Need A Dip or a Bath?

³ Jesus knew that the Father had given him power over everything and that he had come from God and was going back to God. ⁴ So during the meal Jesus stood up and took off his outer clothing. Taking a towel, he wrapped it around his waist. ⁵ Then he poured water into a bowl and began to wash the followers’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
⁶ Jesus came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
⁷ Jesus answered, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but you will understand later.”
⁸ Peter said, “No, you will never wash my feet.”
Jesus answered, “If I don’t wash your feet, you are not one of my people.”
⁹ Simon Peter answered, “Lord, then wash not only my feet, but wash my hands and my head, too!”
¹⁰ Jesus said, “After a person has had a bath, his whole body is clean. He needs only to wash his feet. And you men are clean, but not all of you.” ¹¹ Jesus knew who would turn against him, and that is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
John 13:3-11 

I was talking with some friends the other day and we began reminiscing about our childhoods, when one of the guys asked us if any of us had taken that washtub bath on the back porch.  We all laughed and said we had done that.  Then he told us the rule in his family was the oldest child got first bath and then the next oldest and so on down the line.  He said he was the youngest of 6 children so he always got the last bath.  He said he was fortunate that hot water was added regularly and the old water was dumped out regularly as well.  He said, "I knew my brothers and I knew they were not the cleanest people in the world, so when I got last bath....there was no telling what would be in that water."

 

Picture the scene....the Disciples are with Jesus in the room where they were to begin the Feast of the Unleavened Bread.  Jesus gets us, removes his outer clothing, pours water into a basin, takes a towel and begins washing the feet of His Disciples.  Going from one to the next, changing out the water as needed (look at the feet above and you'll have an inkling of what Jesus was handling).

Jesus goes from Disciple to Disciple and even washes the feet of Judas, who was about to betray Him, and then Jesus comes to Peter.  Ah Peter, that Disciple who tried so hard but seemed to be too stubborn to change.  Jesus knelt before Peter, as a servant, with the basin of water and towel, reached for Peter's feet and then Peter's stubbornness kicks in.  He tells Jesus, "YOU will never wash my feet." 

On the surface, we might say Peter could not bear to see the Savior doing such a menial task, and we might agree with Peter's response.  But Jesus tells Peter, "If I don't wash your feet, you are not one of My people."  Which smacks Peter between the eyes!  Peter's response is typical of his overreacting personality when he tells Jesus to wash him completely.  I can almost hear Jesus chuckle when he reminds Peter, "After a person has had a bath, the whole body is clean, he only needs to wash his feet."

Jesus tells Peter, in the hearing of the other Disciples, "And you men are clean, but not all of you."  Why? Because Jesus knew Judas was about to earn his thirty pieces of silver.  

 Psalm 51:10: "Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me."  

Father, 

Clean us inside and out from all that keeps us from You!

Yuck, A Basin, And A Man!

 So Jesus got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin. Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.

John 13:4-5

 

Have you ever wondered why foot washing was such a big deal?  Think about this, during Jesus' time, sandals were the fashion footwear.  In fact, sandals were pretty much all one had to wear unless they were extremely wealthy.  Most people simply went barefoot.  

 

Now....keeping that in mind, you would be sharing the streets with animals (because there were no "Critter Only Lanes" during this time).  And animals aren't exactly thoughtful as to where they do their business.  Also, don't forget that farmers would be taking their produce to market, so if they discovered some that was rotten, they would simply drop it in the roadway. Not to mention there were no rest areas along the Roman roads like we have now.  So let's just agree that lots of compostables were in the roadway to be stepped on as people walked to their destinations. 

 

Thus, washing of the feet was a necessity and a courtesy when entering a dwelling.  But because it was such an unsanitary task, who would do it?  Well, only the lowest of the servants would have such a task, they would be Nose-to-Toes with the road slime washing it away with their hands and a towel.  I don't know about you, but I have smelled some pretty foul things (and people), but that didn't make me want to touch them, much less wash them up close and personally.   

 

Consider the fact that Jesus, the ONLY Son of God our Creator, not only came into this world via a barn, but made Himself so low that He went Nose-to-Toes with the feet of the Disciples to show them that NO task was beneath them.  The same hands that healed the sick, fed the hungry, wiped away tears, lifted an adulterous woman into forgiveness, now held the nasty feet of the Disciples so they would be clean.

 

I'll be honest, not much impresses me less than seeing some high and mighty figure pretend "humility" by washing someone's relatively sanitized feet for the camera and for free publicity.  They forget that Jesus washed the Disciple's feet in the privacy of the upper room, and there was no fanfare, there were no camera crews filming it, no one posted it to FaceBook, not a single Tweet was sent about it!  

 

No, Jesus simply got up, disrobed, wrapped a towel around His waist, and started washing. If we "minister" to others simply for the politics or the publicity...it's not true ministry!  It's not true caring!  It's nothing but a LIE!

 

We are called to minister to others, not to be seen, but to reflect Christ within us.