JOHN 13:1–11
JESUS WASHES THE DISCIPLES’ FEET: LOVE TO THE END
BRIEF INTERPRETATION
Text – John 13:1–11
1 Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.
2 The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper,
3 fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God,
4 he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist.
5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.”
8 Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.”
10 Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is entirely clean; so you are clean, but not all.”
11 For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Historical and Jewish Context
Foot washing was a menial task in the ancient Near East, normally performed by slaves or the lowest members of a household. For a teacher or master to wash the feet of disciples was socially shocking and reversed accepted hierarchies. The setting is the Passover meal, a sacred remembrance of liberation from slavery. By performing a servant’s act at this moment, Jesus redefines freedom and leadership. Ritual washing was also familiar in Jewish life, symbolizing purification, which deepens the meaning of Jesus’ action.
Catholic Theological Perspective
This passage reveals the depth of Christ’s love and humility. Catholic theology sees the washing of feet as both symbolic and sacramental in meaning. Jesus, fully conscious of His divine origin and destiny, freely chooses self-emptying service. The act anticipates the Cross, where love is poured out completely. The dialogue with Peter highlights the necessity of allowing Christ to serve and cleanse us; salvation is received, not seized. The distinction between being “clean” and needing feet washed points to Baptism and ongoing purification through grace, repentance, and humility.
Parallels in Scripture
Exodus 12 – Passover as liberation.
Isaiah 52:7 – Feet bearing good news.
Mark 10:45 – The Son of Man who serves.
Philippians 2:6–8 – Christ’s self-emptying love.
1 John 1:7–9 – Cleansing through Christ.
Key Terms
Hour – The moment of the Passion and glorification.
Loved to the end – Total, faithful, self-giving love.
Wash – Cleansing and salvation received from Christ.
Inheritance with me – Communion and salvation.
Clean – Purified by grace, yet in need of continual renewal.
Catholic Liturgical Significance
This Gospel is proclaimed on Holy Thursday during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper. The Church reenacts the foot washing as a sign of Christlike service and sacrificial love, closely linked with the institution of the Eucharist and the commandment of love.
Conclusion
John 13:1–11 reveals the heart of Jesus on the eve of His Passion. Knowing all that lies ahead, He kneels in service. Love to the end is shown not in power, but in humility. The Lord who cleanses invites His disciples into communion through surrendered love.
Reflection
Am I willing to let Christ serve and cleanse me?
Do I resist humility as Peter did, or do I receive grace?
How do I live out Christ’s call to loving service?
Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, You loved us to the end and knelt to wash the feet of Your disciples. Cleanse my heart of pride and resistance. Teach me to receive Your love humbly and to serve others with the same self-giving love. Amen.
DETAILED INTERPRETATION
(Jn 13:1) It was before the Feast of the Passover. Jesus realized that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. Having always loved those who were his own in the world, he loved them to the end.
It was before the Feast of the Passover
Jesus’ Last Supper was a Jewish Passover meal that reminded the Israelites of how God delivered them from Egyptian slavery. It also reminded them of how their forefathers slew an unblemished lamb and marked its blood on the doorposts of their houses so that the angel would spare their first-born children from death. Jesus replaced the lamb’s blood with his own blood as the Lamb of God. He marked it on his cross, the new door to heaven, so he could save the lives of the first-born children in faith from eternal destruction.
Jesus realized that his hour had come
We often hear in the gospel that Jesus’ hour had not yet come. Jesus’ hour is the time “to pass from this world to the Father” (Jn 13:1) by fulfilling his mission through his passion, death, and resurrection. The evangelist says that the hour had arrived, and Jesus knew it.
To pass from this world to the Father
Death for Jesus and his followers is a passage from this world to God the Father. Like the Israelites’ passage from the slavery of Egypt to the Promised Land, we also pass from the slavery of sin in this world to eternal freedom in heaven.
