The Word This Week
John 13:1…
Jesus makes Himself the ultimate example of humility.
He did not consider it robbery to make Himself equal with God. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Now, on the evening prior to His crucifixion - which was intended to be as inglorious a death as possible - He takes His disciples into a private place to demonstrate one last object lesson.
Jesus removes His outer garments and takes up a basin and a towel, and He begins to wash His disciples’ feet.
The modern Church has sort of glorified Jesus’ actions here, fashioning ‘foot-washing’ services to commemorate what Jesus did. It never comes close to what Jesus was actually demonstrating.
It is difficult for us to replicate God incarnate taking the position of the lowest house slave – which is what Jesus did. His actions were not necessarily meant to be copied, (although the symbolism can be powerful in the right circumstances with hearts aligned properly.) His actions were meant to pre-figure the humility of the degradation He would submit Himself to on the very next morning, and what would be accomplished by it.
From our side of the equation – that we CAN accomplish – is to allow Jesus to wash our feet, which Peter initially resisted. Peter thought it was shameful for the Lord to wash his feet. Again, Jesus was making an important point: His followers will be ‘clean’ even as they continue to walk in this world. But, the physical parts that do come into ‘contact’ with the world will need to be cleansed by Jesus regularly. Those who refuse His ‘cleansing’ as being beneath His dignity have completely misunderstood all Jesus has come to accomplish in His followers’ lives.
It is a prideful thing to resist the work of Christ which He desires to accomplish to remove the ingredients of the world from His followers’ ‘feet.’
We also see here it is an unnecessary and perhaps even boastful thing to sense the need to be washed entirely again once we have been ‘washed’ by His finished work on the cross.
And - we see Jesus says WE are to do likewise to what He has done here. We are to be constantly washing each other’s feet from their contact with the world by His Word, and by prayer. To accomplish this wea must be close enough to one another to be aware of whatever need may exist in each of our lives.
Pastor Bill
Jesus makes Himself the ultimate example of humility.
He did not consider it robbery to make Himself equal with God. He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
Now, on the evening prior to His crucifixion - which was intended to be as inglorious a death as possible - He takes His disciples into a private place to demonstrate one last object lesson.
Jesus removes His outer garments and takes up a basin and a towel, and He begins to wash His disciples’ feet.
The modern Church has sort of glorified Jesus’ actions here, fashioning ‘foot-washing’ services to commemorate what Jesus did. It never comes close to what Jesus was actually demonstrating.
It is difficult for us to replicate God incarnate taking the position of the lowest house slave – which is what Jesus did. His actions were not necessarily meant to be copied, (although the symbolism can be powerful in the right circumstances with hearts aligned properly.) His actions were meant to pre-figure the humility of the degradation He would submit Himself to on the very next morning, and what would be accomplished by it.
From our side of the equation – that we CAN accomplish – is to allow Jesus to wash our feet, which Peter initially resisted. Peter thought it was shameful for the Lord to wash his feet. Again, Jesus was making an important point: His followers will be ‘clean’ even as they continue to walk in this world. But, the physical parts that do come into ‘contact’ with the world will need to be cleansed by Jesus regularly. Those who refuse His ‘cleansing’ as being beneath His dignity have completely misunderstood all Jesus has come to accomplish in His followers’ lives.
It is a prideful thing to resist the work of Christ which He desires to accomplish to remove the ingredients of the world from His followers’ ‘feet.’
We also see here it is an unnecessary and perhaps even boastful thing to sense the need to be washed entirely again once we have been ‘washed’ by His finished work on the cross.
And - we see Jesus says WE are to do likewise to what He has done here. We are to be constantly washing each other’s feet from their contact with the world by His Word, and by prayer. To accomplish this wea must be close enough to one another to be aware of whatever need may exist in each of our lives.
Pastor Bill