New Testament · Gospel

John 13

The Towel and the Basin

Hours before His death, Jesus wraps a towel around His waist and washes His disciples' feet. Then He gives them a new command.

Berean Standard Bible BSB KJV

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1It was now just before the Passover Feast, and Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave this world and return to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the very end.

2The evening meal was underway, and the devil had already put into the heart of Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.

3Jesus knew that the Father had delivered all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to God.

4So He got up from the supper, laid aside His outer garments, and wrapped a towel around His waist.

5After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel that was around Him.

6He came to Simon Peter, who asked Him, “Lord, are You going to wash my feet?”

7Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

8“Never shall You wash my feet!” Peter told Him.

9“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”

10Jesus told him, “Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.”

11For He knew who would betray Him. That is why He said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12When Jesus had washed their feet and put on His outer garments, He reclined with them again and asked, “Do you know what I have done for you?

13You call Me Teacher and Lord, and rightly so, because I am.

14So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.

15I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you.

16Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

17If you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

18I am not speaking about all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the Scripture: ‘The one who shares My bread has lifted up his heel against Me.’

19I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you will believe that I am He.

20Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever receives the one I send receives Me, and whoever receives Me receives the One who sent Me.”

21After Jesus had said this, He became troubled in spirit and testified, “Truly, truly, I tell you, one of you will betray Me.”

22The disciples looked at one another, perplexed as to which of them He meant.

23One of His disciples, the one whom Jesus loved, was reclining at His side.

24So Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus which one He was talking about.

25Leaning back against Jesus, he asked, “Lord, who is it?”

26Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I give this morsel after I have dipped it.” Then He dipped the morsel and gave it to Judas son of Simon Iscariot.

27And when Judas had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him.

28But no one at the table knew why Jesus had said this to him.

29Since Judas kept the money bag, some thought that Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the feast, or to give something to the poor.

30As soon as he had received the morsel, Judas went out into the night.

31When Judas had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him.

32If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify the Son in Himself—and will glorify Him at once.

33Little children, I am with you only a little while longer. You will look for Me, and as I said to the Jews, so now I say to you: ‘Where I am going, you cannot come.’

34A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.

35By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”

36“Lord, where are You going?” Simon Peter asked.

37“Lord,” said Peter, “why can’t I follow You now? I will lay down my life for You.”

38“Will you lay down your life for Me?” Jesus replied. “Truly, truly, I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.

Understand This

John 13, explained

What John 13 is saying

At the Last Supper, Jesus wraps a towel around his waist and washes his disciples' feet—including Judas's—modeling servant leadership as the defining mark of his community. He predicts his betrayal, and Judas departs into the night. After Judas leaves, Jesus gives the 'new commandment' to love one another as he has loved them, declaring that this mutual love will be the identifying mark of his followers. He predicts Peter's denial.

The background behind it

Foot-washing was the task of the lowest household slave; no Jewish disciple would wash their teacher's feet. Jesus' reversal of this social hierarchy was so shocking that Peter initially refused. The 'new commandment' (mandatum novum, from which Maundy Thursday derives its name) is 'new' not in content but in standard—love measured by Jesus' own self-giving rather than by reciprocity or duty.

Themes running underneath

The foot-washing inaugurates the Farewell Discourse section (ch. 13-17) with a dramatic enacted parable of the incarnation and cross: the one who was 'in the form of God' takes 'the form of a servant' (Phil 2:6-7). Judas's departure 'into the night' carries heavy Johannine symbolic weight—he moves from light into darkness. The new commandment establishes community identity not around doctrine or practice but around sacrificial love.

Why it still matters

Jesus' foot-washing redefines leadership and greatness in terms radically opposed to worldly power structures. The 'new commandment' makes mutual love the primary apologetic for the Christian faith—the world will know Jesus' followers by their love, not their theology or morality.

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Scripture text: Berean Standard Bible — used by permission, Bible Hub.