It is the third day of Holy Week; the Wednesday of Holy Week

It is the third day of Holy Week; the Wednesday of Holy Week. If we try to read the Gospels as biographies of Jesus, measured by modern expectations of chronological precision, we will miss much of what they seek to convey. The Gospels are confessions of faith in story form, often shaping the chronology for symbolic theological purposes.

In that sense, I have thought of the footwashing in John 13 as distinct from the Lord’s Supper. John does frame the footwashing in chapter 13 as part of the final meal Jesus shares with his disciples, but it happens “before the festival of the Passover” (13:1). In John, Jesus’ death sentence is placed on the “day of Preparation for the Passover” (19:14), the very time when the lambs were being prepared in the temple. At the beginning of the Gospel, John the Baptist declared Jesus to be “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (1:29). Here he is offered as the true Passover lamb. John is not primarily helping us fill in a Holy Week calendar; he is bearing witness to who Jesus is.

So, in Holy Week, I tend to vacillate between the Synoptic chronology and a Johannine chronology, but with the goal of understanding the theological and ethical meaning. I do not think John was concerned with whether we label this night “Wednesday” or “Thursday.” I do think that John wants readers to see in this moment “the full extent of Jesus’ love” (13:1).

John’s story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet is often interpreted as a straightforward call to humble service. And that is a right and good interpretation. Jesus served, so we should serve. But I do believe it is too small.

1. Earlier in the Gospel, Jesus insists that his “hour” has not yet come (2:4; 7:30; 8:20), but as he approaches the cross he finally declares that the hour has arrived (12:23, 27; 13:1). The footwashing moment is a decisive transition in John’s narrative.

2. John essentially gives a narrative version of the Christ hymn in Philippians 2:5–11. Jesus gets up from the table, lays aside his robe, ties a towel around himself, pours water into a basin, and begins to wash feet. The one who is in the form of God does not cling to equality with God, but empties himself, taking the form of a slave. After the washing, Jesus puts his garments back on and returns to his place at the table—just as the hymn speaks of God highly exalting the one who became obedient unto death. Jesus does not deliver the final meaning of the footwashing while still wearing the servant’s garb. Rather, he returns to his place at the table and says, “You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, now I, your Lord and Teacher, have set an example for you.” The double affirmation of the title “Lord” feels (at least to me) like an intentional echo of the final declaration of Jesus as Lord in Philippians 2:11.

3. I think there is another layer of meaning here. Peter resists being washed; Jesus answers that unless he allows this, he will have no share with him. Before Peter can follow, imitate, or promise loyalty, he must first receive. Before the footwashing is an example to copy, it is a sign to be accepted. It is a sign that God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love; a sign that life with Christ begins not in our performance, but in grace.

Only then does Jesus say, “If I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.” The order matters. Being a recipient of grace is the foundation of any call we have to be a channel of grace.

My hunch is that very few people read to the end of my very long posts. That is OK. The people who do slog their way through these long posts are usually people who give of themselves dutifully. Bless you. You probably have too much to do this Holy Week to take this much time reading my circuitous thoughts, but please take a little more time and hear this: the promises of God you so beautifully express and embody in relation to others, the good news you hope others will receive, IT IS GOOD NEWS also FOR YOU. Give yourself space to feel Jesus washing your feet, repairing your spirit, and speaking into your anxious flailing. Peter, sit down for a few moments; you need to know how deeply you are loved.