John introduces the final meal by saying that Jesus knows his hour has come and that, having loved his own, he loves them to the end. During supper he gets up from the table, lays aside his outer clothing, wraps a towel around himself, and pours water into a basin.

Jesus begins washing the disciples’ feet and drying them with the towel. The action takes the posture of lowly household service.

When Jesus comes to Peter, Peter objects. He cannot accept the reversal of roles and asks whether Jesus is really going to wash his feet. Jesus tells him that he does not yet understand what is happening but will understand later.

Peter refuses more strongly. Jesus answers that unless he washes Peter, Peter has no share with him. Peter then swings to the opposite extreme and asks for his hands and head as well. Jesus explains that the washing being enacted does not require that response.

After washing their feet, Jesus returns to the table and asks whether they understand what he has done. They call him Teacher and Lord, and those titles are correct. Precisely because he is their Lord and Teacher, his willingness to wash their feet becomes the pattern.

Jesus tells the disciples that they should wash one another’s feet. A servant is not greater than the master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him.

The scene does not present humility as self-denial detached from status. Its force comes from the fact that the one the disciples recognize as Lord deliberately assumes the servant’s task. The example prepares for John’s larger command that the disciples love one another as Jesus has loved them.