Having always loved those who were his own in the world
Jesus made his own those who left everything and followed him. He loved them like his family. Jesus was the head of the family, and the apostles were his “little children” (Jn 13:33). The time came for Jesus to depart from this world to his Father. However, he promised them he would not leave them as orphans (Jn 14:18). This description gives the mood of how Jesus and his apostles felt at the time during their farewell and how much Jesus loved and cared for them. John the Evangelist who documented this was an eyewitness to this event along with the other apostles.
He loved them to the end
Jesus loved his own to the end of his life and affirmed it by offering his life for their salvation. His love would continue from heaven by supporting them in their mission until the end of their lives. We notice Jesus’ love to the end of his life on the cross by entrusting Mary and John to each other, by promising paradise to the repentant criminal crucified with him, and even forgiving and praying for those who persecuted him. He continued his love by appearing to his loved ones after his resurrection and sending the Holy Spirit upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost.
(2) They were at supper; and the devil had already put into the mind of Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray him
The Evangelist John adds here Judas’ intention to betray Jesus for money under the devil’s influence. By this, John reveals what was going on in the minds of Jesus and Judas in the gloomy context of that farewell Passover. The contrast in the mental states of Jesus and Judas that no one else knew gives the readers a dramatic mood of the situation.
(3) Jesus knowing that the Father had entrusted all things to him, and as he had come from God, and was going to God…
This verse of the power of Jesus that he inherited from his Father, sets the background for the humble act of washing the apostles’ feet. Before returning to his Father, Jesus wished to set a memorable example for his apostles who had been jostling amongst themselves for noble positions.
(4) … got up from the table, removed his outer garment, and taking a towel wrapped it around his waist
Got up from the table
People in the past walked on dusty roads with sandals on their feet. They used to eat the meal reclining so the feet might be on the sofa and close to the face of the person reclining nearby. So, they needed to wash their feet before entering a house. A slave, servant, or host (Lk 7:44) would wash the feet of the guest. Since the apostles had no host or servant to wash the feet, they skipped it. None of the apostles wanted to be at the service of others, not even to wash the feet of their Lord. So, they might have started the supper by washing themselves and without the ceremonial washing of feet. Jesus had noticed it and taught them a lesson by making himself a humble servant of his disciples. According to the Jewish practice, washing the feet should take place before the Passover celebration and not during the supper as Jesus did.
Removed his outer garment, and taking a towel wrapped it around his waist
While serving, the servants take off their outer garment and tie a towel around their waist for practical reasons. Jesus needed that to wipe the wet feet of the apostles at the end of his washing. It amazed the apostles when Jesus dressed like a servant. They did not understand what he would do. Prophets had used symbolic and dramatic actions to convey strong and memorable messages to the people. Jesus used the same method. He was fulfilling what he had said earlier. “I am among you as the one who serves” (Lk 22:27). “Be like the Son of Man who has come not to be served but to serve, and to give his life to redeem many” (Mt 20:28). Thus, the incarnate God did the menial job of a slave for his subjects.
(5) Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel he was wearing
The family used to keep towel, washbasin, and a jug of water inside the house for repeated washing of hands in between different courses of food during the meal. Jesus used them for the feet washing. He did not seek the help of anyone in this service, like pouring water in the basin. He did everything himself, like a humble slave. According to the custom of the time, if there was no slave or a servant, an inferior would wash the feet of a superior like a wife to her husband, children to the parents, disciples to the master; but not vice versa. By doing this act, Jesus touched the hearts and minds of his disciples. Besides washing their feet, Jesus was affectionately wiping the feet clean with the towel girded around his waist.
(6) When he came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, do you mean to wash my feet!”
He came to Simon Peter
Scholars differ on whose feet Jesus washed first. Some say he washed the feet of Judas first; while others say he did it first to Simon Peter.
“Lord, do you mean to wash my feet!”
Peter was an outspoken person. His questioning the master for washing his feet was a natural reaction from his humility and respect for the master.
