That a Man Lay Down His Life for His Friends
Did not Christ demonstrate, even as His hour was arriving, the depths of love He possessed for those the Father had given Him? And, did He not always exhibit a love which surmounted all human wisdom and norms of the day?
In chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, not only is Christ aware of the hour, but also of the love He has for those He has chosen: “Before the feast of Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to pass from this world to the Father. He loved his own in the world and he loved them to the end.”[1]
In tractate 55 on the Gospel of John, St. Augustine considers the origin of the word Passover:
Pascha (passover) is not, as some think, a Greek noun, but a Hebrew: and yet there occurs in this noun a very suitable kind of accordance in the two languages. For inasmuch as the Greek word paschein means to suffer, therefore pascha has been supposed to mean suffering, as if the noun derived its name from His passion: but in its own language, that is, in Hebrew, pascha means passover; because the pascha was then celebrated for the first time by God’s people, when, in their flight from Egypt, they passed over the Red Sea. And now that prophetic emblem is fulfilled in truth, when Christ is led as a sheep to the slaughter….
Here you see we have both pascha and pass-over. Whence, and whither does He pass? Namely, “out of this world to the Father.” The hope was thus given to the members in their Head, that they doubtless would yet follow Him who was “passing” before.[2]
Thus, the Jewish Passover (pesach) commemorates both: “the Hebrews’ liberation from enslavement in Egypt and the “passing over” of God’s forces of destruction, or the sparing of the firstborn of the Israelites, on the eve of the Exodus.”[3] The suffering the Israelites experience at the hands of Pharoah, culminates with God’s intervening on their behalf through Moses. Christ is to pass out of this world to the Father – that the hope of Salvation be given to the members in their Head, He Who has gone before them.
The suffering the Israelites encounter, leads to their liberation. Through the power of God’s grace, Moses intercedes on behalf of the chosen people – those who suffer at the hands of Pharaoh in Egypt. And previous to this in the Book of Exodus, God protects His chosen people from the tenth plague, that which takes the life of every first-born in the land, human being and beast alike, thus instituting Passover itself:
Tell the whole community of Israel: On the tenth of this month every family must procure for itself a lamb, one apiece for each household. If a household is too small for a lamb, it along with its nearest neighbor will procure one, and apportion the lamb’s cost in proportion to the number of persons, according to what each household consumes. Your lamb must be a year-old male and without blemish. You may take it from either the sheep or the goats. You will keep it until the fourteenth day of this month, and then, with the whole community of Israel assembled, it will be slaughtered during the evening twilight. They will take some of its blood and apply it to the two doorposts and the lintel of the houses in which they eat it. They will consume its meat that same night, eating it roasted with unleavened bread and bitter herbs. Do not eat any of it raw or even boiled in water, but roasted, with its head and shanks and inner organs. You must not keep any of it beyond the morning; whatever is left over in the morning must be burned up. This is how you are to eat it: with your loins girt, sandals on your feet and your staff in hand, you will eat it in a hurry. It is the LORD’s Passover. For on this same night I will go through Egypt, striking down every firstborn in the land, human being and beast alike, and executing judgment on all the gods of Egypt–I, the LORD! But for you the blood will mark the houses where you are. Seeing the blood, I will pass over you; thereby, when I strike the land of Egypt, no destructive blow will come upon you.[4]
Delving further into the text of chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, it states that Christ:
…rose from supper and took off his outer garments. He took a towel and tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel around his waist.[5]
The followers of Christ know Him to be the Master. Therefore, it would have been quite unusual for the Master to take it upon Himself to perform this task, although: “Foot washing was the opening gesture of that covenantal welcome. A host rarely performed the act personally; it was delegated to household servants, children, or the lowest slave (cf. 1 Sam. 25:41).[6]
It is out of service, the greatest humility, and charity toward all men, that the Lord performs this task:
[W]hy should we wonder that He rose from supper, and laid aside His garments, who, being in the form of God, made Himself of no reputation? And why should we wonder, if He girded Himself with a towel, who took upon Him the form of a servant, and was found in the likeness of a man? Why wonder, if He poured water into a basin wherewith to wash His disciples’ feet, who poured His blood upon the earth to wash away the filth of their sins? Why wonder, if with the towel wherewith He was girded He wiped the feet He had washed, who with the very flesh that clothed Him laid a firm pathway for the footsteps of His evangelists? In order, indeed, to gird Himself with the towel, He laid aside the garments He wore; but when He emptied Himself [of His divine glory] in order to assume the form of a servant, He laid not down what He had but assumed that which He had not before. When about to be crucified, He was indeed stripped of His garments, and when dead was wrapped in linen clothes: and all that suffering of His is our purification. When, therefore, about to suffer the last extremities [of humiliation,] He here illustrated beforehand its friendly compliances; not only to those for whom He was about to endure death, but to him also who had resolved on betraying Him to death. Because so great is the beneficence of human humility, that even the Divine Majesty was pleased to commend it by His own example; for proud man would have perished eternally, had he not been found by the lowly God. For the Son of man came to seek and to save that which was lost.[7]
Christ readily and humbly accepts what others may think of Him in performing this gesture. Because everything that He sets out to accomplish is based in love and taught in charity, that others may follow in His footsteps to Eternal life.
