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John 13

Jesus faces betrayal and departure by serving his disciples and making his own love the measure of theirs.

Before Passover, Jesus rises from supper, takes a towel, and washes his disciples’ feet. He knows he is returning to the Father and that Judas will betray him. Peter resists being washed, and Jesus explains both their need for cleansing and his example of service. At the table, Jesus identifies his betrayer with a piece of bread. After Judas leaves into the night, Jesus commands love among his disciples and foretells Peter’s denial.

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1Now before the feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that his time had come that he would depart from this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,
3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came from God and was going to God,
4arose from supper, and laid aside his outer garments. He took a towel and wrapped a towel around his waist.
5Then he poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
6Then he came to Simon Peter. He said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”
7Jesus answered him, “You don’t know what I am doing now, but you will understand later.”
8Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
9Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”
10Jesus said to him, “Someone who has bathed only needs to have his feet washed, but is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.”
11For he knew him who would betray him; therefore he said, “You are not all clean.”
12So when he had washed their feet, put his outer garment back on, and sat down again, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you?
13You call me, ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord.’ You say so correctly, for so I am.
14If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
15For I have given you an example, that you should also do as I have done to you.
16Most certainly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his lord, neither is one who is sent greater than he who sent him.
17If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.
18I don’t speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with me has lifted up his heel against me.’
19From now on, I tell you before it happens, that when it happens, you may believe that I am he.
20Most certainly I tell you, he who receives whomever I send, receives me; and he who receives me, receives him who sent me.”
21When Jesus had said this, he was troubled in spirit, and testified, “Most certainly I tell you that one of you will betray me.”
22The disciples looked at one another, perplexed about whom he spoke.
23One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was at the table, leaning against Jesus’ chest.
24Simon Peter therefore beckoned to him, and said to him, “Tell us who it is of whom he speaks.”
25He, leaning back, as he was, on Jesus’ chest, asked him, “Lord, who is it?”
26Jesus therefore answered, “It is he to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.
27After the piece of bread, then Satan entered into him. Then Jesus said to him, “What you do, do quickly.”
29For some thought, because Judas had the money box, that Jesus said to him, “Buy what things we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor.
30Therefore having received that morsel, he went out immediately. It was night.
31When he had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man has been glorified, and God has been glorified in him.
32If God has been glorified in him, God will also glorify him in himself, and he will glorify him immediately.
33Little children, I will be with you a little while longer. You will seek me, and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come,’ so now I tell you.
34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.
35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
36Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered, “Where I am going, you can’t follow now, but you will follow afterwards.”
37Peter said to him, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”
38Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for me? Most certainly I tell you, the rooster won’t crow until you have denied me three times.
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
John 13:17Jesus joins blessing to doing what his disciples have learned from his act of humble service.
John 13:34Jesus makes his own love the standard for the love his disciples owe one another.
John 13:1The opening places the foot washing and the coming betrayal within Jesus’ enduring love for his own.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew and Luke share the supper setting, the announcement of betrayal, and Jesus’ prediction that Peter will deny him. The quotation about a companion who shares bread and turns against the speaker comes from Psalm, while 1 John shares the command to love one another.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do you notice about Jesus’ authority as he takes the towel and washes feet?

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How does Judas’s departure shape your reading of Jesus’ command to love one another?

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Questions people ask about John 13

Why did Jesus wash the disciples’ feet in John 13?

Jesus explains that his action sets an example: their Lord and Teacher has washed their feet, so they should serve one another in the same humility. His exchange with Peter also points to cleansing that Jesus must provide. The act carries both meanings within the chapter.

What is the new commandment in John 13:34?

Jesus commands his disciples to love one another, with his own love as their standard: “Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.” The command follows his washing of their feet and Judas’s departure. Jesus says this love will identify them to others as his disciples.

Who is the disciple Jesus loved in John 13?

The chapter does not name this disciple. It describes him reclining close to Jesus at supper, where Peter signals for him to ask who will betray Jesus. Christian tradition identifies him as John, but John 13 itself leaves his identity unstated.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).