Jn 13:1-15
1Before 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. 2The devil had already induced Judas, son of Simon the Iscariot, to hand him over. So, during supper, 3fully aware that the Father had put everything into his power and that he had come from God and was returning to God, 4he rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. 5Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Master, are you going to wash my feet?”
7Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” 8Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.” 9Simon Peter said to him, “Master, then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well.” 10Jesus said to him, “Whoever has bathed has no need except to have his feet washed, for he is clean all over; so you are clean, but not all.” 11For he knew who would betray him; for this reason, he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12So when he had washed their feet [and] put his garments back on and reclined at table again, he said to them, “Do you realize what I have done for you? 13You call me ‘teacher’ and ‘master,’ and rightly so, for indeed I am. 14If I, therefore, the master and teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash one another’s feet. 15I have given you a model to follow, so that as I have done for you, you should also do.”
Washing of the Feet: John’s Passover supper narrative focuses on the washing of the feet to give deeper meaning to the Eucharist in which Jesus offers his “broken” body and his “poured-out” blood as food and drink.
In washing the feet of his disciples, Jesus carries out the service of a slave, not of a Jewish slave, but only of a pagan slave. It is therefore the lowest task in the Jewish world. The washing for the evangelist is the representation of what Jesus’ whole life is all about: the free giving of his whole self in love. No one takes Jesus’ life away from him; he offers it freely. Jesus’ setting aside his garment and bending down to wash his disciples’ feet represents his setting aside his honor as Teacher and Lord and his bending down in the mystery of forgiveness. His infinite love is the true washing of humankind, the sole washing that can make a human being “clean,” enabling him to have communion with God.