‘Then he comes to Simon Peter. He says to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not now perceive, but you will know fully later”. Peter says to him, “Under no circumstances will you wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me”. Simon said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head”. Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed only needs to wash his feet (or ‘needs not to wash except his feet') and then is completely clean. And you are clean, but not all of you”. (For he knew the one who would betray him, that is why he said “You are not all clean”).'
This incident reveals Peter's typical ambivalence, which the Gospels draw attention to again and again, and John clearly remembers it vividly. But its repetition was not in order to draw attention to Peter but to draw attention to the significance of the words that passed between him and Jesus. Peter's question seems to confirm that this was not the usual run of the mill feet-washing.
Humanly speaking Peter rightly felt that it was not fitting that ‘the Lord' (we must give the word its full significance here) should wash his feet. But he had overlooked the fact that this was something outside the human, and that what Jesus was doing had a spiritual significance. It indicated that He was beginning His unique time of voluntary submission, which began with the washing of the feet, would continue in His prayers in Gethsemane, and would reach its final fulfilment on the cross of shame. And it was all for them - and for us.
‘He who is bathed needs not to wash except for his feet'. The picture here is of a guest who, having bathed at home only requires to wash his feet to remove the stains of the journey. Here Jesus was saying, ‘I have already in the past bathed you so that you are clean, but now I am preparing you for your part in what lies ahead'. The bathing refers, of course, to the work of the Spirit by which Peter had been born of the Spirit and forgiven his sins, the ‘washing of regeneration' (Titus 3:5). Now by the washing of the feet He was pointing to a further work of the Spirit which they would enjoy continually as a result of His death. Without that they would be ineffective.
There may, however, be in mind that as the priests ministered in the Tabernacle they had to wash their feet when they moved in and out of the Sanctuary or when they approached the altar (Exodus 30:18-21). Having been cleansed and purified they needed to be kept constantly clean. If so the lesson is the same. But in that case we might also have expected hand washing as well, although it might be argued that they had already washed their hands preparatory to the meal. Jesus always seems to have followed the Pharisaic principles of washing (they never criticised Him for not doing so) even if he did not full subscribe to them.
They were also being reminded that even the forgiven sinner becomes defiled and needs daily forgiveness, and that this was something that was freely available to them from the Lord. And in view of what was to come they especially needed it at this moment. Peter above all needed to be prepared in heart, for ‘Satan has desired to have him' to test him out (Luke 22:31).
By this we know that Jesus will continue to minister to us so that we can daily be made clean. But only if we are willing to receive it. Compare here John's words in 1 John 1:7-10. It is a comforting thought that our daily sin does not put us right back where we were before. It is a humbling thought that daily Jesus stoops to ‘wash our feet' as the One Who is Lord of all.
‘Except his feet' is omitted in a large number of old manuscripts, but it would appear to be required, or must be understood, for the sense. Perhaps it dropped out because it was not felt seemly that God's ‘washing' should be insufficient. Alternately Jesus may have left it to be assumed - ‘He who is bathed does not need a full wash' and a discerning writer have added it as a note. But Jesus' statement and action only really make sense with the contrast described. Otherwise Peter's request for a full wash would be reasonable.
Some argue that Jesus' action was intended to symbolise a full washing and they therefore agree with the omission. But this ignores the fact that the disciples had already been ‘born of water and Spirit' (John 3:5), and that this was the final touch. The central purpose of Jesus' act was twofold. Firstly so that they would recognise their participation in His final work and secondly to bring home the lesson of humble service and the need to minister to one another, something He makes clear in the context. The symbolic lesson comes out especially because of Peter's words.
‘You have no part with me'. In order to stand at Jesus' side through what lies ahead, and to have a part with Him in what was to come, Peter, (and we as well), must submit to His ministrations, both in the short term and in the long term, for without His daily ministration we would be lost. And we must especially learn the need for humility.
To use theological language Jesus was saying, ‘You have been washed (made clean) once for all through My word, you have been sanctified (set apart as holy) once for all by My calling, you have been justified (declared in the right) once for all, in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God' (1 Corinthians 6:11). But now you need to recognise the basis on which all this comes to you and go on being continually sanctified by a daily dealing with sin and daily forgiveness and purification (1 John 1:7). By being bathed they had been perfected for ever in God's eyes. Now they needed continual sanctification. ‘He has perfected for ever those who are being sanctified' (Hebrews 10:14).
Many lay great stress on the idea that Jesus had baptism in mind here. But once John had been put in prison (when it was the baptism of John), baptism is never mentioned during the time of Jesus' ministry, and there is nowhere any indication that all the disciples had been baptised even with John's baptism. It would thus not at that time have been prominent in the minds of the disciples. John has rather given the impression throughout his Gospel that any washing was of the Spirit. Indeed it is very questionable whether baptism did signify washing to the early church. Such an idea became prominent later, but in the New Testament letters baptism appears rather to have indicated dying and rising again, and new life through the Spirit (not the putting away of the sins of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience towards God - 1 Peter 3:21).