n" form a chief part. That the transition
may be observed, attention is drawn to it. At earlier stages of our
Lord's ministry He has given as His reason for refraining from proposed
lines of action that His hour was not come: now He "knew that His hour
was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father." This
indeed was the last evening of His life. Within twenty-four hours He was
to be in the tomb. Yet according to this writer it was not the paschal
supper which our Lord now partook of with His disciples; it was "before
the feast of the Passover." Jesus being Himself the Paschal Lamb was
sacrificed on the day on which the Passover was eaten, and in this and
the following chapters we have an account of the preceding evening.

In order to account for what follows, the precise time is defined in the
words "supper being served"[7] or "supper-time having arrived"; not, as
in the Authorised Version, "supper being ended," which plainly was not
the case;[8] nor, as in the Revised Version, "during supper." The
difficulty about washing the feet could not have arisen after or during
supper, but only as the guests entered and reclined at table. In
Palestine, as in other countries of the same latitude, shoes were not
universally worn, and were not worn at all within doors; and where some
protection to the foot was worn, it was commonly a mere sandal, a sole
tied on with a thong. The upper part of the foot was thus left exposed,
and necessarily became heated and dirty with the fine and scorching dust
of the roads. Much discomfort was thus produced, and the first duty of a
host was to provide for its removal. A slave was ordered to remove the
sandals and wash the feet.[9] And in order that this might be done, the
guest either sat on the couch appointed for him at table, or reclined
with his feet protruding beyond the end of it, that the slave, coming
round with the pitcher and basin,[10] might pour cool water gently over
them. So necessary to comfort was this attention that our Lord
reproached the Pharisee who had invited Him to dinner with a breach of
courtesy because he had omitted it.

On ordinary occasions it is probable that the disciples would perform
this humble office by turns, where there was no slave to discharge it
for all. But this evening, when they gathered for the last supper, all
took their places at the table with a studied ignorance of the
necessity, a feigned unconsciousness that any such attention w