Washing our feet - Part 2
"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me"
John 13v6-10a
3rd April 2015
Last time, we started to look again at the first part of John, Chapter 13, in which Jesus washes His disciples' feet. We read on:
John 13:6-10a
He [Jesus] came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?"
Jesus replied, "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
"No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet."
Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."
"Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"
Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean".
Peter was a close friend of Jesus, but he didn't know him as well as he thought. He couldn't imagine that Jesus would wash his feet. He didn't understand that it's right for the leader to serve the follower, the teacher to serve the pupil, the master to serve the servant. "Servant leadership" has become a cliche in recent years, but it embodies an important truth. Just because someone is a leader, that doesn't mean he shouldn't do the washing up.
Peter thought there was something improper about it, that it was not seemly for "the Messiah, the Son of the living God" (as Peter called Jesus in Matthew 16v16) to perform so humble a task for a man like himself. Jesus told Peter that, although he didn't understand at that time why Jesus would do this, the day would come when he fully understood.
Peter insisted "No, you shall never wash my feet". I have no doubt that Peter loved, trusted and respected Jesus very highly, but he still felt about to say, "No, Jesus". He refused to let Jesus do what he intended, because he didn't understand.
I wonder how often we refuse to let Jesus do something for us, because we don't understand.
Peter allowed his lack of understanding to triumph over his faith and love for Jesus. So do we, sometimes.
Jesus then said something that wasn't really about washing Peter's feet. He said, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me". When Jesus washed the disciples feet, it was a beautiful act of friendship and humility. It was an example for us to follow. But it was also an enacted parable about what Jesus does for everybody who believes in the power of His atoning sacrifice on the cross. Jesus washes us clean of our sin, through His blood.
Peter's understanding was limited. So is mine. So is yours. But he knew that he wanted a part with Christ. He wanted to be Christ's disciple, servant and friend. Acknowledging his lack of understanding, but choosing to trust Jesus, he said, "Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" Peter was whole-hearted. If what Jesus was doing was right and important, then Peter wanted a lot of it!
Jesus very graciously and gently replied, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean". Jesus was washing his friend's feet because they were dirty; they'd just walked into town from Bethany. The rest of them was clean. It would be no service to them to wash parts of their bodies that didn't need washing.
But Jesus was again talking about the cross, and about His forgiveness of our sins - even sins committed after we've accepted by faith His redeeming sacrifice.
The moment each of us repented of our sin and put our faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we were washed. Once, definitely and irrevocably, we were bathed in the blood of the Lamb of God, sacrificed for us. But we need to be cleansed daily. We can't pass one day on this earth without being soiled by the sin and temptation around us. Every day we think, or say, or do, many things that fall short of God's standards. So every day, we need to come back to Jesus Christ to be washed again.
And then, as F. B. Meyer's says in his commentary on John at this point:
Again, He stoops from the Throne, and girds Himself with a towel; and, in all lowliness, endeavours to remove from thee and me the stain which His love dare not pass over. He never loses the print of the nails; He never forgets Calvary and the blood; He never spends one hour without stooping to do the most menial work of cleansing filthy souls. And it is because of this humility He sits on the Throne and wields the sceptre over hearts and worlds.