Hygiene and comfort go together: so do holiness and cleansing. In a hot dusty land, without hot and cold running water, visitors to a large house would be greeted by a servant who would remove the guest’s sandals and then wash their feet with fresh water and carefully dry them with a towel. It was a mark of hospitality, a very personal way to honour the guests. However, at the Last Supper, there was no servant in the borrowed home (Matthew 26:18-19).
 

Jesus had just washed His disciples’ feet. But they did not really understand. So He explained that, although He was their Teacher and Master, it was not wrong for Him to serve them. Indeed, it was essential. Although we might think we can do whatever we want by ourselves, it is not true. We cannot. There are many things which only God can do for us. That is why Jesus came: so that our sins could be taken away and we could be filled with the Holy Spirit and welcomed into God’s presence.
 

Only two people knew. Jesus knew that Judas would betray Him, and Judas knew the contract he had entered: 30 pieces of silver exchanged for the body of Jesus. But Jesus was not the only one betrayed. The other disciples, although they knew that Judas was a thief (John 12:6), had no idea of the evil he had agreed to do (Luke 22:1-6). So when Jesus announced that one of them would betray him they were very sad.

Jesus called His disciples by the tender name ‘little children’. That word (in Greek) is strongly affectionate and reflects the deep trust between parents and children, teachers and their students (John uses it 7 times in his first epistle referring to Christians in the early church). Jesus knew He was going to the cross and wanted to reassure His disciples that His route to heaven and theirs will be different. Although many of the apostles would face a violent death, they would never face what Jesus suffered on the cross.