I interrupted this Study at the end of John’s chapter 12. I stopped there because that is a natural stopping point in this gospel. The end of that chapter denotes the end of Jesus’ ministry to the people in general. From here on, we have a record of an intense, intimate, ministry to His disciples crammed into the short time He has left before He goes to the cross. For the balance of this study I am going to make my posts brief, single-themed, but post more than one a week.
John 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus, knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, loved them to the end.
There is a poignancy to this verse that always make me pause. Jesus knows His time is short. I am sure those three years of ministry must have, all of a sudden, seemed like they were gone in the blinking of an eye. Remember: Jesus was human, as human as you and I. What would go through your mind if you knew you had only hours left with those you love?
What would you want to tell them? As the leader they revered, had he done all He could to prepare them for a life without Him? Did He worry about all the Theology they needed to get straight if they were to successfully follow in His footsteps?
Of all the possible things he could have chosen to teach or do,
John tells us that He chose to show them His love.
This is why I like to think of this gospel as the Gospel of Love.
Love is humble
John 13:2-5 And during supper, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas [son] of Simon, Iscariote, that he should deliver him up, [Jesus,] knowing that the Father had given him all things into his hands, and that he came out from God and was going to God, rises from supper and lays aside his garments, and having taken a linen towel he girded himself: then he pours water into the washhand basin, and began to wash the feet of the disciples, and to wipe them with the linen towel with which he was girded.
There is a different kind of poignancy in that verse 2… It is almost like John is telling us: Here Jesus is going to demonstrate what Love is willing to do for those it loves, and among them was one who had already chosen to reject that love.
As commentators have said about this scene, the job of washing the feet of guests was reserved for the lowest slave in the household. It was the most menial, even the most demeaning job because in those days people didn’t just walk through dirt. Even up to the 19th century, in cities, in the absence of a privy or cesspool, human waste was often thrown out the window to the alley between buildings. (Contamination of a well by that waste was the cause of the Broad Street cholera outbreak in London in the mid 1800’s.) So, you can imagine what your feet would be like after walking in open sandals all day.
And Jesus chooses to put Himself in that place, of the lowest servant; true to what He told them in Mark 9:35 “Anyone who wants to be first must be the very last, and the servant of all.” He chooses to demean Himself even for Judas, whom He knew already was going to betray Him.
John 13:6-11 He comes therefore to Simon Peter; and *he* says to him, Lord, dost thou wash *my* feet? Jesus answered and said to him, What I do thou dost not know now, but thou shalt know hereafter. Peter says to him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, Unless I wash thee, thou hast not part with me. Simon Peter says to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus says to him, He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet, but is wholly clean; and ye are clean, but not all.
For he knew him that delivered him up: on account of this he said, Ye are not all clean.
One of the reasons I love the Gospel is how it just tells us the truth about all these characters. Peter, as always, the impulsive, boisterous one, objects, and when Jesus tells Him He has to accept it, his pendulum swings to the complete opposite extreme.
It is a good thing He did because Jesus uses that opportunity to give them a hint about the symbology of what He has done. We know from previous things Jesus has said that physical “uncleanness” is not a relevant issue. There would have been nothing wrong with them eating dinner with unwashed feet. I mean, He had already said that there was nothing wrong with eating or drinking from unwashed vessels… because what really hurts us is what makes us spiritually unclean… the evil that comes out of our own hearts (Mark 7:15).
Therefore, there must be a spiritual significance to this action. And Jesus gives the explanation when He says: “He that is washed all over needs not to wash save his feet, but is wholly clean”. We know washing, as in baptism, is a symbol of the washing away of our sins. We who have repented and believed on the Son of God have been washed, we are wholly clean. BUT we are “stuck” still living in this fallen world. God doesn’t take us away to Heaven the moment we are saved. As Jesus will tell them soon, we have been put here – and remain here – for a purpose.
So, we have to walk through this world and in so doing we will get our feet dirty. We do get affected by the world… we get hurt, we react in anger; we get tempted, and sometimes we fall; we suffer, while people of the world seem to just get all they want, and we envy them… That is how our feet get dirty. And that is why we need, periodically, to stop, turn aside and have our feet washed.
John 13:12-15 When therefore he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, having sat down again, he said to them, Do ye know what I have done to you? Ye call me the Teacher and the Lord, and ye say well, for I am [so]. If I therefore, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet; for I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also.
And here we get one more piece of the explanation of the symbology: We need to get our feet washed and the best person to do that is a brother or sister in Christ. Why? Because the way the dirt of this world accumulates on us is slow, little by little. Rarely is it the result of a crisis but rather it is the result of just living day to day in the midst of its fallenness. And because of that we may not notice.
Yes, sure, we sort of sense things are not going well, maybe we notice our temper is a little shorter, maybe we notice we are complaining more and more and praising others less. But we will blame it on being too busy at work, or maybe not getting enough sleep… when in reality what is happening is that we have been allowing the world to color our outlook on life.
This is why it is good to have believers in our lives that we have given license to speak truth into our lives. They can see from an outside vantage point what we miss by default.
ye also ought to wash one another’s feet; for I have given you an example that, as I have done to you, ye should do also
Is it easy to go to a friend and have an honest heart to heart, to help them see that they are beginning to make poor decisions?
Is it easy to be told by a friend that if I don’t shape up, I am going to get in trouble?
No. It takes humility on both sides: to be told we are going astray; and to risk angering a friend and being told off by that friend for meddling in their lives
It is a messy job… But Jesus did it
John 13:16-17 Verily, verily, I say to you, The bondman is not greater than his lord, nor the sent greater than he who has sent him. If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.
Love has to be humble because its defining characteristic is that it exists to serve the other: the beloved.