Jesus Washes His Disciples Feet

Intro

St Augustine once said in the fifth century:

“If you should ask me what the first thing is in religion, I should reply that the first, second and third thing therein is humility.”

Augustine here is eloquently describing the center of the Christian faith that Jesus has delivered to us, and the text that we have in front of us is one of the best that we have to help explain why.

Here we enter into what is commonly called the “upper room discourse.” The gospel of John gives us by far the most detailed account of what happened in the upper room during his last supper with his disciples. And here at the beginning of the upper room discourse we see an eye-opening scene which will reveal three things to us about our faith:

Jesus love his people with humility.

Jesus cleanses those whom he loves.

Jesus has given us his love as an example to follow.

Jesus loves his people with humility

John 13:1 ESV

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

As John sets the stage for what is about to unfold in this upper room, he makes it clear that the controlling theme of all that takes place is the love that Jesus has for his people. Whatever else we might learn through this text (and there is plenty to learn) we must understand it all through the lens of Jesus loving his people.

We find it to be true that important themes tend to present themselves in more urgent ways when the end is coming. Deadlines tend to produce the greatest periods of focus, and impending death tends to produce much more intentional ways of speaking and living. Jesus, knowing that his time had come to depart out of the world, sets in front of his disciples what he considered to be of the utmost importance to them. While he has walked with them, lived with them, and taught them many important things, what occurs here at the end presents itself as being of the highest importance.

And what is this thing of highest importance? Well, just as Jesus has loved his people in the world, so now he will love them to the end. The love that Jesus has for his people is what dominates his entire ministry, but especially here at the end.

So it is the love that Jesus has for his people which we are primarily learning about here: and what do we learn about that love? What is the love of Jesus like for those whom he loves? Let us read and learn:

John 13:2–4 ESV

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 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.

Jesus here, during the supper that they are eating, does something incredibly strange and startling in his disciples eyes. Compelled by the understanding that Jesus had been given a mission from God, and that he was soon going back to God, he stands up from the table. As he stands up, he begins to take off his outer garments, and he takes a towel and ties it around his waist. This is significant. During supper, as the Teacher and Honored One, Jesus would have enjoyed a seat of honor. But as he gets up from the seat of honor, he makes himself look like a servant would look. He gets down to his “work clothes” we might say, and in the form of a servant, prepares for work with the towel. He continues

John 13:5 ESV

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.

In doing this, Jesus has positioned himself in the most humiliating position one could imagine at a supper like this.

You see, the act of washing feet would have been a normal thing at many feasts like this. The Jewish culture was one that cared very much about cleanliness. As the guests would arrive at a dinner, however, they would have been walking in dirty, sandy roads with sandals on. As a result, they would come to the feast with dirty feet and it would be customary for the host to provide someone to wash the feet of his guests. However, the host would not be the one washing the feet, and certainly the guest of honor would never be expected to wash the feet of the other guests! In fact, not even Jewish slaves were expected to perform this lowly task; this was a job reserved for pagan slaves in almost every case. This was viewed as one of the dirtiest, lowliest, most humiliating tasks in Hebrew culture and as such was a task given to those who were viewed as the lowest and dirtiest in society.

You can imagine the shock of the disciples, then, when Jesus prepares himself to wash their feet. Here Jesus is not only their teacher and master, but they have confessed to believe that he is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. There is nobody who has ever lived who deserved more honor and glory than this Jesus who they have given their lives to. For him to begin washing feet is something that is incomprehensible and wildly uncomfortable for them.

This is why Peter responds the way that he does in verse 6

John 13:6 ESV

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?”

Understanding the response, Jesus replies,

John 13:7 “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.”

And this should have been the end of the matter. Jesus recognizes that what he is doing doesn’t make any sense to them in the moment, but it will soon make a lot of sense. Therefore Peter just has to trust him right now. Of course, Peter takes a little bit too long to get it and he responds once more:

John 13:8 “Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.””

