Chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, particularly the first 20 verses or so, without question constitute one of the greatest and most important of all passages in New Testament scripture. If you have never thought of Jesus as a Servant of grace, then you have not yet come to realize the extent of the importance of His work on the cross, for you! A true servant will not only face death for you, but He will wash your feet! He will not only bear your sin-burden, but He will bear your life-burdens as well. In fact, what He's done for others, He'll do for you! (sounds like a hymn lyric, don'tcha think?)
I've pointed out before, that Jesus, by now has pretty much concluded His public ministry, and in these last details of some of the most intimate moments of His life, we see Him preparing His disciples for some of the most important lessons they would ever learn that side of Pentecost (Acts 2). He had told them, as recorded over in Matthew 20.28..."the Son of Man came not to be ministered-to, but to minister", and believe it or not, He still makes that His business, over on the other side. And that's the message that He tries to impress on John and Peter and the others, from here to His ascension to His eternal throne. And as we read there in verse 1..."He loved them to the end...and not just His disciples either, but all of mankind, to the end of time as we know it, and every one of His sheep, on into eternity. So here we can see the very clear shift in focus, from the Jews in the last section of Chapter 12, to the Father here in verse 1, and to His own spiritual children.
Read verses 1-12...
Now we need to understand the context here. Passover is a spring feast, instituted by God as recorded for us in Exodus 12, as a memorial to His "passing-over" of the children of Israel in the last and most decisive act of God upon the Egyptians before their release of Israel from slavery. The "Passover supper" itself is celebrated on the 14th day of the Jewish month of Nisan, which on our calendar is a period somewhere between March and April, depending on the phase of the moon (roughly coinciding with our Easter, which always falls on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox...the 21st of March). Anyway, the feast started with the Passover supper and continued for seven days, so that is why Jesus and His disciples find themselves there in Jerusalem, in an upper room (as recorded elsewhere in the gospel record), having their last meal together. Of course, little did they know that the sacrificed lamb which had been prepared for their supper, represented the very Lamb of God, prepared from eternity past both for their sins and ours!
"When Jesus knew that His hour had come...". Do you realize that Jesus was the only One to come to this earth, who was never surprised by anything that happened during His lifetime? He knew every event He was to experience, before He ever arrived in Mary's womb...His birth, life, death and resurrection! And notice, again in verse 1, Jesus' focus on His future; He was not just returning to Heaven, but to His Father! How different our focus is, from His. We talk about heaven this, and heaven that...I wonder what Heaven will really be like? How beautiful Heaven will be! I wonder if I'll recognize my loved ones gone before me? Well let me tell you, none of those questions are relevant. Our God is the only One Who will be relevant when that time arrives. If you have any selfish intent whatsoever in your heart, then you're in for a beautiful awakening...and believe me, you won't be disappointed! The world is, and has been a place of woe; you know that and Jesus knew that, and His desire should be our desire...to be with the Father. The cross before Him was a place of horror, but to be with the Father would be joy unspeakable and full of glory! But in the meantime...verses 2-3...
What a change in tone from verse 1 to verse 2...from the Father to the devil; from Jesus to Judas; from love to betrayal. But notice that Satan only knew what the plan was...Jesus knows the thoughts and intents of the heart. And He knew that the very best way to disarm the enemy, was to "blindside" him, so that's what He did (verses 4-5)...He washed his feet! Now we need to keep three things in view here...first, Jesus' hour had come; second, He loved His own; third, all things had been given into His hand. God in the flesh, preparing for the role of a servant!
What a cleansing that was for those disciples. But Jesus didn't cleanse, so much as He convicted; we must get convicted before we can get cleansed, from the spiritual view of things. And believe me, the air in that room was ripe with, not only smelly feet, but the overpowering stench of unresolved conviction! You and I might have been cleansed, but our spiritual feet need to be washed every single day. Our walk in this world takes us into all kinds of situations and conditions, and no matter how careful we are, we still end up with dirty feet. But, you see, Jesus was not so concerned with dirty feet as He was with clean hearts. He loved those disciples, and He intended to give Himself up for them...a work that was only His to do.
But..."Lord, dost Thou was my feet?" (verse 6). You know, Peter really is a very good example of the immature Christian. Was he in complete subjection to his Lord? If he wouldn't allow Jesus to wash his feet, what assurance does Jesus have that, when the cock crows, Peter won't already have denied Him...not once, but three times? How strong was his faith? How strong is our faith? When the Lord reached out to him as a servant, Peter took a step back..."Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?" Neither faith, or love in action here! We really can see just how great a need we have, when we look at Peter...too much pride, too much power and too many plans, while Judas only had a purse! It seems that sometimes, we tend to overlook the obvious. Judas would soon reveal himself for who he really was; but Peter might have lived out his life without ever soaking his feet in Jesus' wash basin. And he thought he was the humble one! Sometimes it can be very surprising to see where our pride can take us. You see, it's when we think we know something that we often show our ignorance. Peter had no idea what Jesus had in mind for this motley crew of disciples. And just like many of us...impetuous, egotistical and world-minded; not a very good profile, is it? But that was Peter...ready to cut off someone's ear if need-be.
"Dost Thou wash my feet?" "Thou shalt never was my feet!" You know, we need to be oh-so-careful of what we may become guilty of; not only questioning the Lord's desire to wash us, but denying Him from washing us! How one sin often does lead to another. Oh, we may not actually use the same words Peter did, but we certainly often do act them out. So what's the difference between us and him? Well if you don't know, take careful note of the Lord's response...verse 8(b). And how scary is that?
You know something? When our feet are dirty from our walking where we've been, we had better let the Lord do for us what only He can do. That's what humility is all about...yielding. Don't take a Peter-attitude toward Jesus! To think that our pride and our stubbornness can actually keep us from Him. It's no wonder we have no power in the church today; or that we feel Jesus is a world away. In fact, He is...when we won't allow Him to do for us what only He can do! We may profess that..."My life is in His hands", but the real proof of our commitment to Him is in allowing a very simple, but a very effective foot washing. And do you realize how often our spiritual "feet" need to be washed? Every day! (See Psalm 139.23-24)
So how did Peter, and how should we respond to the Lord's offer to wash our feet (verse 9)? All Jesus really wanted was for Peter to be given a lesson in humility, and foot-washing served the purpose. He really didn't have to take over the entire exercise...he very nearly took the focus off Jesus completely, so the rest of the disciples would have been talking about Peter's antics long after Jesus' death and resurrection. But..."Just let Me teach you, Peter..." (verse 10). What Jesus wants us to learn is that, when you present your spiritual "feet" to Him, you'll get washed from the inside out...a cleansing that will prepare you for eternity; a cleansing that will fit you for salvation, for sacrifice and for service. But you know what...and it's horrible to have to say it...but there are some who won't "come clean", not even for Jesus (verses 10-11)! In fact, we all have a little bit of the "Judas attitude" in us, just as we all have a little bit of the "Peter attitude". Both are shameful, but the one leads to eternal destruction, while the other still leaves the possibility for confession, repentance and joy in the Lord and in His work.
Can you imagine the callous that must have been on Judas' heart...that not even the humbling, if not humiliating process of foot-washing could break down the barrier? So was Judas a true Believer? Not likely. Is it possible to refuse and even deny Jesus, but then confess and repent, as Peter had done? By all means, yes! And that's the purpose that Jesus had in conducting this exercise...to show the difference between the one and the other...to "separate the sheep from the goats", as it were. And to prove to those closest to Him, and to the world, that He is the Suffering Servant of His Father, God. Can you imagine the implications that has for me and You! God bless you as you have your "soles" washed by our Lord!
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