To Wash the Disciples' Feet

[Christsfreeservant]

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then 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. ​

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“He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, ‘Lord, do you wash my feet?’ Jesus answered him, ‘What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.’ Peter said to him, ‘You shall never wash my feet.’ Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.’ Simon Peter said to him, ‘Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!’ Jesus 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.’ For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’​

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“When 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? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you.’” (John 13:3-15 ESV).​

This was the Feast of the Passover that Jesus had with his disciples before he was put to death on that cross. Some refer to this as “The Last Supper.” And the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus, and Jesus knew this. And at this supper Jesus decided to teach his disciples a lesson in humility and in servanthood, but it was more than that. For although Jesus spoke in literal terms, he also spoke in figurative terms, which we shall see as we get further into this lesson.

For Peter didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet. So Jesus told him that if he did not wash him, that he had no share in him. So, pay close attention to the wording here, for Jesus is speaking of more than just a foot washing. So Peter then said if Jesus insisted on washing him then he should wash all of him. And Jesus said next that the one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. He said, “And you are clean, but not everyone of you.” For he knew who was to betray him.

Okay, did you see it? He isn’t speaking of bodily cleanliness here. He is speaking of spiritual cleanliness. For if Judas was just bodily unclean, that would have nothing to do with him betraying Jesus. So Jesus was saying that Judas was spiritually unclean, because he knew that Judas was going to betray him, because the devil had put it into his heart to do so. But Judas was spiritually unclean before the devil put it in his heart to betray the Lord, for we read in other passages that he was a thief.

So, let’s go back to what he said to Peter. He wasn’t telling Peter that he had no part in him just because he refused to have Jesus cleanse his feet. And when Jesus told him that the one who is bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean, he was speaking of being spiritually clean by faith in Jesus Christ. Peter was spiritually clean because of his faith in the Lord, but Judas was not, because Judas lacked faith, and that is why he was ready to betray the Lord.

But Peter, even though he was completely clean still needed to have his feet washed. Why? Well, from a practical standpoint they pretty much walked everywhere and their paths were usually of dirt, and many of them wore sandals, and so their feet would get dirty every time they walked somewhere, and so foot washing was something practical that was done as they would enter into people’s homes, as far as I can recall. So that was the literal part of it, I believe.

But spiritually speaking, since this also has spiritual application, what do our feet represent? They represent our walks of faith in Jesus Christ. And even though we are spiritually clean through genuine God-persuaded faith in Jesus Christ, we need that daily cleansing, too. That is why Jesus told the people that if they would come after him, they must deny self, take up their cross daily (die daily to sin) and follow (obey) him (Luke 9:23-26). For this is about our walks of faith, which is a daily thing where we die daily to sin.

Therefore, when Jesus told them that he had given them an example, that they should also do just as he had done, he wasn’t speaking just of washing people’s feet, and it doesn’t have to be confined just to the literal washing of feet, for that was something cultural and practical that they engaged in at that time and place in history. But the greater lesson, on a more practical side, is that of humility, and of us serving one another humbly in caring for one another’s needs.

But there is the spiritual side of this lesson, too. For if the washing of feet has to do with this daily cleansing of sin regarding our daily walks of faith in our Lord Jesus, how would that fit? We cannot cleanse someone else’s sins. Only God can do that. But what can we do? Well, for one we can be in the practice of denying self and dying daily to sin and walking daily in obedience to our Lord. And then we can be sharing the encouragement from God’s word to our fellow Christians to also have that daily cleansing in their walks.

And that is what the Scriptures teach we must do, too. We are to encourage one another daily, which includes exhortation, holy urging, and provoking one another to love and good works, and to walk in holiness and in righteousness and in obedience to our Lord. And we are to use our spiritual gifts in the assigned body parts the Lord has given us for the mutual edification and spiritual growth and maturity of the body of Christ, his church. And we are to serve one another in love.

We are also to be those who are speaking the truth in love to one another so that we may no longer be like children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful scheming. And so that we will all grow to maturity in Christ together as each body part does its work. And we are to teach and admonish one another and exhort one another every day so that none of us may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness. And this way we wash each other’s feet.

[Romans 12:1-8; 1 Corinthians 12:1-31; Galatians 6:1; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:1-16; Ephesians 5:15-21; Philippians 2:1-8; Colossians 3:16; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:13; Hebrews 10:23-25; James 5:19-20]

For the goal of it all is that we all walk in close fellowship and harmony with our Lord Jesus Christ, and with one another, and that we have sweet fellowship with our Lord, and with one another, based on the teachings of Jesus and of his NT apostles, and not based on the teachings of human flesh. And that we all keep growing in our walks of faith to spiritual maturity in Christ, and that we grow in our love relationships with our Lord and with his body, and that we minister his love and grace to one another.

"My God and I"

Music & Lyrics: Austris A. Wihtol, 1932

My God and I go in the fields together,
We walk and talk as good friends should and do;
We clasp our hands, our voices ring with laughter,
My God and I walk through the meadow's hue.

He tells me of the years that went before me,
When heavenly plans were made for me to be;
When all was but a dream of dim conception,
To come to life, earth's verdant glory see.

My God and I will go for aye together,
We'll walk and talk as good friends should and do;
This earth will pass, and with it common trifles,
But God and I will go unendingly.

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