John 13
v.1
It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.
Jesus showed the full extent of his love in washing His disciple’s feet.
v.5
After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
v.9-10
“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10Jesus answered, “A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”
Those who are once-for-all washed don’t need to be entirely cleansed again. That is, they have no need to be re-saved. Rather, they need to have the incidental “dirt” of their daily walk washed. Our fellowship with Christ is impacted by unconfessed sin. Those who are “clean” are those who’ve experienced spiritual cleansing. For such people, only the minor foot-washing is needed. But those who’ve never been “bathed” entirely are the unsaved—like Judas, who is “unclean.”
“You are clean, though not every one of you” gives the clue to the interpretation of this action. One of the disciples had consistently refused Jesus’ spiritual ministration. The others, who had been loyal though sometimes slow to understand, needed only occasional correction.
v.34-35
“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”
The most important instruction that Jesus left for the Eleven was this fresh, “new commandment”— to love one another. If their motive in following him had been to obtain a high place in the messianic kingdom (1:40, 49)), Jesus knew that the spirit of rivalry would disrupt their fellowship before they could accomplish his commission to them. The attitude of love would be the bond that would keep them united and would be the convincing demonstration that they had partaken of his own spirit and purpose. He had loved them without reservation and without limit (13:1-5) and expected them to do the same.