"O be careful little feet where you go..." in this wilderness of a world! Do you find it a natural thing, or a difficult thing to maintain your fellowship with Jesus?
"If I wash thee not, thou hast no place with Me!" (vs. 8) That was a pretty crushing indictment for Peter, and it is for us too, if we resist Holy Spirit. Grace and truth are inseparable...you just can't have one without the other!
As I've said before, we need that daily washing...that daily confession, and forgiveness and regeneration. Remember..."He that is bathed needeth not, save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit." (vs. 10)
So in this section of chapt. 13, we read of Jesus teaching His disciples the truth of what He had just done for them..."Know ye not what I have done to you?" (vss. 12-16) "If you know these things, happy are you if you do them." (vs. 17) Not one of Jesus' works was performed in a vacuum. Every single act was carried out with the purpose of discipling His disciples, or His students, if you will. And of course, that includes all of us, through to the end of time as we know it! He is not mysterious in His ways, or in His teaching; nor are His intentions for us anything less than honourable and just and true, in all respects. So when He says in vs. 13..."You call Me Teacher and Lord...", He is reminding us, just as He did them, of His eternal purpose. That truth alone, should be sufficient for any Believer.
I wonder sometimes, if I do not speak of Him much too familiarly, when He even reminded His own disciples, that He is both Master, and Lord. Just think of the implications connected with those titles. Our school-masters or our teachers are to be believed...our Lord is to be obeyed! And when He lowers Himself to wash our feet, we really do get a glimpse of the kind of stuff He is made-of, and the serious nature of His truth.
But what kind of stuff are we made of?! Remember, He was not only washing those feet because they were dirty, but in order to teach us..."...you ought also to wash one another's feet." (BOMBSHELL!)
That's right...they ought, but they did not. Even though the dining room had been prepared with all the necessities of Passover, as the custom was, their feet were dirty. So as the question goes..."...which is greater...he that sits at supper, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at supper? But I am among you as One that serves" (Luke 22.27).
And we are called to be imitators of Christ! To think that when Jesus came down to establish the new order, His last command to His own was to "wash one another's feet", and to "love one another" (vs. 34), And in vs. 15..."I have left you an example...". In other words, you have seen by My actions, how you are to love, even to the lowliest forms of service. Consider it an honour and a privilege, and do it with joy and thanksgiving! And while doing-so, remember, as the Lord reminds us in vs. 16..."...the servant is not greater than his Master". We depend on our Lord for our strength, and every single Believer has the same need, especially as you endeavour in the Lord's work.
And if (vs. 17), "you know these things and do them, you will find happiness!" That is, serving, being served, and loving and being loved, with the emphasis on the doing and the giving, rather than the receiving and the being. Those things, and those things alone, can guarantee us a truly fulfilled life, while self and sin only lead to an eternity filled with grief.
Back in vs. 10, He had told the twelve..."You are clean, but not all." Now He says..."You are chosen, but not all". Confused yet? Jesus said..."I know who I have chosen, but..." (vs. 18). We sing..."I know Whom I have believ-ed", but the call and the response must be marked by both selflessness and service. On the other hand, the Believer, and even the Deceiver will both be self-evident (vs. 11, 6.70-71).
This is one of the most remarkable events in all of Jesus' ministry...that He would even stoop to wash Satan's feet, just as He would His own disciples. And we're afraid to love and serve, for fear of what someone may say of us! Shame on we! We can see this even prophesied in the Psalms, 109.4..."In return for my love, they became my accusers". And vs. 5..."They have rewarded me evil for good and hatred for my love". And notice Jn. 13.27..."What you do, do quickly!" And of course, Genesis 3.15...the very first prophecy in scripture of what could very well be seen in the betrayal of Judas Iscariot.
In Jn. 13 we have, certainly, the final prophecies of Jesus of His own impending death. And He wants the world to know that what was about to happen, was prophesied thousands of years before His very coming. All of Old Testament history pointed to this main event in world history...the Hebrew peoples, the nation of Israel, the giving of prophets, priests and kings; the building of a history and the preparation for an eternal future. He was the one Person that was marked from eternity past, as the Man of Sorrows and the Light of the world! All by our great God's own design!
And finally, in vs. 20, a word of blessing and of commission as well, because the death of One would result in the salvation of many! There was only one Judas, but eleven others to carry on the work. And the application is clear...receive the message, receive Jesus, receive Father God.
Jesus was the means to a new beginning, and the death of Jesus only served to seal the promise of a relationship made long before father Abraham, that through Him, all the nations of the world would be blest!
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