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João 13

ARC · Chapter 13/21

1Ora, antes da festa da paschoa, sabendo Jesus que já era chegada a sua hora de passar d'este mando para o Pae, como havia amado os seus, que estavam no mundo, amou-os até ao fim.

2E, acabada a ceia, tendo já o diabo insinuado no coração de Judas Iscariotes, filho de Simão, que o trahisse,

3Jesus, sabendo que o Pae tinha depositado nas suas mãos todas as coisas, e que havia saido de Deus e ia para Deus,

4Levantou-se da ceia, tirou os vestidos, e, tomando uma toalha, cingiu-se.

5Depois deitou agua n'uma bacia, e começou a lavar os pés aos discipulos, e a enxugar-lh'os com a toalha com que estava cingido.

6Approximou-se pois de Simão Pedro, e elle lhe disse: Senhor, tu lavas-me os pés a mim?

7Respondeu Jesus, e disse-lhe: O que eu faço não o sabes tu agora, mas tu o saberás depois.

8Disse-lhe Pedro: Nunca me lavarás os pés. Respondeu-lhe Jesus: Se eu te não lavar, não tens parte comigo.

9Disse-lhe Simão Pedro: Senhor, não só os meus pés, mas tambem as mãos e a cabeça.

10Disse-lhe Jesus: Aquelle que está lavado não necessita de lavar senão os pés, pois no mais todo está limpo. Ora vós estaes limpos, mas não todos.

11Porque bem sabia elle quem o havia de trahir; por isso disse: Nem todos estaes limpos.

12Depois que lhes lavou os pés, e tomou os seus vestidos, tornou-se a assentar á mesa, e disse-lhes: Entendeis o que vos tenho feito?

13Vós me chamaes Mestre e Senhor; e dizeis bem, porque eu o sou:

14Pois se eu, Senhor e Mestre, vos lavei os pés, vós deveis tambem lavar os pés uns aos outros.

15Porque eu vos dei o exemplo, para que, como eu vos fiz, façaes vós tambem.

16Na verdade, na verdade vos digo que não é o servo maior do que o seu senhor, nem o enviado maior do que aquelle que o enviou.

17Se sabeis estas coisas, bemaventurados sois se as fizerdes.

18Não fallo de todos vós; eu bem sei os que tenho escolhido; mas para que se cumpra a Escriptura, que diz: O que come o pão comigo levantou contra mim o seu calcanhar.

19Já agora vol-o digo, antes que aconteça, para que, quando acontecer, acrediteis que eu sou.

20Na verdade, na verdade vos digo que, se alguem receber o que eu enviar, me recebe a mim, e quem me recebe a mim recebe aquelle que me enviou.

21Tendo Jesus dito isto, turbou-se em espirito, e testificou, e disse: Na verdade, na verdade vos digo que um de vós me ha de trahir.

22Então os discipulos olhavam uns para os outros, duvidando de quem elle fallava.

23Ora um de seus discipulos, aquelle a quem Jesus amava, estava reclinado no seio de Jesus.

24Então Simão Pedro fez signal a este, para que perguntasse quem era aquelle de quem elle fallava.

25E, inclinando-se elle sobre o peito de Jesus, disse-lhe: Senhor, quem é?

26Jesus respondeu: É aquelle a quem eu der o bocado molhado. E, molhando o bocado, o deu a Judas Iscariotes, filho de Simão.

27E, após o bocado, entrou n'elle Satanás. Disse pois Jesus: O que fazes, fal-o depressa.

28E nenhum dos que estavam assentados á mesa comprehendeu a que proposito lhe dissera isto;

29Porque, como Judas tinha a bolsa, pensavam alguns que Jesus lhe tinha dito: Compra o que nos é necessario para a festa; ou que désse alguma coisa aos pobres.

30E, tendo tomado o bocado, saiu logo. E era já noite.

31Tendo elle pois saido, disse Jesus: Agora é glorificado o Filho do homem, e Deus é glorificado n'elle.

32Se Deus é glorificado n'elle, tambem Deus o glorificará em si mesmo, e logo o ha de glorificar.

33Filhinhos, ainda por um pouco estou comvosco. Vós me buscareis, e, como tinha dito aos judeos: Para onde eu vou não podeis vós ir: assim vol-o digo eu tambem agora.

