Yohanes 13:1-14

Washing the Disciples’ Feet

13:1 Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time ¹  had come to depart ²  from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. ³  13:2 The evening meal ⁴  was in progress, and the devil had already put into the heart ⁵  of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray ⁶  Jesus. ⁷  13:3 Because Jesus ⁸  knew that the Father had handed all things over to him, ⁹  and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 13:4 he got up from the meal, removed ¹⁰  his outer clothes, ¹¹  took a towel and tied it around himself. ¹²  13:5 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. ¹³ 

13:6 Then he came to Simon Peter. Peter ¹⁴  said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash ¹⁵  my feet?” 13:7 Jesus replied, ¹⁶  “You do not understand ¹⁷  what I am doing now, but you will understand ¹⁸  after these things.” 13:8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” ¹⁹  Jesus replied, ²⁰  “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ²¹  13:9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, wash ²²  not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!” 13:10 Jesus replied, ²³  “The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, ²⁴  but is completely ²⁵  clean. ²⁶  And you disciples ²⁷  are clean, but not every one of you.” 13:11 (For Jesus ²⁸  knew the one who was going to betray him. For this reason he said, “Not every one of you is ²⁹  clean.”) ³⁰ 

13:12 So when Jesus ³¹  had washed their feet and put his outer clothing back on, he took his place at the table ³²  again and said to them, “Do you understand ³³  what I have done for you? 13:13 You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and do so correctly, ³⁴  for that is what I am. ³⁵  13:14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you too ought to wash one another’s feet.

Yohanes 15:9-17

15:9 “Just as the Father has loved me, I have also loved you; remain ³⁶  in my love. 15:10 If you obey ³⁷  my commandments, you will remain ³⁸  in my love, just as I have obeyed ³⁹  my Father’s commandments and remain ⁴⁰  in his love. 15:11 I have told you these things ⁴¹  so that my joy may be in you, and your joy may be complete. 15:12 My commandment is this – to love one another just as I have loved you. ⁴²  15:13 No one has greater love than this – that one lays down his life ⁴³  for his friends. 15:14 You are my friends ⁴⁴  if you do what I command you. 15:15 I no longer call you slaves, ⁴⁵  because the slave does not understand ⁴⁶  what his master is doing. But I have called you friends, because I have revealed to you everything ⁴⁷  I heard ⁴⁸  from my Father. 15:16 You did not choose me, but I chose you ⁴⁹  and appointed you to go and bear ⁵⁰  fruit, fruit that remains, ⁵¹  so that whatever you ask the Father in my name he will give you. 15:17 This ⁵²  I command you – to love one another.

[13:1]  ¹ tn Grk “his hour.”

[13:1]  ² tn Grk “that he should depart.” The ἵνα (Jina) clause in Koine Greek frequently encroached on the simple infinitive (for the sake of greater clarity).

[13:1]  ³ tn Or “he now loved them completely,” or “he now loved them to the uttermost” (see John 19:30). All of John 13:1 is a single sentence in Greek, although in English this would be unacceptably awkward. At the end of the verse the idiom εἰς τέλος (eis telos) was translated literally as “to the end” and the modern equivalents given in the note above, because there is an important lexical link between this passage and John 19:30, τετέλεσται (tetelestai, “It is ended”).

[13:1]  sn The full extent of Jesus’ love for his disciples is not merely seen in his humble service to them in washing their feet (the most common interpretation of the passage). The full extent of his love for them is demonstrated in his sacrificial death for them on the cross. The footwashing episode which follows then becomes a prophetic act, or acting out beforehand, of his upcoming death on their behalf. The message for the disciples was that they were to love one another not just in humble, self-effacing service, but were to be willing to die for one another. At least one of them got this message eventually, though none understood it at the time (see 1 John 3:16).

[13:2]  ⁴ tn Or “Supper.” To avoid possible confusion because of different regional English usage regarding the distinction between “dinner” and “supper” as an evening meal, the translation simply refers to “the evening meal.”

[13:2]  ⁵ sn At this point the devil had already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, that he should betray Jesus. C. K. Barrett (St. John, 365) thought this was a reference to the idea entering the devil’s own heart, but this does not seem likely. It is more probable that Judas’ heart is meant, since the use of the Greek article (rather than a possessive pronoun) is a typical idiom when a part of one’s own body is indicated. Judas’ name is withheld until the end of the sentence for dramatic effect (emphasis). This action must be read in light of 13:27, and appears to refer to a preliminary idea or plan.

