Holy Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper (April 1, 2021) Joh 13:1-15

Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet

1 Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

the Lord appeared to him from far away.

I have loved you with an everlasting love;

therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you. JER 31:2

Berakhot 11b:9

That was also taught in a baraita: One does not recite: An everlasting love; rather, one recites: An abounding love. And the Rabbis say that one recites: An everlasting love, and so it says: “And an everlasting love I have loved you, therefore I have drawn you with kindness” (Jer 31:2).

Rashi

Appeared to him—I, the prophet, and told me to say to the congregation of Israel, “I have loved you with an everlasting love.”

From far away—In the merit of the patriarchs.

2 During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him,

3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God,

4 rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

5 Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, GEN 18:4

Rashi

Let . . . be brought—By a messenger: therefore did the Holy One, blessed be he, recompense his (Abraham’s) children by a messenger, as it is said (Num 20:11), “And Moses lifted up his hand, and he struck the rock” (Bava Metzia 86b).

And wash your feet—He thought they were Arabians who worship the dust of their feet, and he was particular not to have the object of idolatrous worship brought into his house (Bava Metzia 86b). Lot, however, who was not particular about this, mentioned lodging before washing, as it is said (Gen 19:2) “and lodge and bathe your feet.”

Under the tree—Heb. עֵץ can mean either “tree” or detached “wood”; the Targum clarifies this ambiguity by translating as Aram. אִילָן, meaning specifically “tree.”—from Targumim

6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

7 Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

24 Behold, the siege mounds have come up to the city to take it, and because of sword and famine and pestilence the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans who are fighting against it. What you spoke has come to pass, and behold, you see it.

Rashi

What you spoke—Evil upon it has come to pass (lit., has been and has come).

25 Yet you, O Lord God, have said to me, “Buy the field for money and get witnesses”—though the city is given into the hands of the Chaldeans.

Rashi

Though the city is given—Of what avail is the field to me?

43 Fields shall be bought in this land of which you are saying, “It is a desolation, without man or beast; it is given into the hand of the Chaldeans.” JER 32:24-25, 43

8 Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning. ISA 4:4

Rashi

When the Lord shall have washed away—Heb. אִם usually “if.” When the Lord shall have washed away. There are instances of אִם being used in this manner in the usage of כִּי; and so (Job 8:18): “But when (אִם) men destroy him from his place.”

Filth—Defilement, as its Aramaic translation; i.e. to say, when he will remove their iniquity through chastening and purging from the world.

Cleansed—Heb. יָדִיחַ, an expression of “washing” in the language of the Mishnah, and in Scripture (Eze 40:38): “There they will rinse (יָדִיחוּ) the burnt offering.”

By a spirit of judgment through chastening. “Spirit” is equivalent to talant in O.F. When he so desires to judge them.

And by a spirit of burning to purge them from the world, בָּעֵר is like לְבָעֵר, to purge, descombrement in O.F., an expression of doing, going.

Sotah 12b:2

The verse states: “Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river” (Exo 2:5). Rabbi Yoḥanan says in the name of Rabbi Shimon ben Yoḥai: This teaches that she came down to the river to cleanse herself from the impurity of her father’s idols, as she was immersing herself as part of the conversion process. And similarly it states: “When the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion and cleansed the bloodstains of Jerusalem from its midst by a spirit of judgment and by a spirit of burning” (Isa 4:4). This washing clearly refers to the purging of spiritual sins, rather than bathing for the sake of cleanliness.

9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!”