You see, what Jesus is doing here is about more than just washing feet. While this was an incredible act of humility and service in itself, it only meant to foreshadow something much greater which was going to happen very soon. Jesus is helping them to see the great humility and sacrifice with which he will love them on the next day, Good Friday. He is getting them ready to grapple with the fact that the Son of God, the Christ, would willingly suffer a cursed death on a cross for the sake of the world. Remember, up until now, the disciples have no idea what is about to unfold over the next several days. They don’t really understand yet that Jesus is going to actually suffer and die; in showing this humility and sacrifice, Jesus is beginning to prepare them to go through everything that is about to happen.

Jesus also knows that it is going to be incredibly difficult for these disciples to accept that the Christ would stoop so low in loving service for his people.

Commentator Richard Phillips says of this text: “If Peter was not willing to allow Jesus the partial humiliation of washing his feet, how was he to embrace the full and complete humiliation that would be Jesus’ agonizing death on the cross the very next day?

You see, Peter needed to be able to accept the sacrificial love of Jesus, and most importantly he needed to be able to appreciate the magnitude of the events leading up to the crucifixion over the next several hours.

I would like for us then to take a moment to consider for ourselves the magnitude of Jesus’ love and sacrifice for us.

Illustrate: Can you imagine, for example, if you found yourself at a dinner with someone who is a highly honored and esteemed individual.

What if, after supper, the guest got up, rolled up his sleeves, and starting clearing the table, doing the dishes, and taking out the trash? Would that not seem incredibly strange, and even uncomfortable? Would you not try to stop him, and insist upon doing it yourself?

Apply: But here Jesus teaches us something very important about himself and the love that he has for his people: that his love is filled with humility and sacrifice.

Do you realize that Jesus Christ, the almighty Son of God, who from before the beginning has dwelt in inapproachable light and has been seated in inexpressible glory, willingly took upon himself crushing humility for your sake? Have you stopped recently just to appreciate the amazing love of Jesus, who gave up even his own self for your sake?

Are you able to accept that sacrifice? Are you like Peter was at first, uncomfortable accepting so great a gift at no cost to yourself? Does it make you feel uncomfortable that such an amazing God would make himself so dirty, so humiliated, so crushed to accomplish your salvation, and then freely offer it to you through faith in him?

If this makes you uncomfortable, I understand. But recognize that unless you can accept this gift from God, you have no share with Christ. You must accept that sacrificial offering of Christ for your sake, for this is the only way of salvation.

And when you can accept this humble love from Jesus, you will come to see another thing that Peter learns here in the conversation: that Jesus cleanses those whom he loves.

Jesus cleanses those whom he loves

State:

Notice the gravity of Jesus’ words in verse 8:

John 13:8 “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.”

Do you see that left to ourselves, by our sinful nature, we are spiritually unclean and have no share with God. That word “share” can be thought of in terms of inheritance or future blessing. In other words, if Christ does not sacrificially cleanse us, we have no future with God, no hope for life, no part with him at all. This is no small matter, but is of the highest and most serious concern.

It makes sense then what Peter says next in response:

John 13:9 “Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!””

Having heard how serious the matter is, Peter doesn’t want to leave anything to chance, but begs Jesus to wash his entire body if its the only way to have a share with him!

It is Jesus’ next response that I want to take some time to examine on this point.

John 13:10 ESV

Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.”

This seems to be a strange saying, and we have to read a bit into the metaphor to understand what Jesus is saying here. Initially, when Peter refuses the footwashing from Jesus, Jesus shows him that this is about more than washing feet: it is about receiving the cleansing that can only come from Jesus. Jesus then tells the excited Peter that he doesn’t need his whole body washed, but only his feet, because he has already bathed and is clean. What could he mean?

I believe that Jesus is speaking about two different kinds of washing here: there is the bathing which is responsible for cleaning the whole body, and there is the footwashing which is responsible for cleaning the feet of the bathed person after travelling in the road.

The first kind of washing, the bathing of the entire body, is referring to our justification by faith in Jesus. When Jesus tells Peter that he has already bathed and is clean, it is because Peter has earlier professed faith in Jesus Christ and has been cleansed of his sin as a result. Therefore Peter is “already clean.”

