Washing our feet - Part 4
"I have set you an example"
John 13v12-17
17th April 2015
We've been looking at the time when Jesus washed His disciples' feet.
John 13:12-17
When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what
I have done for you?" he asked them.
"You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord', and rightly so, for that is what I am.
Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet.
I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.
I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.
Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.
Because His companions had dirty feet, Jesus washed them. It wasn't a pleasant job. It wasn't his "gift area". It was an act of kindness. Jesus is "gentle and humble in heart" (Matthew 11v29). He performed this humble service without needing to be asked. Jesus is perfectly ready and willing to serve others - to do what they need, not what He likes. And He tells us that this is "an example" for us, that we should treat others as He treats us.
This doesn't mean we should all make a point of literally washing each other's feet, of course. It means we should be ready to do whatever another person needs us to do. And we should do so gently and humbly, as Christ would. Maybe our neighbur is unwell and needs us to do the shopping. Maybe he needs us to drive him to the hospital. Maybe he needs us to look after his children for a hour or two. Whatever he needs, we should be willing to help.
But Jesus's example means so much more than this.
Jesus made it clear that, in washing His disciples' feet, he was acting out a parable about the washing away of our sin, through His precious blood sacrifice on the cross. Jesus was willing to suffer so that we could be clean. And since, no servant is greater than his master and nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him, we who follow Jesus Christ must be willing to help others get clean of their sin. And we must be willing to do so without being asked. And we must do so humbly and gently.
How do we help a neighbour to find saving faith in Jesus? How do we help our brother in Christ to repent of a sin that has ensnared him? I don't have all the answers, of course. But I think:
- We must be willing to risk misunderstanding or resentment from the person we're trying to help.
- We must be humble enough to do what the other person needs, even if it's an unpleasant task.
- We must be humble enough to accept that we, too, are sinners, with no right to judge the other person.
- We must repent and confess our own sin before we try to help another to do so with his.
As F. B. Meyer writes in his commentary on these verses:
We need more of this lowly, loving spirit: not so sensitive to wrong and evil as they affect us, as anxious for the stain they leave on the offender. It is of comparatively small consequence how much we suffer; it is of much importance that none of Christ's disciples should be allowed to go on for a moment longer, with unconfessed and unjudged wrongs clouding his peace, and hindering the testimony which he might give. Let us therefore watch for each others' souls; let us consider one another to provoke to love and good works; let us in all sincerity do as Christ has done, washing each other's feet in all humility and tender love. But this spirit is impossible save through fellowship with the Lamb of God, and the reception of his holy, humble nature into the innermost heart, by the Holy Ghost.