on their behalf, his teaching now points to how they might imitate his deeds. These themes are different, though related. Jesus’s sacrifice will be the supreme token of his overwhelming love for the world. In his farewell discourse, Jesus now wants his followers to exemplify that same love to one another.

Jesus’s proverb in verse 16 echoes well-known words from the Synoptic Gospels. His prefacing words, “Very truly” conceal the literal phrase “truly, truly” (Gk. amēn, amēn). Jesus is reinforcing the importance of this often-repeated truth. Servants should not consider themselves to be greater than their masters; if this is so, what is applicable to the master (sacrifice) is likewise applicable to the servant.

Jesus Predicts His Betrayal (13:18–30). For the third time, the subject of Judas’s betrayal enters the story. Jesus’s interpretation returns again to thoughts of him (vv. 18–19). This builds the impression that the betrayal of this man weighs heavily on him. Jesus makes clear that his choice of Judas was no mistake. The blessing pronounced in verse 17 is not directed to Judas, whose intentions Jesus knows perfectly. “I know those I have chosen” in verse 18 should not be read to say that Jesus chose the eleven and Judas has been rejected from the beginning.

Jesus knows each of these men now with him in the room. There have been no surprises after so many years together in ministry. Jesus wants each of them. Jesus’s citation of Psalm 41:9 underscores the personal affront that this betrayal meant. To “eat bread” is a cultural symbol that refers to personal intimacy, and to expose the bottom of the foot is another symbol of personal contempt. Jesus possesses divine wisdom into these events and yet experiences bewildering dismay as they unfold.

Jesus returns to his subject of the servant and the master in verse 20. As servants are obligated to reflect the work of their masters in every respect, so too such servants enjoy the respect and the authority that comes from working in their master’s name. Both verse 16 and verse 20 are proverbs (preceded by “very truly”; literal translation: “truly, truly”), and both echo well-known sayings in the Synoptic Gospels.

This is the third and final time we read that Jesus is “troubled” (v. 21, tarassō; cf. its use at Lazarus’s tomb, 11:33, and at the prospect of the cross, 12:27). His words predicting his betrayal in 13:21 were firmly fixed in the Gospel tradition. In all four Gospels the Twelve immediately begin questioning the identity of the betrayer. But since the Fourth Gospel is preserving the eyewitness testimony of the Beloved Disciple, it is not surprising that John records a story unlike any other.

Since the disciples are eating a Passover meal, it is necessary for them to recline. The Beloved Disciple enjoys a place of honor, seated on Jesus’s right. This explains why he can easily lean back and place his head near Jesus’s chest and speak to him privately, asking Jesus to divulge the name of the betrayer. Peter is not as near and so must call to the Beloved Disciple. Judas likewise has a place of honor near Jesus because Jesus is able to dip some bread into a common dish and serve the morsel to him.

Meals were eaten with flat, baked bread, and a broken portion of this bread was then dipped into common bowls on the table. Jesus says that the betrayer is the one to whom he provides some dipped bread, and then he promptly serves Judas. The disciples could have taken it as a simple honoring gesture for Judas. If so, it is particularly ironic since this gesture of respect is the last thing Jesus can do for Judas, and it compares with Judas’s last gesture of betrayal in the garden.

At this point, Satan controls Judas’s fate, and Jesus dispatches him to pursue the course he has set for himself. Even though the disciples seem unaware of what is happening, the story implies that John understood everything. He had been given the key to the morsel, and he sees the consequences of the gift.

The departure of Judas is at “night” (v. 30). Night represents the antithesis of Jesus, who is the light. It is the darkness of unbelief and opposition, where people stumble and find themselves in a fruitless search for life. It is the setting of Nicodemus, a man who must choose to leave the darkness and be reborn to join Jesus (3:2; 19:39). Therefore, Judas represents a person described in 3:19.

Jesus Begins His “Farewell” (13:31–38). The departure of Judas into the night marks a solemn divide in the plot of this Gospel. Jesus is now left with “his own,” to give them his final instructions. The arrival of the Greeks in 12:20 signaled that the “hour” was near at hand. Now in 13:31 it has arrived.

Numerous academic studies have compared Jesus’s farewell discourse with those of dying teachers and leaders in antiquity. Jacob’s last words in Genesis 49 are typical of this form, as is Moses’s farewell in Deuteronomy 31–34. Jewish testaments imagine the dying (or departing) person surrounded by his most intimate friends and family. Standard literary elements generally appear. For instance, they always show a concern for the comfort and encouragement of those left behind. Often there is an exhortation to obey the law, and a deposit of writings is left behind. In some cases, the departing person passes his “spirit” to his followers or successor. Moses and Elijah do this respectively for Joshua and Elisha.

In the farewell of Jesus many of these elements appear. He encourages his disciples and comforts them. He also urges them to be obedient, and from John’s perspective the “literary deposit” Jesus leaves behind is the Fourth Gospel itself. Moreover, Jesus promises that his Spirit will indwell and empower his followers following his death. In other words, we have in John 13–17 all of the elements of a Jewish farewell.

With the departure of Judas Iscariot, Jesus speaks directly of his glorification. Throughout Jesus’s life of perfect obedience, God has been honored. God’s power has also been made visible through the many signs of Jesus’s ministry. Now the hour of glorification has dawned; even in washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus has revealed something more of God’s glory. Jesus’s glory thus occurs when God’s glory radiates through him.

The supreme place where this divine radiance will be visible will be on the cross. This future glorification, then, is not some distant event at the end of time or in heaven. It is the series of events that will unfold at the end of this momentous week: Jesus’s death, resurrection, and ascension.

John 13:33 is a crucial thought for the farewell discourse. It is balanced by the words of assurance that are threaded through the balance of the discourse for his intimate friends. He is departing so that he can prepare for their arrival. His desire is not to abandon them or to orphan them, but to enjoy their fellowship in perpetuity. Jesus possesses life that goes beyond the grave, and those who believe in him will possess the same life with him. Therefore, Peter will shortly be assured that soon after Jesus’s departure he “will follow” his master to where he is (v. 36).

That the disciples are to love one another is nothing new. That they are to love each other with the sort of love modeled by Jesus is something dramatic. Disciples are to reflect the sort of love known to Jesus—a love expressed through committed obedience. “As I have loved you” (v. 34) points to Jesus’s most immediate act of love (the footwashing) and means that to truly love another, they must pursue a life of servanthood and sacrifice.

But the word “new” (kainos) may mean something more (v. 34). This “new command” may be a signal that Jesus is talking about life in a new era, a messianic era. In that era, love must characterize his followers—a love patterned on the generous, loving act of God that saves his people.

Peter is eager to be with Jesus even if it costs him his life, and his words echo the language of the good shepherd. Jesus goes on to prophesy that Peter’s nerve will fail at the last moment. His good intentions to lay down his life, uttered so bravely, will not hold when confronted with genuine danger. Peter’s eventual death (“but you will follow later,” v. 36) will come up again in 21:18–19. Peter will have an opportunity to show his faithfulness in death and so “glorify God” (21:19); this is reinforced when Jesus returns from the grave.