"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
At first sight, the incident recorded here seems intent on teaching the lesson of humility; and this appears to be borne out by references in Luke 22:24 to the contention between the disciples about who among them was greatest. None of them would stoop to the menial task of acting as servant to the others. In this respect, our Lord's action would have been very humbling for them all, and would 'cleanse' them of bitter, resentful pride. But Jesus Himself goes on to speak of cleansing for them, that is to say, the washing of their feet was a symbol of spiritual cleansing. The whole incident was a symbolic action, an acted parable, and the real point of John's very deliberate emphasis in 3, 'He was come (down) from God and went to God', is the theme of 'The love that stoops to serve'. It is John saying in pictorial, dramatic language what Paul says theologi- cally in Philippians 2:5-11. It is the self-emptying of the Son of God, and the meaning of the Incarnation that John is concerned to underline. Jesus laid aside His garments - as He laid aside the garments of His glory; He tied a slave's apron on Him, as He took upon Him the form of a servant, assuming our flesh and nature; and as the Good Shep- herd, laid down His life for the sheep (10:11, 15, 17). The story is therefore infinitely more than a lesson in humility, for in it we are taken to the fountainhead of all humility; this is the arch-type of humility, this is where humility was born, in the humiliation of the Son of God, in His corning down from the glory to the world of men.