Jesus Washes His Disciples’ Feet

13 It was just before the Passover Festival.^(A) Jesus knew that the hour had come^(B) for him to leave this world and go to the Father.^(C) Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.^{(D) 3} Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power,^(E) and that he had come from God^(F) and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist.^{(G) 5} After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet,^(H) drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

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

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”^(I)

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean,^(J) though not every one of you.”^{(K) 11} For he knew who was going to betray him,^(L) and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’^(M) and ‘Lord,’^(N) and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.^{(O) 15} I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.^{(P) 16} Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master,^(Q) nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.^(R)

Jesus Predicts His Betrayal

¹⁸ “I am not referring to all of you;^(S) I know those I have chosen.^(T) But this is to fulfill this passage of Scripture:^(U) ‘He who shared my bread^(V) has turned^[a](W) against me.’^[b](X)

¹⁹ “I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe^(Y) that I am who I am.^{(Z) 20} Very truly I tell you, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me.”^(AA)

²¹ After he had said this, Jesus was troubled in spirit^(AB) and testified, “Very truly I tell you, one of you is going to betray me.”^(AC)

²² His disciples stared at one another, at a loss to know which of them he meant. ²³ One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved,^(AD) was reclining next to him. ²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to this disciple and said, “Ask him which one he means.”

²⁵ Leaning back against Jesus, he asked him, “Lord, who is it?”^(AE)

²⁶ Jesus answered, “It is the one to whom I will give this piece of bread when I have dipped it in the dish.” Then, dipping the piece of bread, he gave it to Judas,^(AF) the son of Simon Iscariot. ²⁷ As soon as Judas took the bread, Satan entered into him.^(AG)

So Jesus told him, “What you are about to do, do quickly.” ²⁸ But no one at the meal understood why Jesus said this to him. ²⁹ Since Judas had charge of the money,^(AH) some thought Jesus was telling him to buy what was needed for the festival,^(AI) or to give something to the poor.^{(AJ) 30} As soon as Judas had taken the bread, he went out. And it was night.^(AK)

Jesus Predicts Peter’s Denial^(AL)

³¹ When he was gone, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man^(AM) is glorified^(AN) and God is glorified in him.^{(AO) 32} If God is glorified in him,^[c] God will glorify the Son in himself,^(AP) and will glorify him at once.

³³ “My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.^(AQ)

³⁴ “A new command^(AR) I give you: Love one another.^(AS) As I have loved you, so you must love one another.^{(AT) 35} By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”^(AU)

³⁶ Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?”^(AV)

Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now,^(AW) but you will follow later.”^(AX)

³⁷ Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.”

³⁸ Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!^(AY)

Jesus Sentenced to Be Crucified^(A)

19 Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged.^{(B) 2} The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head. They clothed him in a purple robe ³ and went up to him again and again, saying, “Hail, king of the Jews!”^(C) And they slapped him in the face.^(D)

⁴ Once more Pilate came out and said to the Jews gathered there, “Look, I am bringing him out^(E) to you to let you know that I find no basis for a charge against him.”^{(F) 5} When Jesus came out wearing the crown of thorns and the purple robe,^(G) Pilate said to them, “Here is the man!”

⁶ As soon as the chief priests and their officials saw him, they shouted, “Crucify! Crucify!”

But Pilate answered, “You take him and crucify him.^(H) As for me, I find no basis for a charge against him.”^(I)

⁷ The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die,^(J) because he claimed to be the Son of God.”^(K)

⁸ When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, ⁹ and he went back inside the palace.^(L) “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer.^{(M) 10} “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”

¹¹ Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above.^(N) Therefore the one who handed me over to you^(O) is guilty of a greater sin.”

¹² From then on, Pilate tried to set Jesus free, but the Jewish leaders kept shouting, “If you let this man go, you are no friend of Caesar. Anyone who claims to be a king^(P) opposes Caesar.”

¹³ When Pilate heard this, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judge’s seat^(Q) at a place known as the Stone Pavement (which in Aramaic^(R) is Gabbatha). ¹⁴ It was the day of Preparation^(S) of the Passover; it was about noon.^(T)

“Here is your king,”^(U) Pilate said to the Jews.

¹⁵ But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!”

“Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked.

“We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.

¹⁶ Finally Pilate handed him over to them to be crucified.^(V)

The Crucifixion of Jesus^(W)

So the soldiers took charge of Jesus. ¹⁷ Carrying his own cross,^(X) he went out to the place of the Skull^(Y) (which in Aramaic^(Z) is called Golgotha). ¹⁸ There they crucified him, and with him two others^(AA)—one on each side and Jesus in the middle.

¹⁹ Pilate had a notice prepared and fastened to the cross. It read: jesus of nazareth,^(AB) the king of the jews.^{(AC) 20} Many of the Jews read this sign, for the place where Jesus was crucified was near the city,^(AD) and the sign was written in Aramaic, Latin and Greek. ²¹ The chief priests of the Jews protested to Pilate, “Do not write ‘The King of the Jews,’ but that this man claimed to be king of the Jews.”^(AE)

²² Pilate answered, “What I have written, I have written.”

