John 13:8Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

What then does Peter do? He continues to resist and says, “You shall never wash my feet.”

What are you doing, Peter? Do you not remember the former words? Was it not you who said, “Be merciful to Yourself, Lord,” and heard, “Get behind Me, Satan” (Mt 16:22-23)?

Did even this not instruct you, and are you still heated? Yes, he says, but now the action being done is extraordinary and astonishing.

Since Peter acted this way out of great love, Christ again catches him by that love. As then He strongly rebuked him, saying, “You are a stumbling block to Me,” so now He says, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

But why did Christ not say why He was doing this, and instead used a threat? Because Peter would not have listened.

Peter deeply reveres his Teacher; therefore he stands in awe before Him and does not accept service from Him.

Although on another occasion Peter had received a rebuke from the Lord (Mt 16:22), and to avoid that rebuke should now have accepted washing from the Lord, nevertheless the work now being done by Christ is very weighty.

Peter resists and does not consider that the Lord may again rebuke him, and more sternly, as disobedient.

What then does Christ do? He does not say to Peter, “I am teaching you humility, and for this reason I wash your feet.”

For Peter would have told Him, even with an oath, that he would have humility even without the washing of the feet.

See Jn 13:6. Thus, when Peter refused and decisively declared that the Lord would never wash his feet, the Savior sets before him the harm that would follow.

Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

As for the evident and simple meaning of this saying, it is this. If, He says, you do not accept this strange and extraordinary instruction in humility, then you will not find part and inheritance with Me.

But since our Lord Jesus Christ often makes a general explanation even from small occasions in words, He broadly extends the meaning of a single object or of something said privately and separately.

What does “forever” mean? It means: “I will never endure this, never tolerate it, never allow it.” This, of course, is “forever,” that is, never. Then the Savior, frightening the resisting sick man and threatening him that he would not be healed, says, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” It was said in this way, “If I do not wash you,” although the discussion concerned only the feet. It is like the common expression “you are trampling me,” when only the foot has been stepped on.

Peter also doubted when he said, “Have mercy on Yourself, Lord; this shall not happen.”

He was the first to believe, and Christ had not yet told him that He was the Son of God. Yet he believed (cf. Mt 16:16), and still he could not believe Christ Himself concerning Christ’s death.

This is the consequence of pious love, not a fall into impiety.

Peter also refused to have his feet washed (see Jn 13:8), because he had not understood the mystical meaning and was troubled by the Lord’s abasement.

Thus even the saints did not believe that Christ would die. “For eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man what God has prepared for those who love Him” (1 Cor 2:9; Isa 64:4).

Therefore, for those who fear God, an error made out of love does not prevent them from preserving the faith.

“Peter said to Him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’” That is, never. Peter stood his ground, but from respect and deep reverence before the Teacher. Therefore “Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’” See the commentary on Jn 13:9.

Why did the Lord wash only the feet of the disciples, and not some other member? Through this He did not cleanse the feet from uncleanness, but imparted divine power to the Apostles.

Since it was said to the serpent, “You shall watch for man’s heel” (Gen 3:15), that is, his whole manner of life, the Lord washed the disciples’ feet as a sign of the cleansing of spiritual feet.

Therefore He also says, “I give you authority to tread on serpents and scorpions and over all the power of the enemy” (Lk 10:19).

And Isaiah said, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach peace, who preach good things” (Isa 52:7).

The Apostles of Christ, having passed through the whole world, truly destroyed the devil’s warfare, established peace everywhere, and preached to us the good things of heaven.

Hearing these words, the leader was at a loss over how to answer, saying, “Alas, Lord, distress is upon me from every side.” See 2 Kgs 24:14 LXX. Conceit is a burden, contradiction is ruin, denial is destruction, and consent is hardest of all for me. Yet let the command of God prevail, not the resistance of a servant. Let the wisdom of God prevail, not the excuse of a servant.

Here it is clearly shown that this washing of feet implies the spiritual cleansing of flesh and soul, without which one cannot become a fellow worker with Christ. Compare 1 Cor 3:9.

A teaching on humility.

To Jesus’ reassuring words, “You will understand afterward,” Peter replied, “You shall never wash my feet.”

There is no doubt that Peter, in showing such disobedience to Jesus, was guided by a feeling of boundless reverence before Him and by the consciousness of his own nothingness in comparison with His divine majesty.

Yet it was still disobedience. True humility consists in the unquestioning fulfillment of the will of Him into whose authority the Father has given all things.

Jesus warns Peter against just such resistance to the will of God, even if in itself it is pious, saying, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

But Christ answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” This remark was enough for the fervent disciple to cry out, “Lord, not my feet only. But also my hands and my head.” Christ continued the washing, declaring at the same time that they, as those washed with the water of spiritual teaching from the fountain of life, were clean. But, He added with sorrow, “not all.” At that moment His holy hands were perhaps washing the dirty feet of the betrayer, who had only just returned from his vile bargain.

“You shall never wash my feet,” that is, never. The answer, caused by Peter’s humility and reverence before the Lord, nevertheless showed the truth of Christ’s words: he still did not understand the inner meaning of this action.

The Lord had to speak a threat to him, to bring him to his senses and make him obey Himself.

“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” To have no part means not to participate in something.

Here the Lord does not indicate in what Peter will have no part with Him. It is implied that he will have part in nothing.

That is, the Lord threatens Peter with separation from Himself, separation from communion with Him.

Peter’s humility, after the admonition given to him, was already no longer humility, but an act of self-loving willfulness.

Peter now resembled a sick man who, understanding neither his illness nor the power of the medicine offered, stubbornly rejects the physician’s help.

The answer to Peter was like what a physician would say to an unreasonable patient.

The Savior says, “If I do not wash you,” although He was washing only the feet, and Peter twice refused only the washing of the feet.

What does this mean? It means that the Savior’s action was not limited to the visible washing of feet, but invisibly extended to the washing of the whole man.

It also means that Peter especially needed such washing. The Savior Himself explains His washing in this way (vv. 9-10).