JOHN 13:15 — KING JAMES VERSION 0
“For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.”
For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you — the Greek hypodeigma (example, pattern, sketch) suggests that the footwashing is not a one-time historical event but a model to be repeatedly enacted and infinitely deepened. Jesus does not command obedience to rules but invites imitation of his way; the pattern must become flesh in the disciples' lives, embodied in their choices and sacrifices. The example is open-ended: as I have done to you—which includes not only footwashing but ultimately the cross itself. Every act of genuine service within the community echoes the infinite service Jesus extends.
Church Fathers on John 13:15
Our Lord, mindful of His promise to Peter that he should know the meaning of His act, you shall know here after, now begins to teach him: So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was sat down again, He said to them, Know you what I have done to you?
Know you, is either interrogative, to show the greatness of the act, or imperative, to rouse their minds.
Mystically, when at our redemption we were changed by the shedding of His blood, He took again His garments, rising from the grave the third day, and clothed in the same body now immortal, ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of the Father, from whence He shall come to judge the world.
Read all 26 entries in the readerCatena Aurea · St. Thomas Aquinas, tr. J. H. Newman · public domain
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