This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
Find this moment in: Jn. 13:4-17
During Christ’s final Passover meal, just one day before His death, Luke 22:24 shows how the disciples begin bickering over who is the greatest among them. Jesus corrects this thinking, telling them that the greatest among them cannot elevate themselves over others. To prove His point, Jesus did something that shocked His disciples and, if we’re honest, is just as difficult to understand today.
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He tied it around Himself. Then He poured water into the washbasin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel which He had tied around Himself. (John 13:3-5)
In the Middle East, feet were dirty. People walked around barefoot or in open sandals, and by the end of the day, dust and dirt covered everyone’s feet. To show honor to someone, you would provide a way for them to have clean feet. A host may have a servant on hand to clean guests’ feet, a child may clean their father’s, or there may just be a nearby basin of water for people to handle it themselves. Jesus and the disciples were guests in someone’s house, but the host hadn’t filled the washbasin so no one took the time to wash their feet.
By arguing about the greatest among them, the disciples adopted a worldly mentality of power and pride. Perhaps, in their pride, none of them had even washed their feet because they thought it was beneath followers of the King who promised to return and establish His kingdom. To prove His point, the King washed all of their feet, even the feet of Judas who would betray Him within the next few hours.
Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet—ever!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” (John 13:8)
Peter missed the point. He knew it was beneath Jesus to wash anyone’s feet, and Peter corrected Christ out of His status-focused pride. Jesus reveals the symbolism of this washing, which the disciples wouldn’t fully understand until later. Being part of Jesus had nothing to do with clean feet, but with Jesus being the one to wash us of the guilt of our sins.
Come now, and let us reason together,” Says Yahweh, “Though your sins are as scarlet, they will be as white as snow; though they are red like crimson, they will be like wool. (Isaiah 1:18)
Jews were very familiar with the need to be clean before God. Through this washing, Jesus was pointing them to what He’d soon accomplish. They were filthy because of their sins, but Jesus would soon make them as white as snow.
This moment also set the pace for how the disciples should think when Jesus was no longer with them. He would call them to lead the church, and a feeling of superiority or pride over others would be disastrous.
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. (John 13:12-16)
The King of Kings didn’t just wash dirty feet but would soon take on the filth of His people. The Heavenly Father would look at the Son and punish Him for the guilt of our sins. Jesus demonstrated the ultimate act of service, and He made it clear that His followers would live like their Master, serving and sacrificing for their brothers just as He did.
Stop and think: One simple act spoke volumes about how Christ wants His followers to live. If we are truly followers of Christ, we will follow Him even in elevating others above ourselves. Examine your pride and find ways you may assume you deserve something from others, or if there’s a way to serve a Christian today that you believe is too beneath you.
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