# John 13 📖: Jesus Washes the Disciples' Feet [[📚 Explore the Bible Books]] [[-John Overview]] | [[John 12]] | [[John 14]] > [!info] Table of Contents > [[#📜 Scripture Text (NET)]] > [[#📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary]] > [[#🧠 Chapter Summary]] > [[#✝️ Christ in This Chapter]] > [[#🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application]] > [[#💬 Discussion Questions]] > [[#✍️ Key Verses to Remember]] > [[#🤔 Interesting Facts]] > [[#🔗 Related Passages]] > [[#🙏 Devotional Reflection]] > [[#📂 Internal Notes]] ## 📜 Scripture Text (NET) (The NET Bible: New English Translation. Biblical Studies Press, 2005) ### Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet **Principle**: Jesus came to serve. [[#Verse 01.]] Just before the Passover Feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. [[#Verse 02.]] The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. [[#Verse 03.]] Because Jesus knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, [[#Verse 04.]] he got up from the meal, removed his outer clothes, took a towel and tied it around himself. [[#Verse 05.]] He poured water into the washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel he had wrapped around himself. [[#Verse 06.]] Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” [[#Verse 07.]] Jesus replied, “You do not understand what I am doing now, but you will understand after these things.” [[#Verse 08.]] Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” [[#Verse 09.]] Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash not only my feet but also my hands and my head!” [[#Verse 10.]] Jesus replied, “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean. And you disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” [[#Verse 11.]] (For Jesus knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”) ### The Meaning of Foot Washing **Principle**: Serve Each Other. [[#Verse 12.]] So when Jesus had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table again and said to them, “Do you understand what I have done for you? [[#Verse 13.]] You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, for that is what I am. [[#Verse 14.]] If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet. [[#Verse 15.]] For I have given you an example—you should do just as I have done for you. [[#Verse 16.]] I tell you the solemn truth, the slave is not greater than his master, nor is the one who is sent as a messenger greater than the one who sent him. [[#Verse 17.]] If you understand these things, you will be blessed if you do them. ### Jesus Predicts His Betrayal **Principle**: Jesus knows all things, and still moves forward. [[#Verse 18.]] “What I am saying does not refer to all of you. I know the ones I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture, ‘.’ [[#Verse 19.]] I am telling you this now, before it happens, so that when it happens you may believe that I am he. [[#Verse 20.]] I tell you the solemn truth, whoever accepts the one I send accepts me, and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.” ### Judas’ Betrayal Predicted **Principle**: Jesus washed the feet of an enemy. [[#Verse 21.]] When he had said these things, Jesus was greatly distressed in spirit, and testified, “I tell you the solemn truth, one of you will betray me.” [[#Verse 22.]] The disciples began to look at one another, worried and perplexed to know which of them he was talking about. [[#Verse 23.]] One of his disciples, the one Jesus loved, was at the table to the right of Jesus in a place of honor. [[#Verse 24.]] So Simon Peter gestured to this disciple to ask Jesus who it was he was referring to. [[#Verse 25.]] Then the disciple whom Jesus loved leaned back against Jesus’ chest and asked him, “Lord, who is it?” [[#Verse 26.]] Jesus replied, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread after I have dipped it in the dish.” Then he dipped the piece of bread in the dish and gave it to Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son. [[#Verse 27.]] And after Judas took the piece of bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” [[#Verse 28.]] (Now none of those present at the table understood why Jesus said this to Judas. [[#Verse 29.]] Some thought that because Judas had the money box, Jesus was telling him to buy whatever they needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor.) [[#Verse 30.]] Judas took the piece of bread and went out immediately. (Now it was night.) ### Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial **Principle**: We will be known by our love. [[#Verse 31.]] When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in him. [[#Verse 32.]] If God is glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him right away. [[#Verse 33.]] Children, I am still with you for a little while. You will look for me, and just as I said to the Jewish religious leaders, ‘Where I am going you cannot come,’ now I tell you the same. [[#Verse 34.]] “I give you a new commandment—to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. [[#Verse 35.]] Everyone will know by this that you are my disciples—if you have love for one another.” ### Peter’s Denial Predicted **Principle**: Jesus knows but disown us in our struggles. [[#Verse 36.]] Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.” [[#Verse 37.]] Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you!” [[#Verse 38.]] Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? I tell you the solemn truth, the rooster will not crow until you have denied me three times! ## 📖 Verse-by-Verse Commentary ###### Overall. ###### Verse 01. ###### Verse 02. ###### Verse 03. ###### Verse 04. ###### Verse 05. ###### Verse 06. ###### Verse 07. ###### Verse 08. ###### Verse 09. ###### Verse 10. ###### Verse 11. ###### Verse 12. ###### Verse 13. ###### Verse 14. ###### Verse 15. ###### Verse 16. ###### Verse 17. ###### Verse 18. ###### Verse 19. ###### Verse 20. ###### Verse 21. ###### Verse 22. ###### Verse 23. ###### Verse 24. ###### Verse 25. ###### Verse 26. ###### Verse 27. ###### Verse 28. ###### Verse 29. ###### Verse 30. ###### Verse 31. ###### Verse 32. ###### Verse 33. ###### Verse 34. ###### Verse 35. ###### Verse 36. ###### Verse 37. ###### Verse 38. ## 🧠 Chapter Summary > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## ✝️ Christ in This Chapter Christ is the servant King who took off His outer clothes and washed His disciples' feet (13:4-5), a picture of how He humbled Himself to the point of death on a cross (Philippians 2:6-8). ## 🔎 Key Observations / 🛟 Life Application > [!note] 🌱 Still growing. This section is on its way. ## 💬 Discussion Questions 1. Jesus knew the Father had given all things into His hands, and then He picked up a towel (13:3-5). How does knowing who you are in God free you to serve? 2. Peter first refused to let Jesus wash his feet (13:8). Why is it sometimes hard to let Jesus serve us? 3. Jesus said people would know His disciples by their love for one another (13:34-35). What would that love look like in your church this week? ## ✍️ Key Verses to Remember - 📖 verses 3-5: Knowing who He was, Jesus rose from the meal and began to wash His disciples' feet. - 📖 verses 14-15: Jesus gives His disciples an example to follow. - 📖 verse 34: Jesus gives a new commandment: love one another as He has loved us. - 📖 verse 35: Everyone will know we are His disciples by our love for one another. ## 🤔 Interesting Facts 1. Washing guests' feet was a task usually done by the lowest household servant, since people walked dusty roads in sandals. 2. At a formal meal, guests reclined on cushions around a low table with their feet stretched away from it, which made foot washing possible during the meal. 3. John is the only Gospel that records the foot washing, and he does not describe the bread and cup of the Lord's Supper. 4. The disciple whom Jesus loved was reclining next to Jesus (13:23), which is how he could quietly ask who the betrayer was. 5. Giving someone a piece of bread dipped in the dish (13:26) was often a gesture of honor or friendship. 6. Jesus quotes Psalm 41:9 about a close friend who lifted his heel against Him (13:18). 7. John's note "Now it was night" (13:30) is both a time marker and a picture of the spiritual darkness Judas walked into. 8. Jesus says He tells them ahead of time "so that you may believe that I am" (13:19), another of His "I am" sayings. 9. The command to love was not new (Leviticus 19:18), but the standard was new: "just as I have loved you" (13:34). 10. Jesus predicted Peter would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed (13:38). ## 🔗 Related Passages - 🔗 [[Philippians 02#Verse 06.|Philippians 2:6-8]] - Christ took the form of a servant. - 🔗 [[1 Peter 02#Verse 21.|1 Peter 2:21]] - Christ left us an example to follow. - 🔗 [[Psalm 41#Verse 09.|Psalm 41:9]] - A close friend lifted his heel against me. - 🔗 [[Leviticus 19#Verse 18.|Leviticus 19:18]] - Love your neighbor as yourself. - 🔗 [[1 John 04#Verse 20.|1 John 4:20-21]] - Whoever loves God must love his brother. ## 🙏 Devotional Reflection 📝 SOAP: [[John 13 - SOAP|The Example of Identity]] 📝 SOAP: [[John 13- SOAP|The King Leads The Way]] ## 📂 Internal Notes