Johannes 13:1

AT THE LAST SUPPER JESUS WASHES THE DISCIPLES' FEET--THE DISCOURSE ARISING THEREUPON. (John 13:1-20) when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father--On these beautiful euphemisms, see on Luk 9:31; Luk 9:51. having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end--The meaning is, that on the very edge of His last sufferings, when it might have been supposed that He would be absorbed in His own awful prospects, He was so far from forgetting "His own," who were to be left struggling "in the world" after He had "departed out of it to the Father" (Joh 17:11), that in His care for them He seemed scarce to think of Himself save in connection with them: "Herein is love," not only "enduring to the end," but most affectingly manifested when, judging by a human standard, least to be expected.

It has generally been taken for granted by commentators that Christ's washing his disciples' feet, and the discourse that followed it, were the same night in which he was betrayed, and at the same sitting wherein he ate the passover and instituted the Lord's supper; but whether before the solemnity began, or after it was all over, or between the eating of the passover and the institution of the Lord's supper, they are not agreed. This evangelist, making it his business to gather up those passages which the others had omitted, industriously omits those which the others had recorded, which occasions some difficulty in putting them together. If it was then, we suppose that Judas went out (Joh 13:30) to get his men ready that were to apprehend the Lord Jesus in the garden. But Dr. Lightfoot is clearly of opinion that this was done and said, even all that is recorded to the end of ch. 14, not at the passover supper, for it is here said (Joh 13:1) to be before the feast of the passover, but at the supper in Bethany, two days before the passover (of which we read Mat 26:2-6), at which Mary the second time anointed Christ's head with the remainder of her box of ointment. Or, it might be at some other supper the night before the passover, not as that was in the house of Simon the leper, but in his own lodgings, where he had none but his disciples about him, and could be more free with them. In these verses we have the story of Christ's washing his disciples' feet; it was an action of a singular nature; no miracle, unless we call it a miracle of humility. Mary had just anointed his head; now, lest his acceptance of this should look like taking state, he presently balances it with this act of abasement. But why would Christ do this? If the disciples' feet needed washing, they coul…

13:1–20:31 This section focuses on the sign of the cross, the great climax of Jesus’ life, as well as the time Jesus spent preparing his disciples for it (chs 13–17). Jesus is glorified through each event of these momentous days. Jesus’ arrest, trial, crucifixion, and resurrection all evoke responses of awe. On the cross, Jesus is elevated in glory before the world (12:32). 13:1-38 The setting is Jesus’ final Passover meal on Thursday evening, when Judas Iscariot betrays Jesus. John does not record the meal itself as the synoptic Gospels do (Matt 26:17-29; Mark 14:12-25; Luke 22:7-20; see also 1 Cor 11:23-26). John emphasizes other activities at the event, such as the foot washing (John 13:1-17), Judas’s betrayal (13:18-30), and the prediction of Peter’s denials (13:31-38).