A Study of John 13:12-20

“When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.””

John 13:12-20 ESV

Observation/Summary (short explanation of what the passage says in your own words):

After Jesus washed His disciples’ feet, put His outer garments back on and returned to His place at the table, He asked the disciples if they understood what He had done to them. He said they were right to call Him Lord and Teacher, and also that if He, their Lord and Teacher, washed their feet, then they also should wash each other’s feet. Jesus gave them an example to follow. Next, Jesus said a servant is not greater than their master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent them. Those who know these things and do them will be blessed.

Then Jesus said He was not speaking about all of them because He knew who He had chosen, but also that the Scripture that said, “He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.” would be fulfilled. Jesus told them all of this before what was about to happen took place so that when it had happened, they would believe that, “I am he.” Lastly, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

Textual Analysis and Implication (what is being said and what does this mean?):

In the previous verses, as Jesus and the disciples shared the Passover meal together, Jesus got up from the table, removed His outer garments and wrapped a towel around His waist, thus donning the garb of the lowliest servant. After doing this, He washed each of the disciples’ feet. This was a task only done by the lowest servant in this culture so the disciples were shocked. But when Peter objected to Jesus washing his feet, Jesus told Peter he must allow Him (Jesus) to wash his (Peter’s) feet or else he would have no share with Him, so Peter then eagerly consented. Now, in verse 12, we read when Jesus finished washing their feet, put His outer garment back on and took His place at the table again, He asked them, “Do you understand what I have done for you?”.

Just as Jesus gave examples and lessons for the disciples to follow throughout His time with them, here it was important to Him to call their focus to the reason for what He had just done. The footwashing contains an important lesson Jesus wanted to ensure was understood. Just as the footwashing shocked Jesus’ disciples, the crucifixion it foreshadowed would shock them far more. While the people of this time expected a conquering Messiah who would overthrow the Romans, Jesus the Messiah came as a servant Who would lower Himself to great depths for the good of others. The cleansing of the footwashing points to the redemptive work of Jesus on the cross to cleanse people of their sin, and all this illustrates Jesus’ humble and selfless love. This same selfless love is what He wants His cleansed followers to have for and show to one another. This is what Jesus will explain in the following verses.

Next, in verse 13 Jesus begins His explanation by saying, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.” Jesus affirmed their recognition of Him as their Lord and Teacher. The word translated as Teacher here is “didaskalos” and it carries the same meaning as “Rabbi”, which was a word often used by disciples to address their teachers. “Lord,” translated from “Kyrios,” was likely first applied to Jesus as a term of respect for Him as a teacher, but later on, after the resurrection, Christians began to refer to Jesus as “Lord” with much weightier significance.

Christians began using this term to identify Jesus as the One Who God raised from the dead and is exalted on high; the Name that is above every other name (Acts 2:36, Philippians 2:9-11). Before this, believers who read the Septuagint (the Greek Old Testament) were accustomed to reading the divine name of God (Yahweh) translated as Lord (Kyrios). John the gospel writer knew all of this and therefore made the intentional choice to record these words of Jesus where He affirms Himself to be not only “Teacher,” but also “Lord.” While the disciples were wrong to shrink away from His washing of their feet, they were right to see Him as their Teacher and Lord.

In verses 14-15 Jesus continued on to say that if He, their Lord and Teacher, washed their feet, then they should follow His example and wash one another’s feet. Pride dictates that one should never take what is considered to be the lower role, but now that the Lord Jesus has undertaken this lowest of roles there is no reason for the disciples, or any follower of Jesus, not to do the same. Humility is to be a prominent characteristic of Jesus’ followers. To paraphrase D. A. Carson, Christian zeal without humility is hollow and pathetic.

There are some Christian communities that practice footwashing as a sort of church ordinance, and there is nothing wrong with this. If it is done with the right heart it can certainly be a blessing to a community of Christ followers. But there is no command here for Christians to literally wash one another’s feet. Footwashing is not treated as an ecclesiastical rite anywhere else in Scripture or in early church documents. The mention of footwashing in 1 Timothy 5:10 is not an example of an instituted ordinance either. What the footwashing of Jesus represents is the concept of humble, loving servanthood towards our fellow believers. As Charles Spurgeon said of this passage, “If there be any deed of kindness or love that we can do for the very meanest and most obscure of God’s people, we ought to be willing to do it — to be servants to God’s servants.”

After this Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.” A version of this saying was likely often repeated by Jesus during His earthly ministry and used for multiple applications (Mt. 10:24, Luke 6:40, John 15:20). In this case it is used to teach that the one who carries a message has no right to think they are above performing any task the one who sent them performs, and no servant or slave has a right to think any task is too low for them that their own master would undertake. If Jesus is humble and lowly, and serves His followers in this way, then we who follow Him must follow His selfless, loving example.

Following this Jesus added, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” This likely refers to what He said in verses 14-16. In previous passages Jesus condemned people who hear His words but do not keep them (John 12:47-48), but here He speaks of how those who keep His words will be blessed. To merely hear this teaching of humble servanthood and intellectually assent to it is hardly worth anything at all. However, the one who puts this teaching into practice pleases God, follows His example, obeys His command, and receives blessing and happiness from His hand.

