The cup, in which, according to express Rabbinic testimony, [5656] the wine had been mixed with water before it was blessed,' had passed round. The next part of the ceremonial was for the Head of the Company to rise and wash hands.' It is this part of the ritual of which St. John [5657] records the adaptation and transformation on the part of Christ. The washing of the disciples' feet is evidently connected with the ritual of handwashing.' Now this was done twice during the Paschal Supper: [5658] the first time by the Head of the Company alone, immediately after the first cup; the second time by all present, at a much later part of the service, immediately before the actual meal (on the Lamb, &c.). If the footwashing had taken place on the latter occasion, it is natural to suppose that, when the Lord rose, all the disciples would have followed His example, and so the washing of their feet would have been impossible. Again, the footwashing, which was intended both as a lesson and as an example of humility and service, [5659] was evidently connected with the dispute which of them should be accounted to be greatest.' If so, the symbolical act of our Lord must have followed close on the strife of the disciples, and on our Lord's teaching what in the Church constituted rule and greatness. Hence the act must have been connected with the first handwashing - that by the Head of the Company - immediately after the first cup, and not with that at a later period, when much else had intervened.
All else fits in with this. For clearness' sake, the account given by St. John [5660] may here be recapitulated. The opening words concerning the love of Christ to His own unto the end form the general introduction. [5661] Then follows the account of what happened during Supper' [5662] - the Supper itself being left undescribed - beginning, by way of explanation of what is to be told about Judas, with this: The Devil having already cast into his (Judas') heart, that Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, shall betray Him.' General as this notice is, it contains much that requires special attention. Thankfully we feel, that the heart of man was not capable of originating the Betrayal of Christ; humanity had fallen, but not so low. It was the Devil who had cast' it into Judas' heart - with force and overwhelming power. [5663] Next, we mark the full description of the name and parentage of the traitor. It reads like the wording of a formal indictment. And, although it seems only an introductory explanation, it also points to the contrast with the love of Christ which persevered to the end, [5664] even when hell itself opened its mouth to swallow Him up; the contrast, also, between what Jesus and what Judas were about to do, and between the wild storm of evil that raged in the heart of the traitor and the calm majesty of love and peace which reigned in that of the Saviour.
If what Satan had cast into the heart of Judas explains his conduct so does the knowledge which Jesus possessed account for that He was about to do. [5665] [5666] Many as are the thoughts suggested by the words, Knowing that the Father had given all things into His Hands, and that He came forth from God, and goeth unto God' - yet, from evident connection, they must in the first instance be applied to the Footwashing, of which they are, so to speak, the logical antecedent. It was His greatest act of humiliation and service, and yet He never lost in it for one moment aught of the majesty or consciousness of His Divine dignity; for He did it with the full knowledge and assertion that all things were in His Hands, and that He came forth from and was going unto God - and He could do it, because He knew this. Here, not side by side, but in combination, are the Humiliation and Exaltation of the God-Man. And so, during Supper,' which had begun with the first cup, He riseth from Supper.' The disciples would scarcely marvel, except that He should conform to that practice of handwashing, which, as He had often explained, was, as a ceremonial observance, unavailing for those who were not inwardly clean, and needless and unmeaning in them whose heart and life had been purified. But they must have wondered as they saw Him put off His upper garment, gird Himself with a towel, and pour water into a basin, like a slave who was about to perform the meanest service.