John 13:1-3

This chapter begins the Upper Room Discourse with the washing of feet and the predictions of betrayal and denial. Throughout the first twelve chapters of John (The Signs), we noticed a pattern where Jesus performs a miracle and gives a discourse that brings out the spiritual significance of that miracle. In this second portion of John’s gospel (chapters 13-21; The Glory), the same basic pattern occurs, but in reverse, and on a larger scale. Here, the first segment (chapters 13-17) brings out the significance of the greatest act of all that Jesus performed – His substitutionary death on the cross, together with the corresponding resurrection and giving of the Holy Spirit. And the following chapters (18-21) relate those events in detail. And so, as we look closely at the text of chapters 13-17, we must keep in mind exactly what John is teaching us about the events to follow in chapters 18-21, Jesus’ crucifixion, resurrection, and final acts before His ascension. John also wants us to see, in the tabernacle imagery, this portion of his gospel to be explaining how Jesus fulfills that Holiest of Holies place within the tabernacle.

¹It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for Him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He now showed them the full extent of His love. ²The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. ³Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under His power, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.

After emphasizing throughout the course of His ministry that His hour had not yet come, Jesus finally announced the opposite after His triumphal entry (John 12:23). Now, at the beginning of chapter 13, John makes the same point: the hour has come, and it is now time for Jesus to undertake that for which He had been sent to the world, namely, the redemption of men. Specifically, this is the night of Passover, and hence, the night when Jesus would celebrate His final supper with His disciples before going to the cross as the Passover Lamb on which they would feast.

The first point that John would have us understand, as he relates this account, is how poignantly it displays the love of Jesus for His disciples. Yes, He certainly loved them throughout His ministry, and was constantly expressing His love in always providing for them what was ultimately in their best interest. But now, Jesus’ soul is deeply troubled, and the weight of the impending trial and crucifixion, and, what must have been a thousand times more distressing, the unmitigated wrath of His own Father, which was soon to be poured out upon Him, must be unimaginably difficult to bear. So how does Jesus respond to this unspeakable trial? By selfishly, yet deservedly, demanding to be pampered? By forsaking all around Him and pouring out His broken heart in bitter solitude? No, at this very time, when Jesus’ hour of death has arrived, He is serving and ministering as never before. Truly, He loved His own to the very end, or, to the uttermost, or perfectly and completely. Love had never reached its ultimate expression, never once had love been poured out as intended, except in one time and at one place – and that was in this hour for which Jesus had come into the world, His death on the cross to bear our sins and the full wrath of God in our place – and the time leading up to it.

But we have not yet reached the end of the amazing love which Jesus displayed on this Passover night; for John explains that the foot-washing took place after the devil had already put it into Judas’ heart to betray Jesus! The humility and condescension that Jesus demonstrated when, as the Lord and Master, He stooped down to wash the feet of His servants, is certainly amazing; but that He also washed the feet of the man who was about to betray Him for thirty pieces of silver is, to John, virtually incomprehensible. So it is today, when he showers those who are imposters and reprobates with many gifts, graces, and tastes of the doctrine and power of the gospel. Let us be certain, if we have grown up with the privilege of hearing the gospel and seeing the power of truth and grace, that we do not despise our heritage, as Esau despised his birthright, and so put the Son of Man to an open shame (see Hebrews 10:26-31; 12:15-17; 6:4-6)! Great will be the final misery and punishment of such a man, even as it was with Judas Iscariot.

Finally, notice in v3 that Jesus is fully aware of His deity, conscious that His mission was nearly complete. Jesus was empowered to complete His present task by reflecting on the past and the future. And we gather from His understanding that all things were under His power combined with what He was about to do (wash His disciples’ feet), that this example of service depicts accurately one of the defining characteristics of God Himself. He is a humble, serving God. If One who holds all things under His power is a humble servant, how ought we be? If Jesus, holding all things under His power, was willing to love us to the end, what is keeping us from humbly serving others? And the answer, of course, is our sin. Our hearts are laid bare before us in understanding this passage.