2BC BIBLE STUDY NOTES
Wednesday in the Word
Second Baptist Church
December 17, 2025
John 13:1-17
Introduction. From chapter 13-17, the setting will remain the same with Jesus speaking to his disciples in the upper room. The upper room was the place that Jesus met his disciples for the last supper prior to his crucifixion. In this upper room Jesus will teach his disciples some very important lessons.
Verse 1. At this point, Jesus knows that the time has come for him to face the cross. The next 24 hours would be crucial for his disciples. Jesus wants to teach them some final lessons concerning his ministry and theirs. It is important that we pay close attention to the words of Christ in this chapter. Jesus will give us the model of ministry every believer is to follow. This model of ministry will be radical and revolutionary. The model of Jesus’ ministry is love and service, and Jesus wants to show his disciples how true love is demonstrated. Jesus lays out what all believers should be about everyday. Love is the one thing that should characterize our lives as believers. Jesus is about to show his disciples how great true love is and how love is demonstrated through sacrificial service.
Verses 2-3. Jesus and his disciples have assembled for the Passover meal. By this time Judas has already conspired with the Jewish authorities to betray Jesus into their hands. Judas assembles with the other disciples like nothing is out of the ordinary. Jesus is fully aware of Judas betrayal, but he treats him like all the other disciples. Jesus shows us that we must be willing to treat our enemies as well as we treat our friends. That might be hard to comprehend, but God doesn’t even want our enemies to have any good reason to challenge our integrity. If Jesus would have treated Judas differently, his disciples could have rationalized later that they do not have to love their enemies. How well we treat our enemies is directly proportionate to how mature we are in the faith. Jesus demonstrates the power of great love. How great is your love? How great is your faith? Jesus was keenly aware that Judas was just part of God’s divine plan for the redemption of man.
Verses 4-5. As the disciples arrive Jesus is seated at the place of honor. With all the disciples present, Jesus moves from the place of honor and walks over to a water basin and takes the position of a servant. Jesus begins to wash the feet of his disciples. Let us understand a little about the aspect of foot washing. People of that day would mainly travel on foot. Some had chariots and animals to ride, but most just walked. They walked with opened toed sandals on dirty and dusty roads. The roads were dirty and dusty and sometimes scattered with animal droppings. All the dust, dirt and droppings would get on the feet of just about everyone. Not only did they walk in all this dirt, but the outer cloaks they wore tended to drag upon the ground and swing more dirt onto their legs. So, it was not uncommon for most people to have dirty legs and feet. As a matter of fact, everybody after traveling would get dirty. So the owner of a home would have the lowest servant, or the newest or the youngest servant wash the feet of the guest who came over. Sometimes an owner would humble a servant by asking them to wash feet. Washing feet was the lowest duty in a household. Jesus takes on the position of the lowest servant in the house. Performing the most menial task in the house. The highest is taking the position of the lowest. He is King and Lord, but he voluntarily demotes himself to servant and washes feet. The greatness of Jesus is shown here when he humbly serves someone else. Most people want the highest position. Jesus prefers to take the lowest. When you humbly serve, you don’t have to be number one. You don’t have to be recognized. You can do what others would rather not do. The disciples should have washed the feet of Jesus, but even they had thought that there were some things beneath them. Washing feet was dirty grimy work. Jesus shows us that ministry is dirty business. We cannot assume that serving one another will mean that we will not have to deal with each other’s dirty problems.
Verses 6-9. When Jesus gets to Peter, Peter protests because he does not understand why Jesus is making such a spectacle of himself by dressing and acting like a slave. Peter is embarrassed for Jesus, because he thinks Jesus should not take on the role of servant. Jesus told Peter he could not comprehend his actions now but would understand them later. Peter protest even more to Jesus, but Jesus insist that Peter let him wash his feet or Jesus could have nothing to do with Peter. Peter is rejecting our Lord’s actions as though he is undeserving (which, of course, he is). That is the point. What Jesus does for His disciples, He does out of love and grace. And this is precisely what Jesus is about to point out to Peter. Would he resist having Jesus wash his feet, on the premise that he is unworthy? Then he must also reject having his sins washed away by the shed blood of Jesus on the cross of Calvary, for he is unworthy of this as well. To reject grace in principle is to reject all grace, period. And so Jesus says to Peter: “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” The only way we can obtain forgiveness is to accept the gift of God that we are clearly unworthy of. To reject the great gift is to reject the very grace of God which brings us salvation. Another reason Peter needed to submit to Jesus was so he could have no excuse to serve anyone else. Jesus demonstrated his great love by serving. His example is a reminder that if we love like God wants us to love we should be willing to serve one another. Peter then tells Jesus that they should get a bath instead of a foot washing.
Verse 10. Jesus responds to Peter’s request for a full bath instead of a foot washing by speaking on a physical and spiritual level. From the purely physical perspective a person would take a bath before they came to your house, so the only thing that would be dirty by the time you reach your destination are your feet. Upon arrival if you had your feet cleaned you were fully clean. From a spiritual level Peter was already cleaned by the word of God. He needed only his feet to be washed as a symbol of our constant need for spiritual revival. This scripture reminds us that we need not get saved repeatedly, but that we would on oecasion need to have our spirits refreshed and revived. Jesus tells Peter that he needs only his feet washed, but that there was one who was with him who had not clean amongst them.
Verse 11. Jesus knows that Judas would betray him. Jesus washed his feet anyway. Serving in the kingdom of God may often require you to serve people that do not have your best interest at hand. Can you serve someone who is indifferent or even against you?
Verses 12-17. Jesus finishes washing the disciples’ feet and he returns to his place at the table and asks the disciples if they understood what he had just done. Jesus outlines his teaching lesson
He is king and no one is above him. Since Jesus is king and teacher, they must follow his examples as his royal subjects and students.
His example as king was to take a lowly position. Their response, as his subjects, is to not think they are above what he has done. Their duties, as his followers, are to wash feet. Basically, we are to serve one another. Failure to do so would mean that we are disobedient to the king and act like bad students.
You will be blessed by God if your follow this example of service.
We are to serve from the bottom up---not from the top down. The disciples desperately needed to learn a lesson in humility. These men were still looking at leadership from a worldly point of view, rather than from a divine perspective. The world looks upon leadership as an opportunity to be served. In the kingdom of God, a position of leadership is defined by how many people one serves.
In verse 34, Jesus will sum up this for the disciples by stating that he is giving them a new command, “Love one another, AS I have loved you.” He states that by then they will know that you are my disciples. Loving like Jesus did was now the standard of love.
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