John Gill

Simon Peter said to him—Being convinced of his mistake in not submitting to Christ, fearing he should he deprived of communion with him, than which nothing was more desirable to him, or more highly esteemed of by him, says,

Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head—Which shows the sense he had of the general pollution of his nature, and the need he stood in particularly of having his feet, hands, and head washed both as a minister, and a believer. By his “feet” may be meant, either the grace of faith, which is the foot of the soul, by which it goes to Christ, and walks on in him, and was not without its imperfections; or the affections of the mind, which are that to the soul, as feet are to the body; and when they move right, move heavenward, Godward, and Christward; but sometimes they are inordinate, and cleave to the things of this world: or the outward life and conversation is meant, which is attended with daily infirmities; and each of these need washing in the blood of Christ. His “hands” may design all his actions, works, services, duties, and performances, the hand being the instrument of action; and not only the hands of wicked men, but even of saints, need washing, their best righteousnesses being as filthy rags. By his “head” may be meant doctrines and principles imbibed in the mind, and expressed by the lips, which were not free from mistake and pollution, and needed purging and cleansing; for the disciples were not as yet clear from the prejudices of the Jewish nation, especially relating to the nature of the Messiah’s kingdom.

10 Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins. ECC 7:20

Sanhedrin 46b:17

The Gemara suggests: Come and hear a proof from the fact that the righteous patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, were all buried. And if you say that burial is required on account of atonement, do the righteous need atonement? The Gemara rejects this proof: Yes, even the righteous are in need of atonement, as it is written: “Surely there is no righteous person on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecc 7:20), and so even the righteous need atonement for the few sins that they committed over the course of their lifetimes.

Sanhedrin 101a:12

Rabbi Akiva said to them: It is for that reason that I am laughing. As long as I would see for my teacher that neither does his wine ferment and spoil, nor is his flax stricken, nor does his oil spoil, nor does his honey turn rancid, I would say to myself: Perhaps, heaven forfend, my teacher has already received his world in reward for the commandments that he fulfilled, and will not receive a reward in the world to come. But now that I see my teacher overcome with suffering, I am happy. He is receiving punishment in this world for the few transgressions that he might have committed, ensuring that he will receive a complete reward in the world to come. Rabbi Eliezer said to him: Akiva, have I failed to fulfill any portion of the entire law? Rabbi Akiva said to him, you taught us, our teacher: “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Ecc 7:20).

11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

12 When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you?

19 And the people said to me, “Will you not tell us what these things mean for us, that you are acting thus?”

Rashi

What these things mean for us—What are these signs to us?

24 Thus shall Ezekiel be to you a sign; according to all that he has done you shall do. When this comes, then you will know that I am the Lord God. EZE 24:19, 24

Rashi

When this comes—When this evil comes.

13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am.

14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.

15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.

John Gill

For I have given you an example—Christ is an example to his people, in many things; not in his miraculous performances and mediatorial work, but in the exercise of grace, of meekness, humility, love, patience, and the like; and in the discharge of duty, in submission to ordinances, and in attending on them; and in the several duties, both to them that are without, and to them that are within; and also in his sufferings and death; not that he died merely as an example, but likewise in the room and stead of his people; but here he is spoken of, as an example, in a particular instance:

That you also should do just as I have done to you—Wash one another’s feet, as he had washed theirs; which is not to be understood literally and singly of this action, as though this was an ordinance binding upon all persons, in all places, and to be attended to at certain stated times, as has been the practice of some: it was so understood by the church at Milain, and there practised; and this custom was continued and defended by St. Ambrose, even though not received by the church of Rome; in some places the bishop used to wash the feet of those that were baptized, which in process of time being thought sufficient, instead of baptism, was forbidden by the council at Eliberis. In imitation of this, the pope every year, on Thursday in the passion week, washes the feet of twelve men; and it is an anniversary ceremony performed by the kings of England and France, to wash the feet of twelve poor people, in commemoration of this action of Christ’s: but our Lord is not to be understood literally, nor of anything that was to be done once a year, but of what was daily and constantly to be practised; and which was to be done not by one only, to all the rest, but what they were mutually to do; what they were to do to one another; for the thing signified, reaches to, and is obligatory upon all Christians. Our Lord’s meaning is, that as he had, by this action, given them an example of humility, condescension, and love; so they should exercise these graces, and perform such kind offices to one another, and to all their fellow Christians.