Saturday 19 August 2023

Background

Nothing in John’s Gospel is insisted upon like the instruction from Jesus in today’s passage. Many elements in the passage, its placement and structure, point to its importance.

There is the climactic timing – it happens at the major festival of Passover. It is also a culminating event in Jesus’ life and ministry: the next thing to happen after they leave the table will be Jesus’ arrest and crucifixion. 

Jesus returns to the place of authority at the table, having left it to wash the disciples’ feet. He "put on his robe, and…returned to the table" (v. 12b) and says the disciples are right to call him ‘Teacher and Lord’ (v. 13). Jesus is here giving an interpretation of his act of foot-washing which he intends to have weight.

Jesus makes an explicit command: "So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet" (v. 14).  The meaning of ‘ought to’ in the original language is very strong, implying something which is owed to one another.  And there is the emphasis on the example of Jesus’ act of foot-washing: "For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you" (v. 15). 

The presence, and repetition, of the formula ‘Very truly I tell you’ (vs 16a and 20a) is always used by Jesus to intensify a saying and its significance. 

There is a beatitude: the first of only two in John’s Gospel: "If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them" (v. 17).

It may also be worth noting that John’s Gospel, unlike the others, has no account of the Last Supper: the Passover meal at which Jesus’ sharing of bread and wine with the words ‘This is my body/blood’ (eg Matthew 26:26-27) becomes the source for the Church’s celebration of the Eucharist in worship. The events in today’s passage are explicitly located before the feast of the Passover (13:1a). Bible scholars debate why this might be. But one consequence is that it throws much more emphasis on the account and significance of the foot-washing, and on Jesus’ commands in relation to it.

To Ponder:

• In what ways might Jesus’ commandment to ‘wash one another’s feet’ be faithfully followed or interpreted today?
• Does it matter that John’s Gospel does not contain any account of the Last Supper?