[13:2]  ⁶ tn Or “that he should hand over.”

[13:2]  ⁷ tn Grk “betray him”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ⁸ tn Grk “Because he knew”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:3]  ⁹ tn Grk “had given all things into his hands.”

[13:4]  ¹⁰ tn Grk “and removed”; the conjunction καί (kai, “and”) has been left untranslated here for improved English style.

[13:4]  ¹¹ tn The plural τὰ ἱμάτια (ta Jimatia) is probably a reference to more than one garment (cf. John 19:23-24). If so, this would indicate that Jesus stripped to a loincloth, like a slave. The translation “outer clothes” is used to indicate that Jesus was not completely naked, since complete nudity would have been extremely offensive to Jewish sensibilities in this historical context.

[13:4]  ¹² tn Grk “taking a towel he girded himself.” Jesus would have wrapped the towel (λέντιον, lention) around his waist (διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν, diezwsen Jeauton) for use in wiping the disciples’ feet. The term λέντιον is a Latin loanword (linteum) which is also found in the rabbinic literature (see BDAG 592 s.v.). It would have been a long piece of linen cloth, long enough for Jesus to have wrapped it about his waist and still used the free end to wipe the disciples’ feet.

[13:5]  ¹³ tn Grk “with the towel with which he was girded.”

[13:6]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “He”; the referent (Peter) is specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:6]  ¹⁵ tn Grk “do you wash” or “are you washing.”

[13:7]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “answered and said to him.”

[13:7]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “You do not know.”

[13:7]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “you will know.”

[13:8]  ¹⁹ tn Grk “You will never wash my feet forever.” The negation is emphatic in Greek but somewhat awkward in English. Emphasis is conveyed in the translation by the use of an exclamation point.

[13:8]  ²⁰ tn Grk “Jesus answered him.”

[13:8]  ²¹ tn Or “you have no part in me.”

[13:9]  ²² tn The word “wash” is not in the Greek text, but is implied. Here it is supplied to improve the English style by making Peter’s utterance a complete sentence.

[13:10]  ²³ tn Grk “Jesus said to him.”

[13:10]  ²⁴ tn Grk “has no need except to wash his feet.”

[13:10]  ²⁵ tn Or “entirely.”

[13:10]  ²⁶ sn The one who has bathed needs only to wash his feet. A common understanding is that the “bath” Jesus referred to is the initial cleansing from sin, which necessitates only “lesser, partial” cleansings from sins after conversion. This makes a fine illustration from a homiletic standpoint, but is it the meaning of the passage? This seems highly doubtful. Jesus stated that the disciples were completely clean except for Judas (vv. 10b, 11). What they needed was to have their feet washed by Jesus. In the broader context of the Fourth Gospel, the significance of the foot-washing seems to point not just to an example of humble service (as most understand it), but something more – Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross. If this is correct, then the foot-washing which they needed to undergo represented their acceptance of this act of self-sacrifice on the part of their master. This makes Peter’s initial abhorrence of the act of humiliation by his master all the more significant in context; it also explains Jesus’ seemingly harsh reply to Peter (above, v. 8; compare Matt 16:21-23 where Jesus says to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan”).

[13:10]  ²⁷ tn The word “disciples” is supplied in English to clarify the plural Greek pronoun and verb. Peter is not the only one Jesus is addressing here.

[13:11]  ²⁸ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:11]  ²⁹ tn Grk “Not all of you are.”

[13:11]  ³⁰ sn This is a parenthetical note by the author.

[13:12]  ³¹ tn Grk “he”; the referent (Jesus) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[13:12]  ³² tn Grk “he reclined at the table.” The phrase reflects the normal 1st century Near Eastern practice of eating a meal in a semi-reclining position.

[13:12]  ³³ tn Grk “Do you know.”

[13:13]  ³⁴ tn Or “rightly.”

[13:13]  ³⁵ tn Grk “and I am these things.”

[15:9]  ³⁶ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ³⁷ tn Or “keep.”

[15:10]  ³⁸ tn Or “reside.”

