The Night He Washed Their Feet

It was the evening before the Passover, and Jesus knew that his hour had come. John, who was in the room, begins his account not with what Jesus did but with what he knew and felt. He knew he was about to leave this world for the Father. He had loved his own who were in the world, and now he would show them the full extent of that love. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas to betray him. All of this was in the air as the meal began.

Then Jesus got up from the table. He took off his outer garment, tied a towel around his waist, poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples' feet and dry them with the towel. Nobody had done this when they arrived. In an ordinary household a servant would have met guests at the door for this purpose, and the lower the servant, the more likely he was to be given the job. Here there was no servant, and apparently none of the twelve had thought to volunteer. Luke records that on that same evening they had been arguing about which of them was the greatest.

Jesus went around the circle. He would have reached Judas, whose feet he washed like the others. Then he came to Peter. Peter pulled back. Lord, are you going to wash my feet? Jesus told him he did not understand now but would understand later. Peter said Jesus would never wash his feet. Jesus answered that unless he did, Peter had no part with him. Then Peter swung the other way and asked for his hands and his head as well. Jesus said a person who has bathed needs only his feet washed, and that the disciples were clean, though not every one of them. John notes that Jesus knew who would betray him, which is why he said that.

When he had finished, Jesus put his garment back on and returned to his place. He asked whether they understood what he had done. They called him Teacher and Lord, and rightly. If he had washed their feet, they should wash one another's. He had set them an example. No servant is greater than his master, no messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that they knew these things, they would be blessed if they did them.

Then the mood darkened. Jesus said that one of them would betray him. The disciples looked at each other, at a loss. Peter motioned to the disciple reclining next to Jesus, whom John describes as the one Jesus loved, to ask who he meant. Jesus said it was the one to whom he would give a piece of bread dipped in the dish. He dipped it and gave it to Judas. John says that as soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him. Jesus told him to do quickly what he was about to do. The others did not understand. Some thought Judas was being sent to buy something for the feast or to give to the poor, since he kept the money. Judas took the bread and went out. And, John adds, it was night.

Several things come out of this story when it is held up to the light. First, Jesus' love was not a response to the disciples' worthiness. He washed the feet of a man who would betray him within hours and a man who would deny him before morning. He loved them to the end, and the end included their failure. Second, the washing was both a picture and an instruction. It pictured the cleansing he was about to accomplish on the cross, which Peter could not refuse and could not add to. And it instructed the disciples in the shape of their life together afterward. The church is meant to be a community where the greatest kneels.

Third, the same bread was offered to Judas as to everyone else. Jesus did not withhold kindness from him or expose him publicly. He gave him the morsel of honor and one more chance. Judas took the bread and left the light. Nobody is beyond the reach of Jesus' service, and nobody is forced to receive it. That is the sober edge of the story. The basin was for all twelve. Only eleven stayed in the room.