John 13:5–14

⁵Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.

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

⁷Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”^a

⁸“You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.

Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”

¹⁰“One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

THE MEANING OF FOOT WASHING

¹²When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. ¹⁴So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.^b