²³ When the soldiers crucified Jesus, they took his clothes, dividing them into four shares, one for each of them, with the undergarment remaining. This garment was seamless, woven in one piece from top to bottom.

²⁴ “Let’s not tear it,” they said to one another. “Let’s decide by lot who will get it.”

This happened that the scripture might be fulfilled^(AF) that said,

So this is what the soldiers did.

²⁵ Near the cross^(AH) of Jesus stood his mother,^(AI) his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.^{(AJ) 26} When Jesus saw his mother^(AK) there, and the disciple whom he loved^(AL) standing nearby, he said to her, “Woman,^[b] here is your son,” ²⁷ and to the disciple, “Here is your mother.” From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

The Death of Jesus^(AM)

²⁸ Later, knowing that everything had now been finished,^(AN) and so that Scripture would be fulfilled,^(AO) Jesus said, “I am thirsty.” ²⁹ A jar of wine vinegar^(AP) was there, so they soaked a sponge in it, put the sponge on a stalk of the hyssop plant, and lifted it to Jesus’ lips. ³⁰ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.”^(AQ) With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

³¹ Now it was the day of Preparation,^(AR) and the next day was to be a special Sabbath. Because the Jewish leaders did not want the bodies left on the crosses^(AS) during the Sabbath, they asked Pilate to have the legs broken and the bodies taken down. ³² The soldiers therefore came and broke the legs of the first man who had been crucified with Jesus, and then those of the other.^{(AT) 33} But when they came to Jesus and found that he was already dead, they did not break his legs. ³⁴ Instead, one of the soldiers pierced^(AU) Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.^{(AV) 35} The man who saw it^(AW) has given testimony, and his testimony is true.^(AX) He knows that he tells the truth, and he testifies so that you also may believe. ³⁶ These things happened so that the scripture would be fulfilled:^(AY) “Not one of his bones will be broken,”^{[c](AZ) 37} and, as another scripture says, “They will look on the one they have pierced.”^[d](BA)

The Burial of Jesus^(BB)

³⁸ Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jewish leaders.^(BC) With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. ³⁹ He was accompanied by Nicodemus,^(BD) the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds.^{[e] 40} Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.^(BE) This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.^{(BF) 41} At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid. ⁴² Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation^(BG) and since the tomb was nearby,^(BH) they laid Jesus there.

The Empty Tomb^(A)

20 Early on the first day of the week, while it was still dark, Mary Magdalene^(B) went to the tomb and saw that the stone had been removed from the entrance.^{(C) 2} So she came running to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one Jesus loved,^(D) and said, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we don’t know where they have put him!”^(E)

³ So Peter and the other disciple started for the tomb.^{(F) 4} Both were running, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. ⁵ He bent over and looked in^(G) at the strips of linen^(H) lying there but did not go in. ⁶ Then Simon Peter came along behind him and went straight into the tomb. He saw the strips of linen lying there, ⁷ as well as the cloth that had been wrapped around Jesus’ head.^(I) The cloth was still lying in its place, separate from the linen. ⁸ Finally the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first,^(J) also went inside. He saw and believed. ⁹ (They still did not understand from Scripture^(K) that Jesus had to rise from the dead.)^{(L) 10} Then the disciples went back to where they were staying.

Jesus Appears to Mary Magdalene

¹¹ Now Mary stood outside the tomb crying. As she wept, she bent over to look into the tomb^{(M) 12} and saw two angels in white,^(N) seated where Jesus’ body had been, one at the head and the other at the foot.

¹³ They asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?”^(O)

“They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.”^{(P) 14} At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there,^(Q) but she did not realize that it was Jesus.^(R)

¹⁵ He asked her, “Woman, why are you crying?^(S) Who is it you are looking for?”

Thinking he was the gardener, she said, “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.”

¹⁶ Jesus said to her, “Mary.”

She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic,^(T) “Rabboni!”^(U) (which means “Teacher”).

¹⁷ Jesus said, “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to the Father. Go instead to my brothers^(V) and tell them, ‘I am ascending to my Father^(W) and your Father, to my God and your God.’”

¹⁸ Mary Magdalene^(X) went to the disciples^(Y) with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her.

Jesus Appears to His Disciples

¹⁹ On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jewish leaders,^(Z) Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace^(AA) be with you!”^{(AB) 20} After he said this, he showed them his hands and side.^(AC) The disciples were overjoyed^(AD) when they saw the Lord.

²¹ Again Jesus said, “Peace be with you!^(AE) As the Father has sent me,^(AF) I am sending you.”^{(AG) 22} And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.^{(AH) 23} If you forgive anyone’s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.”^(AI)

Jesus Appears to Thomas

²⁴ Now Thomas^(AJ) (also known as Didymus^[a]), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. ²⁵ So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord!”

But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side,^(AK) I will not believe.”^(AL)

²⁶ A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace^(AM) be with you!”^{(AN) 27} Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”^(AO)

²⁸ Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”

²⁹ Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;^(AP) blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”^(AQ)

The Purpose of John’s Gospel

³⁰ Jesus performed many other signs^(AR) in the presence of his disciples, which are not recorded in this book.^{(AS) 31} But these are written that you may believe^[b](AT) that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God,^(AU) and that by believing you may have life in his name.^(AV)