Nonetheless, this gesture, although humble and a model for all Christians, offends the ears of St. Peter who cannot imagine His Lord washing his feet:
“Master, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will understand later.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “Unless I wash you, you will have no inheritance with me.”[8]
Within the act of washing St. Peter’s feet, an act he deems below the Lord’s station, is contained an element of personal pride. The mandate, that St. Peter also be required to humble himself and serve others, those he may deem below his station in life – that he follow in the footsteps of Christ with authenticity.
This said, Christ refers also to the grace and inheritance received in the Sacrament of Baptism – as well as to an ongoing need for the forgiveness of sins in the Sacrament of Reconciliation:
Accordingly, the Church, which Christ cleanseth with the washing of water in the
word, is without spot and wrinkle, not only in the case of those who are taken away immediately after the washing of regeneration from the contagious influence of this life, and tread not the earth so as to make necessary the washing of their feet, but in those also who have experienced such mercy from the Lord as to be enabled to quit this present life even with feet that have been washed. But although the Church be also clean in respect of those who tarry on earth, because they live righteously; yet have they need to be washing their feet, because they assuredly are not without sin.[9]
The grace of these Sacraments are merited through the ultimate humiliation – the One True Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross offered once for all:
“Christ Jesus . . . emptied himself to assume the condition of a slave and became as men are; and being as all men are; he was humbler yet, even to accepting death, death on a cross. But God raised him high and gave him the name which is above all other names, so that all beings in the heavens, on earth and in the underworld, should bend the knee at the name of Jesus, and that every tongue should acclaim Jesus Christ as Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (cf. Php. 2:6-11).
The Cross is the sign of the deepest humiliation of Christ. In the eyes of the people of that time, it was the sign of an infamous death. Free men could not be punished with such a death, only slaves, Christ willingly accepts this death, death on the Cross. Yet this death becomes the beginning of the Resurrection. In the Resurrection the crucified Servant of Yahweh is lifted up: he is lifted up before the whole of creation.
At the same time the Cross is also lifted up. It ceases to be the sign of infamous death and becomes the sign of resurrection, that is, of life. Through the sign of the Cross, it is not the servant or the slave who is speaking, but the Lord of all creation.[10]
Thus:
If you love your Master, die His death. Learn how great is the power of the Cross; how many good things it has achieved and does still: how it is the safety of our life. Through it all things are done. Baptism is through the Cross, for we must receive that seal. The laying on of hands is through the Cross. If we are on journeys, if we are at home, wherever we are, the Cross is a great good, the armor of salvation, a shield which cannot be beaten down, a weapon to oppose the devil; you bear the Cross when you are at enmity with him, not simply when you seal yourself by it, but when you suffer the things belonging to the Cross.[11]
[1] Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Catholic Church, Saint Joseph Edition of the New American Bible (Washington, D.C. United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, and Totowa, NJ: Catholic Book Publishing Co. 2011)., Joh. 13:1., (Hereafter cited as NAB).
[2] Augustine, and John Chrysostom. 1886. A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church : First Series. Vol. 7. Edited by Philip Schaff. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans., pg. 501., (Hereafter cited as Augustine).
[3] Britanica. Passover. P1. accessed April 8, 2026. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Passover
[4] NAB, Exo. 12:3-13.
[5] Ibid., Joh. 13:4-5.
[6] Bible Hub. Foot washing’s biblical significance? Hospitality Norms and Social Etiquette. P1. accessed April 8, 2026. https://biblehub.com/q/Foot_washing_s_biblical_significance.htm
[7] Augustine, para. 7., pg.504.
[8] NAB, Joh. 13:6-8.
[9] Augustine, pg. 507.
[10] John Paul II. Solemn Celebration for the Feast of the Triumph of the Cross of Christ. Homily of Pope John Paul II. P4. The Holy See. accessed April 8, 2026. https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/homilies/1984/documents/hf_jp-ii_hom_19840914_messa-halifax.html
[11] New Advent. Fathers of the Church. St. John Chrysostom. Homilies on Philippians. P2. accessed April 8, 2026. https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/230213.htm
