The Pulpit Commentary — John — Volume 2 — Section 183

anid nnto them, Know ye what I hBve done e. symholio type of the service they wern tQ nnto you 1 'fboy must oonsicler tlie mean- render to one another, cmd wne not e.;t11bliah- ing of It nll. '!'here WBS no affcctution of ing e. ouatom or exe.ct ordinance. The humility 11\Jout It, Tbo purpose of tbo we.shing of tbe feet we.a e.n Oriental custom Lord wos clistinotly pre.oticul e.nd ethical. of gren.t e.nti<Juity as e. mo.rk of bospite.lity So when he cee.socl his manirestntion in the (Gen. xvi ii. 4; xix. 2; Ahige.il, I 8nm. xxv. likeness of sinful flesh, e.nd wos set down 41 ; eeo e.lso Luke vii. 38, 44). In I Tim. on Lho right he.ncl of God, be sent his Spirit v. 10 there is tre.ce of such e. custom of to tee.oh them oil things. Moulton calls Christie.n hospite.lity. Considering the ease oltontion to the trine.l arrangement. Three with which the Church ho.a este.l>liahetl a pol'tioulors precede the gree.t utterance that ceremonial from an i•olated text, it ie follows ( of, vers. 1-3; cf. uleo eh. xvi. 6; remarkable that no more litero.l nee bns xvi. 8, eto. ; x vii. 22, 23), os well us the been mode of this injunction. However, three topics of the intercessory prayer; e.lso Mawndy Thursday, a name derived from /Jiea the three words from the cross (eh. xix. 27- mand,a,ti, we.s celebrated as the day on 80) e.nd three nppeare.nces to the disciples which this great command, or tbe.t contained (ob. xxi. H). Thie mny be compared with in ver. 34, wo.s given - llJandatum n,n;um the use of three throughout the Apocalypse. do 1iobis-and the feet of the newly baptizecl Ver. rn.-Ye name me the Teacher and were wa..shed. The endeavour to make the Lord. "R11bbi and Me.ra," the names Augustine the e.uthority for this religious of reverence which disciples of the Hebrew practice is doubtful; but the Council of teuohera were o.ccuetomed to offer to their Toledo (A.D. 694) mentions this particular me.stars. +wv<w means to name, and the day e.s that on which it was e.ppropria te. two nominatives are used appelle.tively, not In the early Ge.lliran Church tilere we.a as vocatives. Tholuck regards them as such e. ritual, and the forms of pedilauium vocatives. Scholars dared not address their observed are to be read in early Gothic e.nd teachers without some me.rke of respect. Gallican missals. Bernard of Clairvaux ~,M,rica.\os is John's equivalent for •:ii, my tried to convert the ceremony iuto e. se.crn- Muster (see eh. i. 29; xx. 16). And ye say ment, but without success. And it wouli.l well; for so I am. At this supreme moment seem that ~ome effort was made to introduce be does not repudiate this high function, it into Spa.in. "In 1530, Wolsey washed, nor abate any of bis lofty claims. He was wiped, e.nd kissed the feet of fifty-nine poor most obviously the highest in his con- men e.t Peterborough. The practice was descending love. He bad given no more continued by English sovereigns till the amazing proof of the originality e.nd supre- reigu of Jo.mes IL" (Westcott). No traces macy of his nature the.n this inversion of of it are to be found in the Ambrosian ritual, e.11 ordinary reln.tione. So I AM - more, but the preservation of the custom is found indeed, tha.n "the Teaoher," "the Saviour," now in the Russian imperin.1 po.lace, in the more the.n "the Master," as Peter said on ceremonies of the holy week at Rome, and in e. memorable occasion, " God we.s with the palaces of Vienna, llladrid,::Uunich. The him," and he was Immanuel-" God witll practice wns for a. time retained by the United us," e.nd "Lord of all" (Acts x. 87, 38). Brethren and Meunonites,n.nd the Tuukers of Vera. 14, 15.-If I then, the Lord o.nd the Phile.clelphia. (see 'Dictionary of Christian Teacher, ha.ve washed your feet; ye ought Antiquities,' vol. i. arts. "Baptism," §§ 3!, also to wash one another's feet: for I have 67, and "Me.undy Thursday;" Herzog., given I you an example, that ye should do as 'Encyc.,' e.rt. "Fusswe.schung," by H. Merz; I have done to you. Ka9Js, " ae," " like as," and Sobe.ff's 'Herzog.,' art. "Tu.nkers "). was used by our Lord rather the.n 8, "tlie.t The Church has for the most po.rt looked whioh." The 61ro6<1-yµ11 • shows that be had below tho mere form to the real substance of sot before his disciples a parallel, e.n example, the Lord's tee.ohing, and only thus can we appreciate it adequately. The very injunc- 1 i:le6wica., perfect, on the authority of tion would be an iuadeq un.te, burdensome oue ~. A, K, M, n, 1, 33, e.nd many cursives, where the feet are covered, and would become ie preferred by Tischendorf (8th edit.), nncl impossible and ve.luele:;sin the Northern e.nd R.T.; but Trogolles, Le.chmunu, Westcott Western world. The service demanded is and Hort, preserve the aorist l6wKa, with B the self-forgetting mini.try of love. which and six other uncials and several Fathers. places the interests of self behind and below The aorist h11e the power of the perfect in tho~e of others. Nothing is more tbeoreti- this place. ce.lly easy aud acceptable thn.n this principle, • 'T1ro6<1-yµa ie found in Polybius, as well but nothing more difficult of accomplish- e.e in the New Testament. The older ment. This sentence of our Lord i~ a. noble cle.ssicn.l word is 1rapd6<1-yµa, e.n example, illustration of the method in whioh a great pattern, memorial, specimen, a.nil is used by principle is me.de by him the busis of a Sopl)ooloe i~ \,his sen110. smnll duty (cf. Paul's vindication of bi!! HIO TIIE GOSPEL ACCORDING 'l'O ST. JORN. [en. xm. 1-30.