34Um novo mandamento vos dou: Que vos ameis uns aos outros, como eu vos amei a vós, que tambem vós uns a outros vos ameis.

35N'isto todos conhecerão que sois meus discipulos, se vós tiverdes amor uns aos outros.

36Disse-lhe Simão Pedro: Senhor, para onde vaes? Jesus lhe respondeu: Para onde eu vou não podes agora seguir-me, porém depois me seguirás.

37Disse-lhe Pedro: Porque não posso seguir-te agora? Por ti darei a minha vida.

38Respondeu-lhe Jesus: Tu darás a tua vida por mim? Na verdade, na verdade te digo: não cantará o gallo emquanto me não tiveres negado tres vezes.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

At the Last Supper, Jesus washes the disciples' feet as an example of humility and service. He reveals that he will be betrayed by Judas and gives a new commandment: to love one another as he loved them. He also predicts Peter's denial.

Explanation

Washing feet was a task reserved for slaves or servants of lower rank; Jesus, the Master, takes on this role to teach that true greatness lies in serving, not in being served. By handing the piece of bread to Judas, quietly identifying him as the traitor, Jesus shows full knowledge and control over the events about to unfold, even as he allows them to happen. The 'new commandment' to love one another as he loved them (v.34) sets a radical standard: not merely loving others as oneself (Leviticus 19:18), but loving as Christ loved — that is, sacrificially. The practical application today is that genuine Christian love proves itself in concrete acts of humble service, not just in words.

