NOTES for Joh 13:1-20

Peter and the other apostles were naturally embarrassed. No wonder: the King of Israel was washing their feet, doing a slave's work! Many of us would surely dislike it if the person dearest to us began doing something humiliating and improper. But this washing of feet is a decisive moment in the history of Jesus' relationship with His disciples; anyone who dislikes it is free to leave.

Why is it so important? Apparently it is impossible to understand the Lord and follow Him without learning through experience this lesson in which the Master serves those beneath Him and the Teacher serves His disciples. As Scripture says, this is an example—but not an example on a board or in a picture. Peter and all of us must pass through this shock so that we will never again be shocked by the thought that we too must serve those who are lesser and weaker than we are.

During the washing of feet, Christ becomes a servant, though He is Lord and Teacher, and calls His disciples to do likewise. He does not call for the established hierarchy of society to be broken down, but intends to change the nature of human relationships, including social relationships, from within, reminding us of the need to serve one another as brothers. And if we try to make slave and master radically equal, we will soon see a new inequality flourish. But the equality of mutual service heals social wounds more reliably, and it is achieved not through exaltation, but in the way Christ showed His disciples. There is something dry and formal about Judas being named in full here; in this way, the evangelist must be stressing the end of the close friendship between him and the Teacher. Yet Simon Peter is also named in full. Of course, it was a coincidence that Peter's first name was the same as that of Judas's father, but perhaps it is no accident that the evangelist noted this coincidence in his account of events on the eve of the betrayal of one and the weakness of the other?..

Peter's humble embarrassment at having his feet washed by the Teacher goes hand in hand with a bold desire to receive more from Him, and at the same time with an understanding that without Christ one cannot wash away one's own sinfulness. Christ called His disciples washed clean, although He saw that they were not perfect and knew that they would soon falter. If we consent to His beginning to cleanse us, we need not be troubled that we are still not what we ought to be. We should trust and come towards Him, rather than turn away on the pretext of our own unworthiness. It is better to entrust the question of our worthiness or unworthiness to Him.

Only one word comes to mind when the washing of feet comes up, when you remember and imagine someone washing your feet: "piercing." And it is piercing when a brother or sister does this, and the thought does not even arise that your Lord could have done it... How disarmed, how defenseless you become, gathering trust with difficulty so as to accept this amazing gift meekly and humbly. The exposed heart grows still, almost stops, from the depth of the sensations and feelings.

But when you yourself wash feet, the heart beats with the desire to express, through this whole action, the love that increases with the decision to wash someone's feet. The heart beats, commanding you to touch the feet of a brother or sister gently, understanding that the trust shown to you borders on pain. And the Lord, who calls us to do this, is present nearby, blessing openness and multiplying love.

Yet His instruction to wash one another's feet concerns not only this action; it must permeate all our fellowship. But the state of spirit that gives you the possibility of being the one who "washes" or the one who is "washed" is possible only with the presence of Jesus in your heart. For it is He who can take in our hearts the places occupied by pride, fear of trusting, and unwillingness to serve our neighbor.

Jesus washed the feet of all the disciples. Judas too. This tells us of the perfection of God's love for us, from which nothing can separate us. That is why the Lord gives us freedom, the possibility of choosing at every moment. At any moment in our lives we can become traitors, and perhaps at that very moment the Lord will want to wash our feet, but we will fail to notice. Or, on the contrary, we can notice, accept His love, and return to God by renouncing betrayal.

In our day, the washing of feet in some churches and communities often turns into something like a mystery play symbolizing humility and service. Yet in Gospel times there was nothing mysterious or unusual about it. In Palestine, people then wore open footwear on bare feet, and at table they did not sit but reclined on a special kind of couch; in that case washing one's feet was as necessary as washing one's hands. Most often a slave assigned to this task washed the guests' feet, and if there was no such slave, the guests did it themselves: in the courtyard, by the entrance, vessels of water intended for this purpose usually stood there. Sometimes, as a sign of special respect for an honored guest, the host of the house himself might help such a guest wash his feet. This work was considered one of the least honorable, though it was absolutely necessary.

And now, during the Last Supper, or more precisely before it began, Jesus Himself takes it upon Himself. Such behavior was at the very least unusual: of all people, Jesus was not supposed to wash the guests' feet. But He does it, giving an example to His disciples. The point here is not some special self-abasement: He only wants to make clear to the apostles what true service is, when one does what needs to be done for God and for one's neighbors without thinking about or caring for one's own status and prestige.

It is no accident that Jesus decisively stops Peter's attempt to turn ordinary footwashing into a kind of ritual washing: when the apostle asks his Teacher to wash not only his feet but also his hands and head, He refuses, saying that there is no need for such washing. The apostles have to accept that their Teacher takes upon Himself the work of a slave, dirty and unprestigious work. Meanwhile, the Teacher gives them an example of true love and true humility.

In some Christian churches the custom of washing feet has become a tradition. After all, Jesus says directly that we Christians should do this for one another, and if His words are understood literally, then the custom or even rite of foot washing can appear entirely appropriate - if not for one "but": Jesus Himself insists categorically that this is no rite and no ritual. The ritual washing customary during the Passover seder (and the Last Supper was precisely a Passover seder, a ritual Jewish meal performed during the feast of Passover) had already been completed by that moment. Now they had to recline at the table (in those days people did not sit at table but reclined), and before that everyone needed to have their feet washed, because one usually climbed onto the couch with one's feet.

