Manifested Love, Pt 2: Footwashing
John 13:1-11 1It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. 2The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. 3Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” 9“Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” 10Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” 11For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.
Washing of another’s feet isn’t really much of a thing in the Western culture these days except maybe in a nursing facility or at a special worship service. But it was a huge deal in Jesus’ day, and we have to remember the social and physical environment in which those people lived. Roads were dusty, sandy, and dirty, covered even with animal excrement, and even the cleanest of people had dirty feet simply because they had to walk wherever they went. When people went to other’s homes often feet were washed on arrival as a means of honoring the guest. This was especially pronounced at religious festivals as the culture commanded ceremonial washing before one left home.
But foot-washing was seen as an extremely menial task. It was never done by the head of the household or host of an event; always it was done by the servant, and not even the Jewish servant at that, but always by the Gentile servant. So it is not too hard to imagine the disciples, including Judas Iscariot, sitting in stunned silence as Jesus, their Master no less, was preparing to wash their feet himself.
Why would Jesus do that? There are a variety of reasons, but at the root it was simply that Jesus loved them. Beyond that though, Jesus was modeling humility. It isn’t the ultimate in humility since that is reserved for the Cross. But can you imagine Jesus Christ, God incarnate, washing poop off the feet of his disciples?
So here’s the thing: In Jesus’ day as well as ours, much of society was in rebellion against God. But that didn’t matter to God at all,
16For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:16-17)
And here we see God in full grace and compassion loving his people in spite of their rebellion. Jesus and his disciples had gathered for their Passover meal, and in his omniscience Jesus knew Judas had already considered the idea of betrayal. Yet still, Jesus humbled himself as Judas’ feet were two of the ones he washed. Honestly, I would have thrown Judas out of the meeting!
Commentators spend a lot of ink speaking about the symbolism of these verses and that the disciples missed it. They point out that through the acceptance of Jesus as their Savior they had been made clean just as they had ceremoniously made themselves clean as they prepared for Passover. And the commentators speak a lot about how in spite of that cleanliness, ones can become impure simply by walking through the mess of life. They point out that having once been cleansed, only the occasional washing is required after that. It is important we understand this in our personal lives. People often struggle with the realization that they continue to sin in spite of having accepted Christ as Savior. My friends, this is normal.
Jesus is demonstrating deep seated love and compassion for his people in these verses, but he is also cautioning us to not make too big a deal of our problem with continuing sin. Please understand: He’s not saying to go ahead and do whatever your sin nature leads you to, but he is saying don’t beat yourself up about it. Although all of us have difficulties with sin, that doesn’t mean one should blithely allow the sin to continue. It is important we understand our sin, repent of it and hand it over to Jesus to be thrown away. Jesus is saying pretty directly that if one doesn’t keep turning to him to be cleansed of sin through confession and repentance that person can have no relation to Jesus. And here lies the crux of our problem with our sin nature. Every person who has accepted Jesus as his Savior has once and forevermore been washed clean of the guilt of his sin. That however does not mean our sin nature is suddenly eliminated. In this situation, we are clean but find ourselves continuously dirtying ourselves through our interaction with the world and our sin nature. This subsequent contamination requires fresh cleansing in the form of repentance of our sin and fresh submission to Jesus for the strength to continually resist sin. No person should be embarrassed by coming to Jesus in repentance. Jesus is demonstrating the depth of his love for us. He understands we have problems. My friends, you are no different than any other person. Every person has struggles with sin; even the guy up behind the podium during the service has a struggle with sin.
But to realize one is no different than another person is not a reason to let sin continue. Remember Jesus came to earth in the first place to give us a way past our sins so we could receive eternal life. So, if a person has a habitual sin that he repents of 1000 times a day that is still a good thing because he is asking Jesus for help. Never, never, never give up on Jesus. He will help you the 1st time you ask, and he will help the 1000th.
19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Messiah, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus.