Jesus’s Inverse Transfiguration in John 13

Abstract:By revisiting the foot-washing scene in John 13, this study proposes to regard Jesus’s action that precedes and follows the foot-washing proper as an instance of transfiguration achieved by an exchange of clothing. The laying down of the outer garment followed by the putting on of the linen cloth signify an alteration in Jesus’s external appearance—his transfiguration into the form of a slave. Viewed as a text that describes a change to Jesus’s appearance, the verses in question (John 13:4–5, 12) may be read as a transfiguration scene that stands in contrast to the well-known Synoptic stories in Matthew 17, Mark 9, and Luke 9. While these texts revolve around Jesus’s manifestation of his divine attributes, the Johannine transfiguration scene (13:4–5, 12), in contrast, shows Jesus taking the appearance of a slave for the duration of the foot-washing.