Before I explore John 13 in more detail, I'd like to take a look at a parable recorded in Luke 12:35-38. Why this parable? Because in it the master of the house is depicted serving his slaves/servants. This post is based on chapter 29 of Kenneth E. Bailey's Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes: Cultural Studies in the Gospels, in which he discusses this parable.
[Luke 12:35] "Stay dressed for action and keep your lamps burning, [36] and be like men who are waiting for their master to come home from the wedding feast, so that they may open the door to him at once when he comes and knocks. [37] Blessed are those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes. Truly, I say to you, he will dress himself for service and have them recline at table, and he will come and serve them. [38] If he comes in the second watch, or in the third, and finds them awake, blessed are those servants! (ESV)
Without going into a large amount of detail, the literary structure supports ending the parable with verse 38. Luke 12:39-48 is a new unit. (For those so inclined, compare parables in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, and also see Dr. Bailey's discussion of corresponding text in Poet and Peasant dealing with the "Jerusalem Document" and parable boundaries, p. 80-81, 108-109).
From Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes, Figure 29.1
| 1-a | Let your waist be girded | Servant (prepared) |
| b | And your lamps burning, | Servant (prepared) |
| 2-a | And be like people who are expecting their master | Servant (alert) |
| b | when he withdraws from the wedding banquet, | Master (comes) |
| b' | so that when he comes and knocks, | Master (comes) |
| a' | Immediately they may open to him. | Servant (alert) |
| 3-a | Blessed are those slaves | Slaves - blessed |
| b | who coming, the master finds awake. | Master - comes/finds |
| c | Amen, I say to you, he will gird himself | Master - serves |
| d | and cause them to recline [to eat], | " " |
| c' | and come to them and serve them. | " " |
| b' | If (in the second or third watch), he comes and finds thus, | Master - comes/finds |
| a' | Blessed are those slaves. | Slaves - blessed |
The choice of English words used to translate the passage and the phrase ordering become important so I have reproduced Dr. Bailey's translation in the table above.
The rhetorical style is important in identifying the main point of the parable. What we can see is that the parable consists of three stanzas. The first stanza sets the scene. The second stanza expands on the first by incorporating new material in the middle two lines. The third stanza repeats the motifs of the first two stanzas but expands the parable with an astonishing climax in its center.
A brief outline of the parable's rhetorical structure is as follows (from Bailey, c.f., third column of above table):
Stanza 1
Servants prepared
Servants prepared
Stanza 2
Servants alert
Master comes
Master comes
Servants alert
Stanza 3
Servants blessed
Master comes/finds
Master serves the servants
Master comes/finds
Servants blessed
Stanza One sets the initial scene. Girding one's waist with a belt indicates that the person is ready to work and/or travel. It tightens the loose-fitting robes around one's self so that it does not get in the way of strenuous activity. A directive to keep lamps burning places the scene in the evening, as darkness begins to fall.
Stanza Two adds more details. We learn why the servants are directed to be ready for activity. We also note two key translation differences between common English translations and the words Dr. Bailey has selected.
The first alternate translation is found in the first line of stanza two. The difference may appear trivial but it connotes a significant change in feeling. The ESV reads, "And be like men who are waiting for their master." Bailey translates this as, "And be like people who are expecting their master." Waiting conveys a passive feeling, something that is simply routine and ho-hum, a sense that the servants are sitting around looking at the clock. Expecting conveys a much more active feeling, a sense of great anticipation, and the servants are preparing for an imminent return.
The second alternate translation is found in the second line of stanza two. The ESV reads, "The master to come home from the wedding feast." Bailey translates this line as, "When he withdraws from the wedding banquet." The ESV translation conveys the image that the wedding feast is done and as a result the master is returning home. Bailey's translation (based on Syriac and Arabic texts) paints a picture where the wedding feast is still in progress and the master has temporarily and quietly taken leave of the feast to come to the servants. Bailey writes,
"I find this translation more authentic to the larger world of New Testament images into which this parable must be placed. This often-neglected option [to use "withdraw" rather than "come home"] brings added nuances to the story. If the master returns home after the party is over, then the reason for his return is obvious. The party is over -- of course he returns home. But if he withdraws from the party while it is in full swing, the reader wants to know why is he doing so?" (370)
We get to the third line in stanza two where the master comes and knocks. Bailey writes that in the Middle Eastern culture, only strangers knock on doors at night. Normally a person known to the house would vocally announce their presence. Those inside, upon hearing a familiar voice would open the door. They generally would not open the door to a stranger knocking.
Here again our images of the parable are challenged. We have typically interpreted the wedding feast occurring at some other location, separate from the master's house. But what is actually happening is that the wedding feast is taking place at the master's house. The master is knocking on an inside door. The servants are in a secure location. It is not a stranger on the outside coming unannounced. They can safely open the door. The master knocks (quietly) rather than announcing himself because he does not want to alert the other party-goers to his temporary withdrawal.
The third stanza reveals why the master has withdrawn from the feast to come to the servants, now identified as slaves (in the first two stanzas, the precise standing of the 'servants' are still unclear). So the master has come to the lowest of the low (according to the social standings of the time).
First it is said that the servants are blessed. The word 'blessed' is makarios (most famously in the Beatitudes), a state that is not in the future, but a condition that is already present. In other words these slaves are not blessed because they have kept awake, lamps burning, and opened the door. The slaves do these things because they are already in a state of makarios. They are expecting their master to come to them, even in the middle of the night, even while the wedding feast is going on in another part of the house.
The surprise and the main point of this parable is found in the center of this third stanza (3-cdc'). The servants/slaves are expecting to serve the master upon his return, but in a dramatic twist the master immediately girds up his robes in preparation for doing work -- lowly work such as scrubbing the floor. Bailey writes, "Only lower-class servants and slaves, belt their robes [in preparation for work]." (372)
The master commands the servants to recline at the table [triclenium]. They cannot refuse. The slave is no longer a slave. There is only one reason why they have been ordered to recline at the table. It is for a meal. But from where is the food to come? It is the duty of the slaves to prepare the food, but the master had been at the feast. The slaves had no reason to expect the need to prepare food.
We now discover the reason the master slipped away from the wedding feast. Amid the celebration he thought about his servants, allocated portions from the feast itself, and took these portions to them. He then proceeded to serve the servants. The master did not call upon another servant to take the food out, but he himself did all the work, even going so far as to do it quietly so as to not draw attention to himself. Such an action would be utterly inconceivable and against the entire culture of social hierarchy and honor.
Why did I choose to spend so much space discussing this Lucan parable? Because I believe it informs and provides details that can guide our interpretation of the Upper Room event of John 13.
In the Upper Room event Jesus girds himself just as in the parable. Jesus is making himself a slave, one lower than the lowest disciple. The astonishment of the disciples (exemplified by Peter's protest) at Jesus' action is understandable. Jesus does not order angels or other human beings to do his work, but comes to the disciples himself, just as the master did in the parable. The disciples are called blessed (makarios) in John 13:17, as were the servants in the parable. The Upper Room event is a taste of the wedding feast that is going on now. We are already blessed. Jesus' actions changes our standing. We are no longer slaves, but partners and friends of Jesus (John 15:15). We do not know precisely when Jesus will return, but we know that he will return. And so we wait, not sitting around and staring at the clock, but in expectant activity.
The gospel writers are different, but the parallels between the parable and the Upper Room event are far too many and related to be given over to mere coincidence. Jesus taking on the position of a slave in order to serve and elevate the standing of his disciples (even knowing the ones who would betray and deny him) appears to be the theme of the Upper Room story.
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