“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.”
John 13:3-5 (ESV)
The following is written by John Bloom, Executive Director of Desiring God.
Peter had grown used to Jesus doing and saying unpredictable things. But what Jesus was doing now was wrong. He was the last person in the room who should be washing feet.
All of Peter's life he had been taught that feet were dishonorable members of the body. They were usually dirty, frequently smelly, and among the most likely members to come in contact with things that the Law declared unclean.
Outside of immediate family, feet were washed by slaves and servants - ideally non-Jews so as not to subject any of the Covenant People to such humiliation.
And one certainly was never to insult an honored person by pointing one's feet at them.
But here was the Messiah, the most honored Jew to ever walk the earth, stripped like a common slave with a towel around his waist willingly handling the unclean feet of his disciples. This was backwards. If anything, Peter should be down there washing Jesus' feet.
John Bloom explains to us what washing feet meant in the Jewish culture that Jesus lived in. We see just a glimpse of what Jesus was willing to do for the twelve disciples that night. Jesus was still yet to complete his final act of service however. Jesus life of service would soon culminate at the cross.
How can we be servants in our day to day lives? C.S. Lewis once said “Humility is not thinking less of yourself; it is thinking of yourself less.” I think C.S. Lewis knew the key to being a servant. Let us think this week about how we can look past ourselves and serve others.
- Matt Simmonds
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