28th March 2024
The great unwashed
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
John 13:6-7 (NIV)
If you lived in the Holy Land at the time of Jesus, and you were invited to eat a meal at someone’s home, it would be usual to have your feet washed as you arrived. Yet here in John’s account of the event, the disciples must have been surprised when someone wanted to wash their feet right in the middle of the meal! Particularly when that someone was no less a person than Jesus! As usual, Peter was the one to vocalise his discomfort, but I am sure the other disciples were thinking what he was saying.
Yet from Jesus’ response, we can see that not only did he expect that reaction, he counted on it. He had some important lessons to teach his disciples and he thought long and hard about how best to get the message across. So what can we learn from John chapter 13 all these years later? Well there are three lessons I would like to bring out of the passage.
Jesus is our servant. Some 2,000 years later, we Christians are very familiar with this concept. We sing about it in hymns. We read about it in scriptures like Mark 10:45. Jesus served his disciples and he serves us today. He served the whole world by dying so that the whole world could be clean. And when he returns, he will still serve. His nature didn’t change after he was resurrected.
Jesus is our master. Yes, Jesus serves us, but there’s another side to this; he expects us to emulate him – we ourselves have to become servants (John 13:14-15). Which idea are you most uncomfortable with, that Jesus is your servant, or that you yourself must be a servant to others? What this passage tells us is that if we are not willing to serve Jesus and our fellow humans, we have no part with him. We are not and cannot be his followers. But if we are willing, he promises to bless us (v.17).
Most of all, Jesus is love. When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet it didn’t just demonstrate his love for them, it symbolised his love for the whole world. The next day, he went on to prove that love by going to the cross for the whole world (John 3:16). As our servant, Jesus figuratively washes everyone’s feet. As the Son of God, Jesus washes all of humanity completely clean. Even though we are the great unwashed, sinners to a man (and woman), Jesus has already done everything everyone needs to be reconciled with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
How should we respond? In the words of Graham Kendrick’s beautiful hymn, The Servant King, ‘So let us learn how to serve, and in our lives enthrone Him. Each other’s needs to prefer, for it is Christ we’re serving’.
Prayer
Heavenly Father, thank you for your Son, the servant King. Help us to serve him by being his eyes and ears, mind and mouth, arms and legs, as we go out in his power to serve the world. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Peter Mill
About the writer:
Peter Mill is a minister in Grace Communion International and Co-Regional Pastor for Scotland, Ireland, and Northern England.
Local congregation:
Grace Communion International Central Glasgow
Garnethill Room
Conference Suite
St Andrews West
260 Bath Street
Glasgow
G2 4JP
Meeting time:
Sunday 11:15 am
Local congregational contact:
Peter Mill
Email: edinburgh@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church