Jesus washes his disciples' feet

13 It was nearly time for the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that he would soon leave this world and to go to the Father. He had always loved those who were his own people in the world. He continued to love them to the end.

² Jesus and his disciples were eating supper. The Devil had already put an idea into the mind of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son. The idea was to sell Jesus to his enemies. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had given him power over everything. He knew that he had come from God. And he knew that he would soon return to God. ⁴ So, during the meal, he stood up. He took off the coat that he wore over his other clothes. He tied a piece of cloth round himself. ⁵ Then he poured water into a bowl and he began to wash the disciples' feet. Jesus made their feet dry with the cloth that was round him.

⁶ Jesus came to Simon Peter. Peter asked him, ‘Lord, will you really wash my feet?’ ⁷ Jesus answered him, ‘You do not understand now what I am doing. But you will understand in the future.’ ⁸ Peter said, ‘No! You will never wash my feet!’ Jesus answered, ‘If I do not wash you, you do not belong with me.’ ⁹ Simon Peter replied, ‘So Lord, do not wash my feet only! Wash my hands and my head too!’ ¹⁰ Jesus said, ‘A person who has washed his whole body is completely clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And all of you are clean, except one of you.’ ¹¹ Jesus knew already who would sell him to his enemies. That is why he said, ‘Not every one of you is clean.’

¹² When he had finished washing the disciples' feet, Jesus put on his coat. He returned to his place at the meal. He asked them, ‘I want you to understand what I have just done for you. ¹³ You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right. That is what I am. ¹⁴ I am your Teacher and your Lord, but I have washed your feet. So you also should wash each other's feet. ¹⁵ I have given you an example. You should do the same for others as I have done for you. ¹⁶ I tell you this: No servant is more important than his master is. No messenger is more important than the person who sent him with a message. ¹⁷ Now you understand these things. So you should do them, and God will bless you.’

¹⁸ Jesus then said, ‘I am not talking about all of you. I know the people that I have chosen. The Bible says, “Someone who ate food with me has turned against me.”^{[a] 19} I am telling you this now, before it happens. So then, when it does happen, you will believe me. You will believe that “I am who I am”.^{[b] 20} I tell you this: Anyone who accepts someone that I send to them is also accepting me. Anyone who accepts me is also accepting my Father God who sent me.’

Jesus tells the disciples what will happen to him

²¹ After Jesus had said this, he felt very upset. He said to the disciples very seriously, ‘I tell you this: One of you will help my enemies to take hold of me.’ ²² The disciples looked at each other. They did not know which of them Jesus was speaking about. ²³ The disciple that Jesus loved was sitting very near to Jesus. ²⁴ Simon Peter looked towards that disciple and said to him, ‘Ask Jesus who he is speaking about.’ ²⁵ So that disciple moved even nearer to Jesus and he asked, ‘Who is it, Lord?’ ²⁶ Jesus answered, ‘I will put a piece of bread in the dish of food. Then I will give the bread to him. That is the man.’ So he put a piece of bread in the dish. Then he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot.

²⁷ When Judas had taken the bread, Satan came into him. Then Jesus said to Judas, ‘Do quickly what you want to do.’ ²⁸ None of the other disciples who were sitting at the meal understood this. They did not know why Jesus said this to Judas. ²⁹ Judas kept the bag of money on behalf of the group of disciples. So some of them thought that Jesus had asked Judas to buy some things. Maybe he should buy what they needed for the festival. Or maybe he should go and give some money to the poor people.

³⁰ Judas took the bread and he ate it. Then he went out immediately. By now it was night.

Jesus' new rule

³¹ When Judas had left, Jesus said, ‘Now people will see how great the Son of Man is. Because of him, they will also see how great God is. ³² The Son will show how great God is. Then God will take the Son to himself and he will show how great the Son is. He will do that very soon.

³³ My children, I will be with you for only a short time now. You will look for me. But I tell you now what I told the Jews. You cannot go where I am now going. ³⁴ I give a new rule to you. Love each other. You must love each other as I have loved you. ³⁵ In this way, everyone will know that you are my disciples. They will know it, if you really love each other.’

³⁶ Simon Peter asked him, ‘Lord, where will you go?’ Jesus replied, ‘You cannot follow now where I will go. But some time after this, you will follow.’ ³⁷ Peter said, ‘Lord, why can I not go with you now? I would even die for you.’ ³⁸ Jesus answered, ‘You say that you would die for me. But I tell you this: Soon you will say that you do not know me. Before the cockerel sings early tomorrow morning, you will say that three times.’