John 13:1-11
13:1 This verse introduces Jesus hour larger narrative of the event of Jesus’ death, resurrection, and ascension 13:1 17:26 . There is a specific events of the farewell meal. It establishes two frameworks for the events that are about to be narrated. The first is an external frame work; the events of the Farwell meal are located in the context of the Passover festival . This is the third Passover festival mentioned in John. 1) 2:13,23 2) 6;4 This is the final Passover for him. The second framework could be called an “Internal” frame work. The events of the farewell meal indicates Jesus’ knowledge and love.
John 13;1 is one long sentence in greek. Jesus’ knowledge of his hour and his love for his own are expressed in three participiale clauses that introduce the one faint verb clause of the sentence. “ He loved them to the end” each of these three verb clauses deserves serious attention .
The first clauses (v1b )“ Jesus knowing that this hour had come . It describes Jesus coming in to the world his relationship to God( 1:1-5, 10-14,18)
Jesus hour marks the end of his ministry in “this world” and his return to the father. The full significance of Jesus’ return to God will be brought out in the discourse in 14:1, -16:33)
Jesus knowledge of his relationship to God has been a theme through out his ministry (eg 5:17,19; 7;28-9; 8;54-55; 10,38. And end of his life will be governed by the same knowledge( eg 18;4, 19;28)
The second clause (v.1c) “having loved his own who were in the world. Jesus’ own are those whom he knows and loves(eg.10:14; 15:13).
The third clause Jesus knowledge of his hour and his continuing love for his own provide the backdrop for 13;1d . The greek expression used to describe Jesus love (E’S Tƛos , eis telos) can be translated two different ways 1). to the end or as referring to the quality of Jesus’ love . 2) the full extent John probably intended both meanings to be heard here, because it was in loving his own “ to the end” that the “full extent” of Jesus love for his own will be demonstrated its full in the foot washing, but it will receive its full and final expression in his gift of his love.
13:2 the evening meal that is already in progress and the devils decision about judas’s betrayal of Jesus both provide the context for the stamens about Jesus’ knowledge in V 3, and the foot washing in VV 4-5. This combination is important, for it signals a tension between fellowship and betrayal that will recur throughout 13;1-38. The reference to the devil and Judas in V2 is more ambiguous than the English translation. I is not clear from the greek whether the devil has put it into his own heart that Judas will betray Jesus or in to Judas ‘s heart. The events of the last supper are enacted against the backdrop of a cosmic struggle between the powers of good and evil that will be manifested in Judas’s betrayal of Jesus.
Foot washing was practiced in both Jewish and Greco – Roman context in the ancient Mediterranean world. It had three main functions.
1. Personal hygiene
2. An act of hospitality
3. A cultic act.
Since the foot washing in John13 occurs in the context of a meal, the practice of foot washing as hospitality provides the most helpful analogue in interpreting the Johannine text. Foot washing was a way of welcoming one’s guests; a person’s feet would become dusty during the journey and the host offered water so that guests could wash their feet ( eg Gen 18;4 19;2 43; 24. Lk 7;44. Feet washing is normally performed by the servants at the behest of the host. Typically the washing was done either by a slave ( 1 sam 25 ; 41) or by guests themselves.
When Jesus washes his disciple’s feet then he combines the roles of servant and host. When Jesus wraps himself with towel , he assumes the garb and position of the servant, but the act of hospitality that he offers is the prerogative of the host foot washing normally occurred before food was served (eg Gen 24;32-33, Jud 19;21), not in the middle of the meal .
Jesus washed peter’s feet first nor that he came to peter last, peter speaks as the representative disciple. Peter will not allow Jesus to assume the role of a servant. Jesus’ response holds the key to understanding the foot washing. Jesus’ washing of Peter’s feet is stipulated as a necessary condition for Peter’s “share” with Jesus. To have a share with Jesus is to have a fellowship with him, to participate fully his life. The foot washing is “a symbolic act of eschatological hospitality, through which Jesus share his home that is the Father’s home (1:1; 14:2) with his disciples. The foot washing is an eschatological act because through it Jesus manifests the unity and intimacy of God, Jesus and the believer that marks full relationship with God(eg. 15:1-10). It draws the disciple into the love that marks God’s and Jesus’ relationship to each other and to the world(3:16.35; 14:23,31; 17:23,24,26). Through foot washing, Jesus unites the believer with him as he enters the events of his hour(cf. 13:1,3).
The use of the verb “to bathe” for the footwashing is the principal evidence for a baptismal interpretation of the foot washing. The verb “to bathe” louein, and cognates are standard NT vocabulary for Baptism. In Acts 22:16 Ananias says to saul: “Rise and baptized and wash away (apolouein) your sins, calling on his name”. titus 3:5 proclaims “He saved us…by the bath (loutron) of regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit”.
The narrative of the foot washing is understanding of Jesus’act of hospitality, service and love. and also Jesus washing his disciples’ feet an act and provides spiritual purification or forgiveness of post-baptismal sins. It symbolizes Baptism and Eucharist. It represents welcome into God’s household and it is called to follow Jesus in humble service or in fulfilling the love commandment by laying one’s life for another.
Connected with N.T
to realize the symbolism of water.
Eph 5:26 that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the
washing of water by the word,
And the symbolism connected with feet.
Luke 1:79 To give light to those who sit in darkness and the
shadow of death, To guide our feet into the way of
peace.
Rom 10:15 ... How beautiful are the feet of those who preach
the gospel of peace, ...
Eph 6:15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of
the gospel of peace;
Heb 12:13 and make straight paths for your feet, ...
Matt 3:3 ... Prepare the way of the LORD; Make His paths
straight.
'Water' is commonly used in Scripture to represent;
'the word of God'.
'Feet' are connected with what one uses to;
'walk the spiritual path or way'.
The footwashing performed by Jesus Christ was a symbolic message to His disciples. The message being that we should help our fellow Christians in their Christian walk. This being in tune with the thought,
Matt 25:40 ... 'Assuredly, I say to you, in as much as you did
it to one of the least of these My brethren, you
did it to Me.'
CONCLUSION.
(a) Feet-washing symbolizes humility and service. The apostles had been quarreling as to who would be greatest in the kingdom which they thought Jesus was about to set up (Lk 22:24-30). Most authorities agree that this quarrel took place before the supper. Peter's question. "Dost thou wash my feet?" shows clearly that his objection lay principally in this, that Jesus, the Lord and Master, should perform such humble service. But Jesus was trying all the time to teach His disciples that true greatness in His kingdom is humility and service. "I am in the midst of you as he that serveth" (Lk 22:27; compare Mt 5:5; 23:11,12). Humility and service are fundamental virtues in the Christian life. To wash the feet of another symbolizes these virtues in the same way that the Eucharist symbolizes other Christian virtues. (b) Cleansing: Jesus clearly distinguished between the first cleansing which cleanses the whole person, and the washing of a part of the body. Baptism is the new birth, which means complete cleansing. But after baptism we still commit sins, and need the partial cleansing as symbolized by feetwashing. Compare Bernard of Clairvaux: "Feet-washing is cleansing of those daily offenses which seem inevitable for those who walk in the dust of the world" (sed pedes (abluti sunt) qui aunt animae affectiones, dum in hac pulvere gradimur, ex toto mundi ease non possunt). If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet.
Sr. Pauline Indra.FSAG
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