3 [Jesus,] knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he came out from God and was going to God, 4 rises from supper and lays aside his garments, and having taken a linen towel he girded himself: 5 then he pours water into the washhand basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the linen towel with which he was girded. 6 He comes therefore to Simon Peter; and he says to him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7 Jesus answered and said to him, What I do thou dost not know now, but thou shalt know hereafter. 8 Peter says to him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me. 9 Simon Peter says to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10 Jesus says to him, He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet, but is wholly clean; and ye are clean, but not all. 11 For he knew him that delivered him up: on account of this he said, Ye are not all clean. 12 When therefore he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, having sat down again, he said to them, Do ye know what I have done to you? 13 Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am [so]. 14 If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet; 15 for I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also. 16 Verily, verily, I say to you, The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him. 17 If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.
18 I speak not of you all. I know those whom I have chosen; but that the scripture might be fulfilled, He that eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me. 19 I tell you [it] now before it happens, that when it happens, ye may believe that I am [he]. 20 Verily, verily, I say to you, He who receives whomsoever I shall send receives me; and he that receives me receives him who has sent me.
21 Having said these things, Jesus was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily, I say to you, that one of you shall deliver me up. 22 The disciples therefore looked one on another, doubting of whom he spoke. 23 Now there was at table one of his disciples in the bosom of Jesus, whom Jesus loved. 24 Simon Peter makes a sign therefore to him to ask who it might be of whom he spoke. 25 But he, leaning on the breast of Jesus, says to him, Lord, who is it? 26 Jesus answers, He it is to whom I, after I have dipped the morsel, give it. And having dipped the morsel, he gives it to Judas [son] of Simon, Iscariote. 27 And, after the morsel, then entered Satan into him. Jesus therefore says to him, What thou doest, do quickly. 28 But none of those at table knew why he said this to him; 29 for some supposed, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus was saying to him, Buy the things of which we have need for the feast; or that he should give something to the poor. 30 Having therefore received the morsel, he went out immediately; and it was night.
31 When therefore he was gone out Jesus says, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32 If God be glorified in him, God also shall glorify him in himself, and shall glorify him immediately. 33 Children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me; and, as I said to the Jews, Where I go ye cannot come, I say to you also now. 34 A new commandment I give to you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on John 13:3-34
Commentary on John 13:1-17
(Read John 13:1-17)
Our Lord Jesus has a people in the world that are his own; he has purchased them, and paid dear for them, and he has set them apart for himself; they devote themselves to him as a peculiar people. Those whom Christ loves, he loves to the end. Nothing can separate a true believer from the love of Christ. We know not when our hour will come, therefore what we have to do in constant preparation for it, ought never to be undone. What way of access the devil has to men's hearts we cannot tell. But some sins are so exceedingly sinful, and there is so little temptation to them from the world and the flesh, that it is plain they are directly from Satan. Jesus washed his disciples' feet, that he might teach us to think nothing below us, wherein we may promote God's glory, and the good of our brethren. We must address ourselves to duty, and must lay aside every thing that would hinder us in what we have to do. Christ washed his disciples' feet, that he might signify to them the value of spiritual washing, and the cleansing of the soul from the pollutions of sin. Our Lord Jesus does many things of which even his own disciples do not for the present know the meaning, but they shall know afterward. We see in the end what was the kindness from events which seemed most cross. And it is not humility, but unbelief, to put away the offers of the gospel, as if too rich to be made to us, or too good news to be true. All those, and those only, who are spiritually washed by Christ, have a part in Christ. All whom Christ owns and saves, he justifies and sanctifies. Peter more than submits; he begs to be washed by Christ. How earnest he is for the purifying grace of the Lord Jesus, and the full effect of it, even upon his hands and head! Those who truly desire to be sanctified, desire to be sanctified throughout, to have the whole man, with all its parts and powers, made pure. The true believer is thus washed when he receives Christ for his salvation. See then what ought to be the daily care of those who through grace are in a justified state, and that is, to wash their feet; to cleanse themselves from daily guilt, and to watch against everything defiling. This should make us the more cautious. From yesterday's pardon, we should be strengthened against this day's temptation. And when hypocrites are discovered, it should be no surprise or cause of stumbling to us. Observe the lesson Christ here taught. Duties are mutual; we must both accept help from our brethren, and afford help to our brethren. When we see our Master serving, we cannot but see how ill it becomes us to domineer. And the same love which led Christ to ransom and reconcile his disciples when enemies, still influences him.
Commentary on John 13:18-30
(Read John 13:18-30)
Our Lord had often spoken of his own sufferings and death, without such trouble of spirit as he now discovered when he spake of Judas. The sins of Christians are the grief of Christ. We are not to confine our attention to Judas. The prophecy of his treachery may apply to all who partake of God's mercies, and meet them with ingratitude. See the infidel, who only looks at the Scriptures with a desire to do away their authority and destroy their influence; the hypocrite, who professes to believe the Scriptures, but will not govern himself by them; and the apostate, who turns aside from Christ for a thing of naught. Thus mankind, supported by God's providence, after eating bread with Him, lift up the heel against Him! Judas went out as one weary of Jesus and his apostles. Those whose deeds are evil, love darkness rather than light.
Commentary on John 13:31-35
(Read John 13:31-35)
Christ had been glorified in many miracles he wrought, yet he speaks of his being glorified now in his sufferings, as if that were more than all his other glories in his humbled state. Satisfaction was thereby made for the wrong done to God by the sin of man. We cannot now follow our Lord to his heavenly happiness, but if we truly believe in him, we shall follow him hereafter; meanwhile we must wait his time, and do his work. Before Christ left the disciples, he would give them a new commandment. They were to love each other for Christ's sake, and according to his example, seeking what might benefit others, and promoting the cause of the gospel, as one body, animated by one soul. But this commandment still appears new to many professors. Men in general notice any of Christ's words rather than these. By this it appears, that if the followers of Christ do not show love one to another, they give cause to suspect their sincerity.