Next, in verse 18, Jesus said, “I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’” When Jesus chooses a person, He does so with full knowledge of who they are and what they will do, and this was no less true of the 12 disciples. Jesus already repeatedly alluded to the fact that one of the 12 would betray Him (John 6:71, 12:4, 13:2). It was important for Him to do this so the faith of the disciples would be strengthened by the knowledge that He knew one of them would betray Him ahead of time. Jesus’ choice of Judas was not the result of weakness or an oversight. Jesus knew He had chosen a traitor.

Jesus then provides the reason why He made this choice; to fulfill the Scripture that said, “He who ate my bread has lifted up his heel against me.” This is a quote from Psalm 41:9, and it communicates the idea of a cruel, treacherous attack. It was originally written as a lament by King David as he recounted the painful experience of being betrayed by close friends. The entirety of Psalm 41 cannot be considered as Messianic but this part is. King David is considered a “type” or model of the One known as “David’s greater son” (Jesus). This means that not everything in David’s life mirrors Jesus, but the broad themes are understood as parallels or foreshadows of the life of Jesus. One of the themes from David’s life echoed in the life of Jesus is the theme of suffering, weakness, and betrayal by friends. Just as the greatness of David did not mean he wouldn’t suffer, the greatness of Jesus, God incarnate, did not exempt Him from suffering. In fact, the most astounding display of Jesus’ glory is in the suffering He faced at the hands of a spiritually blind, and sinful world.

While betrayal is terrible in all cultures, the wording of this quote from Psalm 41 uses a specifically Near-Eastern way of communicating the idea. In Near-Eastern culture hospitality is especially valued, so to betray someone who has shared their bread (food and hospitality) is an especially egregious offence. Also, the phrase “has lifted up his heel against me” is literally translated from Hebrew as “has made his heel great against me.” The most probable meaning of this in English would be “has given me a great fall”, “has taken cruel advantage of me” or “has walked out on me.” The message being communicated here is that not only has there been a betrayal, but it has been done by a close friend.

Again, it was important to Jesus that the disciples knew He was not surprised by the betrayal that would soon come, so in verse 19 He said, “I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.” Jesus told them this so the true disciples would retain confidence in Him. Jesus was not an unknowing, helpless victim of Judas’ treachery. The betrayal by Judas was foreknown by God and intentionally used to accomplish the redemptive mission Jesus came to fulfill.

Although the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus was going to be incredibly difficult for the faithful disciples to reckon with, this information served to prepare them for it. While they would not fully come to terms with Jesus’ death until after His resurrection and receiving His Spirit, this knowledge would help to prevent them from fully scattering after His arrest. While they will flee when Jesus is seized, they still remained clustered together for the few days after Jesus’ death and until His resurrection and reappearance to them when their flicker of faith would be vindicated and strengthened.

Lastly for this passage, Jesus said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.” In the previous verse Jesus said, “I am He,” which in this context is undoubtedly a reference to the revelation of God’s divine name to Moses as “I Am That I Am.” This is both a claim to be the Messiah and God incarnate. And this remarkable claim is followed here in verse 20 with the promise that whoever “receives” or in other words “accepts” Jesus, accepts the One Who sent Him. This harkens back to John 5:19 where Jesus explained the intimate connection between God the Father and God the Son.

This verse also profoundly binds the disciples to Jesus, and in so doing, highlights the faithless betrayal of Judas Iscariot. This statement is a claim that Jesus acts with the full authority of God and says that a failure to accept and follow Him is a failure to accept and follow God. To reject Jesus Christ is to reject God. And in the future when the disciples will be sent out as representatives of Christ, preaching the gospel, a failure to accept them and their message is in turn a failure to accept God. In saying this, Jesus’ words point ahead to the commission given in John 20:21. At the time Jesus said this, the disciples would not have been able to fully grasp the meaning, but after the resurrection, reflecting back on these words would have served to strengthen their faith that Jesus’ knew what He was doing and what would come ahead of time.

Response (How does this change how I think, act and pray?):

If Jesus, the God of all creation, humbly washed the feet of His followers, then we who follow Him should not view any task done in service to others as beneath us. For, to do such a thing would be to view ourselves as above Jesus. He is the Teacher and we are the students; He is the Master and we are the servants. If He loves us with this kind of humble, selfless love, then we need to endeavor to love one another in the same way. Fortunately we are not left to our own devices to learn to love like this. When we come to faith in Christ, He gives us His Spirit to change us from the inside, and in reliance on His Spirit working in us we will become more humble, selfless and loving day by day.

It is also important to know Jesus was not surprised by the betrayal of Judas. Jesus is all-knowing and He selected Judas to follow Him in His earthly ministry knowing Judas would turn traitor. But Jesus used this treachery to accomplish the ultimate act of footwashing He came to perform; His sacrificial death on the cross to cleanse us of our sin.

Lastly, Jesus is no mere human teacher and good example for us to follow. He is Yahweh, God incarnate, Who we were made to follow. To accept Jesus is to accept God. To reject Jesus is to reject God. We all deserve to die for our sin and face the just punishment of an eternity in Hell. But our loving, gracious and  merciful God, Jesus, paid for our sin on the cross. And everyone who repents of their sin and believes in Jesus as their Lord God and Savior will be saved from death and Hell and for eternal life and Heaven.

Self Reflection:

1. Is there anything I could do for others, but that I have viewed as too lowly for me to do?
2. What opportunities do I have to humbly serve the people around me?
3. How does Jesus’ foreknowledge of Judas’ betrayal, and how Jesus subsequently used it to accomplish the redemptive act that saved my soul, give me confidence that He can and will use bad circumstances in my life to accomplish a greater and eternal good?