Wash

John 13:1-26

     In this passage, we find Jesus eating a meal with His disciples, sometime before the Passover feast. Satan had already placed the idea of turning the Lord in to the authorities into the mind of Judas Iscariot. Jesus knew His hour had come and He loved His disciples. He knew all things had been given to Him by the Father, and He took off his cloak, tied a towel around himself, poured water into a bowl, and knelt to begin washing the feet of the twelve. 

     When he came to Peter, that man asked Him with an air of incredulity if He was truly going to wash his feet. When Jesus replied affirmatively, Simon declared he wouldn't allow it. Jesus told him that to have any part with Him, Peter must be washed by Him, to which Simon exlaimed, "Then not only my feet, but my hands and head as well!" 

     Jesus indicated that if a person has bathed, they are already clean but need only wash their feet (it is critical to remember this culture wore sandals and walked on very dusty paths), but that not all of them were clean.

     When He had finished, He put the towel aside and donned His cloak once more, taking His place at the table. He asked His disciples if they understood what He had done. He told them, "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 should wash one another's feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you." He went on to say that they were blessed if they not only understood these things, but did them. He mentioned that He did not say this to all of them, for one among them must fulfill the Scripture, "He who has eaten my bread has lifted up his heel against me," and informed them that He was telling them these things now so that when the events occurred, the disciples would believe that He was who He said He was. He also let them know that the one who receives Him also receives the One who sent Him.  

     After He had spoken thus, He became troubled and told the men that one of them would betray Him. The disciples were confused and looked around, wondering. Peter indicated to John that he should ask the Lord who it was since John was beside Jesus. John leaned against his Teacher and asked, "Who is it, Lord?"

     Jesus replied that it was the one to whom He would give a bit of bread after He had dipped it in the common dish. He then dipped the bread and gave it to Judas Iscariot. 

 

     

     There is so much here that both makes me love my Lord all the more and humbles me as I see how far removed I am from giving His undiluted, unreasonable love. The part that has stood out to me the most in the past few days is this: That He knew all things were given to Him before He stooped to fulfill the role of a menial servant, washing the grime and sweat from the feet of twelve men. So far was He from yielding to His flesh that the knowledge of His authority and ownership of all things--all things!--did not puff Him with pride and an inflated sense of dignity. He did not preside over the meal with the air of a ruler or emperor. He did not even assert His authority, calling for a servant to do the required hospitable washing. No, instead He recognized His absolute authority and power and then knelt in the dust, putting aside His outer garment and taking up the attire of a slave, doing a slave's humble and degrading work. Here is the perfect example of strength contained, of incredible potential and dominion submitted utterly to the will of the Father. 

     Here, too, is unmitigated love; an active love of deeds done not to those who are worthy and lovely nor to those who related to Him, but to twelve men who had only a paltry grasp of Who it was they followed. Not only that, but a labor of love performed on the one who would soon betray Him to a brutal, excruciating torture and death. He knew all this, and yet He did not skip over that one man but washed his feet along with the rest. He did not love Judas less for the suffering he would cause Jesus; rather He was very likely for the endless suffering Judas would cause himself by his betrayal.

     Jesus puts here a picture of what I am not, but of what I would like to be for His sake. Given all authority, would I deign to serve others? Given the knowledge of my enemies, would I love them the same as I love my friends? The answer is simply and shamefully no. In my own nature and my own little strength, I would fail. However, I have something greater than myself to fall back on. I have Jesus. In Him, I can do all things including loving my enemies. Apart from Him, I can do nothing. He is the Vine, the source of all things good, perfect and pure that are found in me. In Him, in His life flowing through me, deeds of love and surrender are accomplished. Apart from Him, I am withered, dry, useless--full of decay and rot. And so my greatest and most intense desire is to never dwell apart from Him.

     There is also a challenge for us here. He has set us an example that we should do just as He did for these men. We do not need to save our love for those who understand us and love us back. Love is for giving, and we are called to give to the extreme, even to those who hate and revile us. We love them anyway, not because we are so wonderful, but because our King is worthy of these small acts of obedient love. He tells us that once we understand these things, we are blessed if we do them. Let us not do them for the sake of the blessing, however, but because we so adore and admire our Lord that we long to identify ourselves with Him--even if it means stooping below our station and laying aside our fine clothes to kneel in the muck and actively love others, even when they do not love us back.