Commentaries:
Jesus teaches self-denial to His disciples not only with His words but also by His actions. Notice that His call to self-denial comes immediately after predicting His own sacrificial death. He is the supreme model of the self-denial to which He calls others. He even denies Himself any urge to avenge Himself or to threaten His persecutors for what they had done to Him. In Jesus' example, we see that, by committing ourselves to God who judges rightly, we deny ourselves the temptation of worldly lusts.
Martin G. Collins
Overcoming (Part 5): Self-Denial
The footwashing is simply a ritual, a ceremony, a symbolic act that outwardly manifests an inward attitude and conviction. In the example of Judas Iscariot, we see that though he went through the ritual, he was not really clean. The ritual could not remove the terrible sin that he was about to commit against his Creator. Because he had not repented of his sin, footwashing was meaningless to Judas.
Paul writes, "Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Prove yourselves" (II Corinthians 13:5). Isaiah urges, "Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; put away the evil of your doings" (Isaiah 1:16). In his psalm of repentance, on the other hand, David beseeches God, "Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin" (Psalm 51:2). Thus, we see that this rededication to God at Passover is a shared effort between us and God. We renew our faith in Christ's sacrifice, redevote ourselves to the New Covenant, repent of our spiritual failings, and seek forgiveness, and He forgives us and cleanses us of our sins.
Richard T. Ritenbaugh
Footwashing
Passover, in part, is an annual renewal of our initial washing through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ from the defilement of sin. It serves not only as a reminder of this, but also that our daily walk, symbolically represented by our dirty feet, needs to be cleaned as it becomes defiled.
John W. Ritenbaugh
The Beatitudes, Part 6: The Pure in Heart
Other Forerunner Commentary entries containing John 13:11:
Exodus 12:8
Leviticus 23:5
1 Corinthians 11:23-25
Hebrews 9:19-26
1 Peter 5:5