Episode 332 Jesus Washes the Disciples’ Feet (John 13:1-17)

This week we’re reading the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet as told in John 13:1-17. We talk about the profound way Jesus’s actions destabilize the social hierarchy, envisioning a community in which everyone honors and lifts up the other regardless of social status. We marvel at the idea that the incarnation seems to have made God’s relationship with humans more intimate—from God loving the world in John 3:16 to Jesus loving us as his own in this text. And we wrestle with the presence of Judas the betrayer at this intimate encounter. If Jesus chooses to wash even Judas’s feet, what does that mean for the way we treat those we suspect of betraying us today?