“Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him; Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.”
Chapter 12 began with Mary anointing the feet of Jesus and wiping his feet with her hair — a daring action that seems to have brought the dinner party to an abrupt end and an action for which Judas reproached her in no small manner as being an unseemly waste of funds that could have relieved the poverty of many poor folk. Jesus silenced Judas and defended Mary by interpreting her action as fitting because she has thus anointed him for his burial. He then ends by saying: “The poor you always have with you; but me ye have not always.”
After the last scene in Chapter 12 Jesus and his little flock entered into what we know as the Upper Room and the door is shut. Chapter 13 begins with Jesus’ interior realization, a sort of summary of Jesus’ interior monologue — we see into the heart of our Lord, his inward life of thought — publicly declared to the Church through John’s Gospel: Jesus’ hour had arrived and he was about to offer up his life for the life of the world. The Beloved Disciple especially remembers the moment the supper ended because just then Jesus rose up and put aside his outward garment and girded himself with a towel. One can imagine the young disciple John trying to comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ affect and his actions. Just moments before Jesus rose up from the supper, he had instituted the Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and he had distributed both the true Bread from Heaven as well as the Precious Blood to his disciples. Then the Beloved Disciple recalled a chilling fact: Judas was in the room as well, the traitor’s hands upon the very table with the other Apostles’ — now his betrayal of Jesus was about to come to full bloom, as the devil entered into his heart. It is easy to see in our mind’s eye the young John trying to comprehend the meaning of Jesus’ strange words, “This is my body, this is my blood.” Trying to comprehend the meaning of the look on Jesus’ face, his affect; and then Jesus’ extraordinary action of washing his disciples’ feet, all the more extraordinary because it was out of order. Why out of order? Out of order because it was the mark of a good host to have the feet of his guests washed when they entered his house not after the meal. But also out of order because it was the job assigned to the lowest servant, the least experienced servant and never the host. I cannot think of any occasion in the Old Testament where the host humbles himself to this degree. And not this: when Hagar was exiled from Abraham’s family it is said that she tired herself with a towel to advertise her status as a slave. To gird one’s self with a towel was the mark of a slave. At the very beginning of this most monumental night in which our Lord was betrayed, t, the Master takes upon himself the form of a servant. And out of order as well because he follows Mary’s washing his own feet with her tears and anointing his feet with spikenard — so much, so lavishly anointed that the whole house was filled with the spicy odor. She was out of order, Jesus was out of order and looking back on all this the Beloved Disciple realized that Jesus had turned everything in the world upside-down. On the night in which Jesus was betrayed and handed over to cruel men, the old world was passing away and a new order would emerge with the death of Israel’s Messiah upon the Cross.
Here is the meaning of the event: that new order that would emerge from the death of the Messiah, that is the whole matter — forgiveness as well as final, true purification from sin is entirely grounded in the historic action of the faithful obedience of Jesus the Messiah to his Father which is perfectly realized in his humiliating death. Not only that, not only our actual purification from sin, but the reality of our mutual affection as well:
“having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.”
That means that Jesus did not merely love his own till he died or till the night was over, but the loved them perfectly, he loved the all up, completely and finally. The real love of God that is shed abroad in our hearts — that binds Christian to Christian because it bind us all to Jesus and thus to the Blessed Trinity is grounded and effected by the death of the Messiah. Furthermore purification from sin and true Christian love is the fruit not of our good works and efforts, not even of our faith, but it is the fruit and finality of faith of Jesus in his Father.
The New Covenant introduces a New Order into creation which is the love of God existentially manifested in human life, which manifestation is supremely the historical humiliating death of Jesus for sinners while we were yet sinners. I have made a statement several times — “the flesh of Jesus is the place of judgment.” The flesh of Jesus is the place of judgment. That may sound abstract but it is not. And you may ask, rightly, “How is the flesh of Jesus the place of judgment?” What you have seen over and over again in the Fourth Gospel is that the flesh of Jesus is about substance, time, place, history and conflict.
“Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.”
The text is an instantiation of what it means to say, “The flesh of Jesus is the place of judgment.” Jesus is literally, historically pouring water into a basin and going down upon his knees, his passion only a few hours away, he washes his disciples feet and then he declare that they are clean, he has made them clean, in the body of his flesh and in that event judgment is passed upon sin and hatred. But he judgment of clemency as well as purification is passed upon his disciples. He washed all his disciples’ feet and John Chrysostom supposed he washed Judas’ feet first. But he eventually get to Peter who knows in his heart and feels deeply the impropriety of this disordered action and he strongly objects:
“Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet.”
This is upside down, this is not appropriate, not in Peter’s world though his world was about to change for ever. Jesus is crystal clear:
“If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.”
Yes, it is true that there are soundings here of Baptism and Confession or even the Eucharist, but of first importance is this: the washing of his disciples feet, with his Passion and death only hours away, establish and interprets the meaning and finality of his impeding death. The death of the Messiah will cleanse us and purify us from our sins. Not merely effect our forgiveness but faith in his bloody death makes us into cleansed and purified children of God. But neither Peter nor the Beloved Disciple nor anyone else there knew the meaning of this extraordinary action of Jesus at the moment. But he did and he settled Peter’s heart:
“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”
That is the Messiah’s promise, you do not understand what I am doing now but I promise you, you will understand later. This again is why the disorder is important. This is not mere example of humility, not a teaching moment for the disciples to learn the important of modesty and a lack of pride as important as that is to the Catholic. Had Jesus done the deed prior to eating the meal that would have been a logical conclusion. Origin makes the point that by washing their feet after the meal, by doing it out of order, he has marked the mystery of the event and then magnified it with these words especially:
“What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.”
Only in light of what will happened to Jesus over the next few hour, only in light of their own betrayal, his love, and his death will they understand the mystery of God’s love in his body as well as their bodies. If Peter refuses, if he continues to assert his ignorance, and to assert his will to self-determination, he will exclude himself from Jesus’ presence and his Kingdom:
“If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.”
There is no place in the Church for so-called Christians who have not been forgiven as well as cleansed and purified by Jesus. Anyone who truly believes he or she has no need of Jesus’ absolution is not a Christian. Peter then responding as though “more is better” offers up his whole body, his whole self, to be washed. Jesus’ response to Peter is exceeding difficult to understand and we will have to wait till next week to discover the meaning.