"13 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it round his waist.5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped round him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterwards you will understand.” 8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 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?"
John 13:1-12
It is interesting to see how John's words in 1, 'His own', echo those in 1:11. The scholars suggest that the reference here is to the little group of disciples to whom Jesus now turns His attention, but it may be that John is saying that even though 'His own' (1:11) rejected Him, He still loved them, and was going to the uttermost limit (i.e. to His death) to win them. It is also pointed out that there is a certain parallelism, and even recapitulation, between the first and second parts of John's record. For example, the baptism of John parallels the feet washing, with both emphasising cleansing; the feeding of the 5000 leads to the exposition of Christ as the bread of life, and the institution of the Last Supper leads on to the exposition of Christ as the Way, and the true Vine; the death of Lazarus is followed by the words 'the world is gone after Him' and this is paralleled by the death of Christ, with the apostolic commission, 'Go ye into all the world'. It is possible, of course, to make too much of 'hidden meanings' in John's writings, but we must beware of dismissing them impatiently as of no value or significance. We should also note the reference to 'His hour' having come. This phrase has cropped up repeatedly throughout the gospel, and we have seen that it has had reference to God's plan for His Son, and that therefore nothing could overtake Him till that hour was come. There are two readings in the Greek for 'being ended' in 2. The verb is not clear, and it could equally be translated, 'supper being in progress'. It is immaterial which is adopted, but we should bear in mind that the supper referred to is in fact the Last Supper. John does not even mention the institution of the Supper as a memorial of Him, and it is hardly possible to avoid the conclusion that for the Apostle the sacrament was of secondary importance. Bishop Ryle pertinently remarks: 'The omission of the Lord's Supper...was especially intended to be a witness for ever against the growing tendency to make an idol of the sacraments. The mere fact that in his gospel John leaves out the Lord's Supper altogether and does not even name it, is strong proof that the Lord's Supper cannot be, as many tell us, the first, foremost, chief and principal thing in Christianity. St. John's perfect silence about it can never be reconciled with this favourite theory.'