As a rule, this work was assigned to a household slave, and so when Jesus Himself does it, it causes real shock: such a task is not for the Teacher. Peter protests, but Jesus is unyielding: if you refuse, you will not sit at the Passover table with Me. Then Peter tries to turn everything precisely into a rite, into a ritual washing.

If Jesus had also washed his hands and head, and those of the other disciples, then this really would have resembled a ritual cleansing washing; but Jesus does not want that. He is not going to turn ordinary foot washing into a ritual. On the contrary, He wants to show His disciples that the Kingdom is not a ritual, but ordinary life, the life people live, and live simply, not for the sake of observing some endless mysterious rites. Only in this life there are no tasks that are, on the one hand, "high" and "spiritual," and on the other, "low": any work is filled with spiritual meaning if it is done according to God's will and with love.

And a person's position in the Kingdom, his so-called status as an inhabitant of this Kingdom (to the extent that it is appropriate to speak of any status here at all), is not affected by any ministries or tasks: what matters here is the person's inner state, the spiritual quality of his life, not what he is occupied with. This is the simple truth Jesus wants to bring to His disciples by His own example. And if, instead of understanding and accepting this truth, we again and again turn it into a ritual, then the problem is in us, not in the truth.

In the Gospel account of Jesus washing His disciples' feet, we are often inclined to see something significant and mysterious, at times almost mystical. Sometimes in some Christian communities people even try to revive this "sacred ritual," expecting from it either some special grace or abundant spiritual fruits.

Jesus Himself had nothing of the sort in mind. He clearly had in mind nothing mysterious, no special ritual, no sacred washings. Peter wanted to see the situation this way, but Jesus did not allow him to do so. He did not turn an ordinary, though absolutely necessary, task into a ritual. He simply did the work that was usually assigned to a household slave. And He said at the same time: you call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right; if so, then act as I do.

Does this mean that only occupations once assigned to slaves are suitable for a Christian? Hardly. But there must be readiness to do any work if it is necessary for specific neighbors in a specific situation. Any work at all, even the kind that one would not do under ordinary circumstances.

What disturbed Peter most of all was precisely that his Teacher was doing something completely inappropriate to His position. He tries to smooth over a situation that appears to him humiliating for his Teacher by turning the ordinary washing of feet, absolutely necessary at that time, into a kind of ritual washing that will not humiliate Jesus: that is why he asks Him to wash not only his feet, but also his hands and head, as was usually done during purification washings.

Jesus Himself sees nothing humiliating for Himself in the situation that has arisen. More than that: He speaks of it as the norm for relationships among Christians. Not so that some could shift onto others the tasks they do not want to do themselves, but so that His disciples would understand what the life of the Kingdom is. A life in which what is so important in this world does not matter: status, prestige, imaginary dignity, which often does not allow us to do what our neighbors expect from us; in a word, everything that has no relation to the love of the Kingdom, by which the true followers of Christ were supposed to live and about which they were supposed to bear witness, the followers Jesus wanted the apostles to be.

Before us are words of Jesus (John 13:16) that can provoke different reactions. On the one hand, how could it be otherwise? Can a servant and a messenger be greater than their masters? But on the other hand, how often pride and the desire to exalt oneself arise in the soul of the one carrying out an assignment. Sadly, this also happens in our relationships with God... These words evaporate from our minds, and we want to act on our own, without remaining under any authority. And what joy it is when the heart agrees with God's will, and the messenger brings not his own message but the message of the One who sent him, and the servant works together with the Master.

Jesus says this very thing: "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (John 13:17). And blessed is the heart that does not wish to exalt itself and thirsts to fulfill the Lord's will. Then the one who receives such a person receives Jesus Himself, since He abides in him (John 6:56).

What is Christianity? Where are its boundaries? For many people today Christianity is associated with followers of Christ who identify themselves as such, and with the church, or more precisely with the many churches that exist in the modern world. Someone will remember the Church with a capital letter, that body of Christ of which the apostle Paul spoke. Yet Jesus Himself never said that He would limit His communion only to His followers. Only to Christians. Strictly speaking, He did not leave any Christians in the world; He left a small community of His disciples, which later grew.

Then, after some time, a small group of these same disciples called themselves "Christians," or in modern language, "messianists." Later all the disciples of Christ adopted this self-designation. But He Himself did not speak about any "Christians." He spoke about His followers, about those who have some kind of relationship with Him. Precisely some kind, even if minimal. Mediated. Even if only through those whose relationship with Him is more conscious and responsible.

Here, of course, the measure of fullness can vary. There are disciples and followers who are closer; there is the closest circle of disciples, the apostles; and even among the apostles there are people especially close to Him. There are those who know Him personally, more or less, better or worse. There are also those who are not personally acquainted with Him, but whom He knows.

He knows them at least, for example, because some of these people are connected with someone among His direct disciples. Connected by friendship, cooperation, a service once rendered, or help given. The Kingdom, after all, the one He brought into the world, is first of all relationships. Ideally, personal relationships with Him Himself as the King of this Kingdom, but at the beginning, at least with one of His disciples. A chain of relationships can indirectly connect a person with the Kingdom and with its King.

Such relationships are not yet everything, but they can become the beginning of a path. If a person is consistent, sooner or later a moment will come in his life when he will need not simply to touch the Kingdom and its life, but also to become acquainted with the King who rules this Kingdom.

Everything, however, has its time. One thing is important: no contact with the Kingdom, direct or indirect, passes without a trace. Each one is a chance that, if used rightly, can become a chance for salvation.