[15:10]  ³⁹ tn Or “kept.”

[15:10]  ⁴⁰ tn Or “reside.”

[15:11]  ⁴¹ tn Grk “These things I have spoken to you.”

[15:12]  ⁴² sn Now the reference to the commandments (plural) in 15:10 have been reduced to a singular commandment: The disciples are to love one another, just as Jesus has loved them. This is the ‘new commandment’ of John 13:34, and it is repeated in 15:17. The disciples’ love for one another is compared to Jesus’ love for them. How has Jesus shown his love for the disciples? This was illustrated in 13:1-20 in the washing of the disciples’ feet, introduced by the statement in 13:1 that Jesus loved them “to the end.” In context this constitutes a reference to Jesus’ self-sacrificial death on the cross on their behalf; the love they are to have for one another is so great that it must include a self-sacrificial willingness to die for one another if necessary. This is exactly what Jesus is discussing here, because he introduces the theme of his sacrificial death in the following verse. In John 10:18 and 14:31 Jesus spoke of his death on the cross as a commandment he had received from his Father, which also links the idea of commandment and love as they are linked here. One final note: It is not just the degree or intensity of the disciples’ love for one another that Jesus is referring to when he introduces by comparison his own death on the cross (that they must love one another enough to die for one another) but the very means of expressing that love: It is to express itself in self-sacrifice for one another, sacrifice up to the point of death, which is what Jesus himself did on the cross (cf. 1 John 3:16).

[15:13]  ⁴³ tn Or “one dies willingly.”

[15:14]  ⁴⁴ sn This verse really explains John 15:10 in another way. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments are called his friends, those friends for whom he lays down his life (v. 13). It is possible to understand this verse as referring to a smaller group within Christianity as a whole, perhaps only the apostles who were present when Jesus spoke these words. Some have supported this by comparing it to the small group of associates and advisers to the Roman Emperor who were called “Friends of the Emperor.” Others would see these words as addressed only to those Christians who as disciples were obedient to Jesus. In either case the result would be to create a sort of “inner circle” of Christians who are more privileged than mere “believers” or average Christians. In context, it seems clear that Jesus’ words must be addressed to all true Christians, not just some narrower category of believers, because Jesus’ sacrificial death, which is his act of love toward his friends (v. 13) applies to all Christians equally (cf. John 13:1).

[15:15]  ⁴⁵ tn See the note on the word “slaves” in 4:51.

[15:15]  ⁴⁶ tn Or “does not know.”

[15:15]  ⁴⁷ tn Grk “all things.”

[15:15]  ⁴⁸ tn Or “learned.”

[15:16]  ⁴⁹ sn You did not choose me, but I chose you. If the disciples are now elevated in status from slaves to friends, they are friends who have been chosen by Jesus, rather than the opposite way round. Again this is true of all Christians, not just the twelve, and the theme that Christians are “chosen” by God appears frequently in other NT texts (e.g., Rom 8:33; Eph 1:4ff.; Col 3:12; and 1 Pet 2:4). Putting this together with the comments on 15:14 one may ask whether the author sees any special significance at all for the twelve. Jesus said in John 6:70 and 13:18 that he chose them, and 15:27 makes clear that Jesus in the immediate context is addressing those who have been with him from the beginning. In the Fourth Gospel the twelve, as the most intimate and most committed followers of Jesus, are presented as the models for all Christians, both in terms of their election and in terms of their mission.

[15:16]  ⁵⁰ tn Or “and yield.”

[15:16]  ⁵¹ sn The purpose for which the disciples were appointed (“commissioned”) is to go and bear fruit, fruit that remains. The introduction of the idea of “going” at this point suggests that the fruit is something more than just character qualities in the disciples’ own lives, but rather involves fruit in the lives of others, i.e., Christian converts. There is a mission involved (cf. John 4:36). The idea that their fruit is permanent, however, relates back to vv. 7-8, as does the reference to asking the Father in Jesus’ name. It appears that as the imagery of the vine and the branches develops, the “fruit” which the branches produce shifts in emphasis from qualities in the disciples’ own lives in John 15:2, 4, 5 to the idea of a mission which affects the lives of others in John 15:16. The point of transition would be the reference to fruit in 15:8.

[15:17]  ⁵² tn Grk “These things.”