Fun facts

  • Washing guests' feet was a common custom in Jewish homes because of the sandals worn on dusty roads, but it was normally done by Gentile slaves, never by Jewish slaves — making Jesus' gesture even more shocking to the disciples.
  • The 'disciple whom Jesus loved' (v.23), reclining next to Jesus at the meal, is identified by Christian tradition as the very author of the Gospel, John, son of Zebedee, who never names himself directly anywhere in the book.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. João 13:1Marks a turning point in the Gospel: from here on, Jesus stops speaking in public and devotes Himself only to the disciples, knowing that His death is near — the KJV’s “he loved them unto the end” suggests a love carried all the way through to the final consequences.
  2. João 13:2The narrator reveals that Satan had already put the idea of betrayal into Judas’s heart before the scene of the foot washing — the plot against Jesus was already in motion during this last supper.
  3. João 13:3Jesus acts from a position of complete security: He knows that everything has been placed in His hands, and that He came from God and is going back to God — it is out of this confidence, not weakness, that the humble gesture that follows is born.
  4. João 13:4Jesus gets up, removes His outer robe, and ties a towel around His waist — reproducing exactly the posture of a slave getting ready to wash a guest’s feet, the humblest task there was.
  5. João 13:5Washing the feet of guests was a slave’s job, since people walked in sandals on dirt roads, and it was considered such lowly work that not even every Jewish slave could be forced to do it. Jesus doing this Himself for the disciples was, by the standards of the day, someone of much higher status lowering Himself to the role of the household’s humblest servant.
  6. João 13:6Peter’s reaction shows his shock at this reversal of roles: normally it would be unthinkable for a teacher to wash a disciple’s feet, let alone for the Lord to wash the feet of a servant.
  7. João 13:7Jesus acknowledges that Peter does not understand the full meaning of the gesture now, but promises that he will understand later — most likely after the crucifixion, once the explanation that follows sinks in.
  8. João 13:8Peter flatly refuses, and Jesus responds by tying this gesture to something greater: refusing to be washed by Him means, in practice, refusing to have any part with Jesus.
  9. João 13:9As usual, Peter overreacts, asking to have not just his feet washed but also his hands and head, without quite grasping the symbolism of the gesture.
  10. João 13:10Jesus explains the image: whoever has already bathed only needs to wash their feet, because the rest is already clean — and He adds, subtly, that not everyone there is truly clean, a veiled reference to Judas’s betrayal.
  11. João 13:11The narrator clarifies right away the reason behind that strange comment: Jesus already knew exactly who was going to betray Him.
  12. João 13:12After finishing the washing, Jesus puts His robe back on, sits down again, and asks whether they understood what He had just done — opening the way to explain the meaning of the gesture.
  13. João 13:13Jesus reaffirms His position of authority, Teacher and Lord, which makes the earlier gesture of humility all the more striking by contrast.
  14. João 13:14If even the Teacher and Lord washed their feet, the logical conclusion is that they too should do this same kind of humble service for one another.
  15. João 13:15Jesus makes clear that the point of the gesture was precisely to serve as a practical example to be repeated, not just an isolated, symbolic scene.
  16. João 13:16Reinforces the logic behind the example: if the servant is not greater than the master, nor the messenger greater than the one who sent him, it makes no sense for the disciples to refuse to serve one another in this same humble way.
  17. João 13:17Jesus points out that simply knowing this teaching is not enough: the real blessing comes from actually putting it into practice.
  18. João 13:18This expression comes from an ancient psalm and described the betrayal of someone once trusted, like a cowardly blow from behind. Jesus quotes this line to say that Judas’s coming betrayal had already been described centuries earlier — it was not a surprise that caught everyone off guard.
  19. João 13:19Jesus warns about the betrayal before it happens, so that when it does happen, the disciples will recognize it as one more confirmation of who He really is.
  20. João 13:20Describes a chain of representation: receiving whomever Jesus sends is the same as receiving Jesus Himself, and receiving Jesus is the same as receiving God, who sent Him.
  21. João 13:21After all this, Jesus is visibly troubled and announces openly, for the first time this directly, that one of them will betray Him.
  22. João 13:22The disciples exchange confused glances with one another, unable to figure out whom Jesus was talking about.
  23. João 13:23At the formal meals of that time, people did not sit in chairs at a table as we do today: they reclined on their sides, propped on an elbow, around a low table. Being reclined right next to someone, in front of him, was a position of closeness and trust, the place of honor beside the host, not a strange physical image.
  24. João 13:24Peter makes a discreet signal to the beloved disciple, who was positioned right next to Jesus at the table, asking him to ask directly who the traitor is.
  25. João 13:25That disciple leans in even closer to Jesus to ask the question privately, without the others hearing.
  26. João 13:26Jesus answers discreetly, through a gesture: He will identify the traitor by handing him a piece of dipped bread, a sign of honor at a meal — and He gives it precisely to Judas, which makes the moment even more ironic.
  27. João 13:27As soon as Judas receives the piece of bread, the text describes Satan entering him completely, and Jesus, already knowing everything, instructs him to act quickly, without further delay.
  28. João 13:28Even though all this happens right there at the table, none of the other disciples understands the real reason behind Jesus’s instruction to Judas.
  29. João 13:29Since Judas kept the group’s money, some think Jesus is simply telling him to buy something for the feast or give to the poor — showing how completely unnoticed the plan for the betrayal had gone up to this point.
  30. João 13:30Judas takes the piece of bread and leaves immediately; the detail “and it was night,” the KJV’s own wording, carries symbolic weight, linking his departure with darkness.
  31. João 13:31As soon as Judas leaves, and the process of the betrayal is already underway, Jesus declares that the moment of His glorification has come — the beginning of the final part of the Gospel.
  32. João 13:32Describes a mutual glorification: if God is glorified through Jesus, then God Himself will also glorify Jesus, and this will happen soon, without delay.
  33. João 13:33Jesus uses an affectionate term, the KJV’s “Little children,” rarely used this way elsewhere in the Gospel, to prepare the disciples for His departure, repeating the warning He had already given the Jews that they could not follow Him yet.
  34. João 13:34Presents the central command of this farewell discourse: to love one another following the very example of love Jesus had just shown by washing their feet.
  35. João 13:35Defines this mutual love as the visible sign that will identify Jesus’s disciples to everyone, more than any speech or miracle.
  36. João 13:36Peter asks where Jesus is going; the answer hints that Peter cannot follow Him now, but will follow Him later — a reference to Peter’s own martyrdom, told in more detail in chapter 21.
  37. João 13:37Peter reacts with overconfidence, saying he is ready to lay down his own life for Jesus right now — a claim the very next verse is about to dismantle.
  38. João 13:38The crowing of the rooster was a common way of marking the passage from the dead of night into dawn, without needing a clock. Jesus is predicting that before that moment of the day arrives, Peter will already have denied knowing Him three times, a prediction that comes true just hours later, in chapter 18.

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