(7) Jesus said, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand it”
Jesus later clarified the meaning of what he did in John 13:13-17. “If I, then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet, you also must wash one another’s feet” (Jn 13:14).
(8) Peter replied, “No, you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you can have no part with me”
“No, you shall never wash my feet”
Though Jesus mentioned that they would understand the meaning of his actions later, Peter objected to Jesus’ washing his feet out of his reverence for his master. The apostles did not understand what Jesus did. In Jesus’ mind, he was preparing his disciples to receive the Holy Eucharist that he planned to establish after the feet washing. This washing gave them warning that they should humble themselves to serve and purify themselves to administer and to receive the Holy Eucharist that they would continue in their lives.
If I do not wash you
Whenever Jesus had a theological discussion, he would switch from a material sense to a spiritual understanding as he did with Nicodemus (Jn 3:1-21) and the Samaritan woman (Jn 4:4-42). In this particular discussion with Peter, Jesus shifted the focus from washing off physical dirt to cleansing from spiritual sin with his precious blood and the Holy Spirit. For Jesus, feet washing is not limited to the feet but symbolises washing the whole person. So, he said, “I wash you.”
You can have no part with me
Jesus would inherit the Kingdom of God after his passion, death, and resurrection. Jesus presented washing Peter with the blood and Holy Spirit as a requirement for him to inherit with Jesus the Kingdom of God in heaven. By addressing this to Peter, Jesus offered all his disciples a partnership with him in the Kingdom he would inherit from his Father. For that, we also must wash away our sins in the blood of Jesus and receive his Holy Spirit. Only those whom Christ washed will have a part in the church, in this world and heaven.
(9) Then Simon Peter said, “Then, Lord, wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head!”
Peter did not understand what Jesus meant. He continued to take the washing in the literal sense. So, out of enthusiasm, he asked the Lord to wash his hands and head, the uncovered parts of his body. He was ready to offer anything to inherit the Kingdom of God with Jesus. So, he requested Jesus to cleanse all actions of his hands and all the thoughts of his head.
(10) Jesus replied, “Whoever has taken a bath does not need to wash, except the feet, for he is clean all over. You are clean, though not all of you”
Whoever has taken a bath does not need to wash, except the feet, for he is clean all over.
Here also, Jesus has a physical and spiritual meaning in the statement. Those who come from bath need only to wash off the dust or dirt from the feet. In the spiritual sense, those who received Baptism in the blood of Jesus and his Holy Spirit need only a cleansing like the Sacrament of Reconciliation or an act of contrition. Only after that shall he partake in the Holy Eucharist, which is a foretaste of the eternal banquet in heaven.
You are clean, though not all of you
Jesus here revealed an exception, though only he knew who the person was. Jesus washed Judas in the baptism of Christ and thus made him clean. However, the devil entered his heart and polluted it to love wealth more than the Lord, and to betray his master for money.
(11) Jesus knew who was to betray him; that is why he said, “Not all of you are clean”
Jesus knew what was in Judas’ mind while he was taking part in the Last Supper and the washing of the feet. Jesus was polite not to identify the person who would betray him. Judas heard Jesus’ words as a warning to him. However, he was so attached to wealth that he could not resist the temptation and accept the discourse of Jesus. Those who are under the devil’s possession will not be willing to open their minds to the Word of God. Those who are slaves of terrible addiction would avoid any spiritual warning.
MESSAGE
1. Jesus washed even Judas’ feet, though he knew Judas would betray him that night. Jesus, who taught us to love our enemies and bless them, gave a concrete example by washing Judas’ feet and kissing them. Let us follow Jesus’ model of being tolerant of those who plot against us.
2. Jesus washed the feet of his disciples just before establishing and sharing the Holy Eucharist. This reminds us of the relationship between the sacraments of confession and Holy Communion. Before participating and receiving the Holy Eucharist (Qurbana), we need to cleanse our souls by confession or by an act of contrition. We should do with more attention, the penitential service during the Holy Mass (Qurbana) before we receive the Holy Communion.