to waken (transitively or intransitively) · verb — present passive indicative, 3rd person singular
from
ἐκek
G1537
literal or figurative · preposition
supper
δείπνουdeipnou
G1173
dinner · noun — genitive singular neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
aside
τίθησινtithēsin
G5087
to place (in the widest application · verb — present active indicative, 3rd person singular
his
τοῦtou
G3588
the (sometimes to be supplied · article — genitive singular neuter
garments
ἱμάτια,himatia
G2440
a dress (inner or outer) · noun — accusative plural neuter
and
καὶkai
G2532
and · conjunction
took
λαβὼνlabōn
G2983
while G138 (αἱρέομαι) is more violent · verb — second aorist active participle, nominative singular masculine
towel
λέντιονlention
G3012
a "linen" cloth · noun — accusative singular neuter
girded
διέζωσενdiezōsen
G1241
to gird tightly · verb — aorist active indicative, 3rd person singular
himself
ἑαυτόν.he'auton
G1438
him- (her- · reflexive pronoun
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
2 Corinthians 8:9 For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty mig…
Luke 22:27 For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.
Luke 12:37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make th…
Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Luke 17:7 But which of you, having a servant plowing or feeding cattle, will say unto him by and by, when he is come from the field, Go and sit down t…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on John 13:1-17
It has generally been taken for granted by commentators that Christ's washing his disciples' feet, and the discourse that followed it, were the same night in which he was betrayed, and at the same sitting wherein he ate the passover and instituted the Lord's supper; but whether before the solemnity began, or after it was all over, or between the eating of the passover and the institution of the Lord's supper, they are not agreed. This evangelist, making it his business to gather up those passages which the others had omitted, industriously omits those which the others had recorded, which occasions some difficulty in putting them together. If it was then, we suppose that Judas went out (Joh 1…
He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments--outer garments which would have impeded the operation of washing.
and took a towel and girded himself--assuming a servant's dress.
Adam Clarke on John 13:4
He riseth from supper - Not from eating, as Bishop Pearce has well observed, but from his place at table; probably the dishes were not as yet laid down, though the guests were seated. According to the custom of the Jews and other Asiatics, this washing must have taken place before the supper. See on Joh 13:2 (note).
Laid aside his garments - That is, his gown or upper coat, with the girdle wherewith it was girded close to his tunic or under coat; and, instead of this girdle, he tied a towel about him:
1. that he might appear in the character of a servant; and
2. that he might have it in readiness to dry their feet after he had washed them.
John Gill on John 13:4
He riseth from supper,.... In the midst of the entertainment, and which no doubt was considerable, his mind being intent on something else; and it being his meat and drink to do his Father's will, he rises and leaves his disciples sitting to finish their meal; and whilst they were murmuring at the waste of the ointment poured on his head, and were filled with indignation at it, as they all of them were, see Matthew 26:8; he rises up to wash their feet; amazing patience and humility!
And laid aside his garments; not all his garments, only his upper ones, that he might better dispatch the business he was going about; and which was an emblem of his laying aside, as it were for a while, his glo…
The Church Fathers
For so did He really, and not in word only, fulfil the prediction of, "serving many faithfully." For "when He had taken a towel, He girded Himself. Afterward He puts water into a bason; and as we were sitting at meat, He came and washed the feet of us all, and wiped them with the towel." By doing this He demonstrated to us His kindness and brotherly affection, that so we also might do the same to one another. If, therefore, our Lord and Master so humbled Himself, how can you, the labourers of the truth, and administrators of piety, be ashamed to do the same to such of the brethren as are weak and infirm?
In bringing to mind the spiritual meaning of the passage, the Evangelist here seems to me not to have observed the literal sequence of the washing. Normally, it is before supper and before sitting down to supper that those who need to wash their feet wash them. But passing over that time in his account, he says that Jesus, having already sat down for supper, arose from supper so that the Teacher and Lord may begin to wash the feet of the disciples after they had supper. For before the supper, they had been washed and were altogether clean. But after that washing they needed a second water for just their feet, that is, the lowest parts of the body.
What is more contrary to expectation than this, what more awe-inspiring? He who is clothed with light as with a garment is girded with a towel. He who held the waters in the clouds48 and sealed the abyss with his fearsome name is bound about by a belt. He who gathers the waters of the sea like a wineskin pours water in a bowl. He who covers his upper chambers with waters, with water washed the feet of the disciples. He who measured heaven with his hand's span and holds the earth in his grasp, with his undefiled palms wiped off the feet of servants. He for whom "every knee bends, of those in heaven, and on earth and under the earth" bowed his neck to attendant servants. The angels saw and recoiled; heaven beheld and shuddered; creation observed and trembled.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Dress — (1.) Materials used. The earliest and simplest an apron of fig-leaves sewed together (Gen. 3:7); then skins of animals (3:21). Elijah’s dress was probably the skin of a sheep (2 Kings 1:8). The…
Synagogue — (Gr. sunagoge, i.e., “an assembly”), found only once in the Authorized Version of Ps. 74:8, where the margin of Revised Version has “places of assembly,” which is probably correct; for while the…
Eucharist (The Lord’s Supper) · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Feet · Washing of, as an example, by Jesus — Washing of, as an example, by Jesus
Foot · Washing the feet of the disciples by Jesus — Washing the feet of the disciples by Jesus
Garments · Girt up during employment — Girt up during employment
Girdles · Used for: Girding up the garments when working — Used for: Girding up the garments when working
Hyke Or Upper Garment · Was the garment: Laid aside by Christ — Was the garment: Laid aside by Christ
Servants · Slaves or bond: Engaged in the most menial offices — Slaves or bond: Engaged in the most menial offices
Towel · General scriptures concerning — General scriptures concerning
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
John 13:1-7
1. Before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour was come, that he should remove out of this world to the Father, having loved his own, who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2. And after supper, [37] the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray him, 3. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God, and was going to God, 4. Riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments, and, taking a towel, he girdeth himself. 5. Then he poureth water into a basin, and began to wash the feet of his disciples, and to wipe them with the towel with which he was girded…
Foot washing, common in the Hellenistic and Jewish cultures as a daily routine and as a gesture of hospitality (see Luke 7:36-50), was a lowly, menial task reserved for servants. When Jesus began to wash the disciples’ feet, he took the posture of a slave.
