Wash Feet!

GETTING STARTED

Years ago I had a friend who was diagnosed with cancer. As it progressed, the tumor began to affect his speech and mobility, among other things. I volunteered on specific days of the week to give his wife some rest. I would help with doctor visits, take him to lunch, or just sit with him and communicate as best I could. Toward the end of his fight, there were times that I would need to change his diaper. The humility in that act was profound for me, as I’m sure it was for him. It changed me.

READ THE WORD: JOHN 13:1-20 (ESV)

^13:1Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. ²During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, ³Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, ⁴rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. ⁵Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. ⁶He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” ⁷Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”⁸Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” ⁹Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” ¹⁰Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” ¹¹For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”

¹²When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? ¹³You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. ¹⁴If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. ¹⁶Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. ¹⁸I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ ¹⁹I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.²⁰Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”

DIGGING DEEPER

(Today’s questions focus on verses 12-20. Verses 1-11 were covered previously.)

RESPOND TO GOD

Jesus gives us examples all through his teaching, but rarely does he announce it. Maybe we should pay extra attention. Within the Jewish culture of the time, there really was not a more humbling act than to wash someone’s feet. Jesus is showing the disciples that much can be improved upon with humility. It just takes a casual glance at headlines to see where pride and selfishness destroy lives. I think that is why Jesus highlights humility with such emphasis. Angry? Wash feet. Hurt? Wash feet. Feeling cheated? Wash feet. Verse 17 is the reminder that knowing is not the same as doing. Humility is an action.