And yet Jesus shows the need for the other kind of washing, the washing of the feet. This washing is referring to our continued dependence upon Jesus Christ to cleanse remaining sin from within us. We recognize as Christians that even after Jesus Christ cleanses us of our sin through faith in him, we continue to struggle against sin as we live in this world. In this sense, we might say that our feet still get dirty as we walk through this world. Commenting on this passage, John Calvin states,

Commentary on the Gospel according to John Chapter 13

What is here spoken of is not the forgiveness of sins, but the renewal, by which Christ, by gradual and uninterrupted succession, delivers his followers entirely from the sinful desires of the flesh.

So we see that Christ is responsible for two kinds of cleansings for those whom he loves.

First, there is the bathing, or the cleansing of the whole body. This happens as soon as we come to faith in Christ: the entire person is washed by the blood of Christ, and we are made truly clean in the presence of God. This becomes our new identity and status in God’s sight — all those who believe are made truly clean.

And yet, even though we have no more need for bathing, we continue to have need of Jesus to kill the sin that remains in our flesh. This washing is different from the entire bathing in his blood that happens at first, but is no less important for our daily walk with Jesus

Apply:

This brings what I find to be a very important point of application. It can sometimes be confusing in the walk of a Christian whether we only need to ask for forgiveness once, or if we need to continually ask for forgiveness every time we sin. I hope that this is a passage which helps us to clear up some of that confusion.

For us today, we can know one thing for certain: if our trust is in Jesus Christ, then all of our sins, past present and future, are all forgiven in Christ’s name. This is not a forgiveness that needs to be applied to us every single day. It is not as though every time we ask for forgiveness we are cleansed by Christ’s blood, but then the next time we sin our salvation is lost. We are truly washed and forgiven the very moment that we put our faith in Christ.

Yet as we continue to sin, we must confess our sins to God and be reminded of the forgiveness that has already been declared to us. What’s more, we must continue to run to the fountain of mercy so that we can find strength to help us in our weakness.

What is most important for us to understand is that both of these cleansings come to us only through the love of Jesus Christ. It was in love for you that he spilled his blood to cleanse you from sin. It is in love for you that he continues to provide you with strength to put your sin to death each and every day. Christ cleanses the ones that he loves, which is wonderful news for a sinful people like ourselves.

And this wonderful news isn’t something that is meant to be merely internalized, but put into action as well. This brings us to our last point: Jesus gave us his love as an example for us to follow.

Jesus gave us his love as an example to follow

State:

John 13:12–16 ESV

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? 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 ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

It is important that Jesus specifies here that he has given us an example to follow. For we cannot always assume that everything Jesus does carries with it an implicit command for us to do likewise, but here we have the direct command to treat Christ’s conduct as an example.

Therefore, when we consider the way that Jesus has loved his people, we must not only consider how we benefit from his love, but also how we are supposed to display that love to others.

So it is wonderfully true that Jesus Christ has loved us sacrificially and humbly, and that this has cleansed us from our filth in sin.

It is also true that we are now being called to love other people in the same way. This is an incredibly important part of the Christian life, and in fact many have called it THE central tenet of the Christian ethic.

This means that in the Christian life, the ordinary human social hierarchy is flipped on its head. It means that we are all servants of one another, no matter how far one advances. There is no caste system, and there are no tiers within Christianity.

When we consider that our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God himself, humbled himself so drastically — how are any of us able to consider any act of service beneath us?

It has been said before that there truly cannot be any act of humility which can compare to Christ’s humility. That God would become man to suffer and die is unique and in a class of its own. Even if I was able to make myself an ant to be stepped on for the benefit of another, my level of sacrifice would not even come close to the Son of God taking on flesh and suffering a cursed death.

Therefore, let us consider how we can serve one another with humility and love. Let us consider that nothing is beneath us, but that we can and should happily serve in whatever way we are able to.

For our Lord has humbled himself to the point of death that he would save us and cleanse us, and I assure you that we are no greater than our Lord Jesus. If we are not greater than him then, and he displayed love through the ultimate act of humble sacrifice, let us also love one another in the same way.

The Lords Supper

This feast has been passed down through generations from Jesus himself to spiritually nurture his people. As we come to the table, we are reminded of the price that Jesus paid to save us from sin and make us his people. As we partake, we not only acknowledge and confess that Jesus is our savior, but we are also spiritually nourished here as God’s beloved people.

If you do in fact confess faith in Jesus Christ, if you’ve marked that confession with baptism, and if you’re a member of a gospel preaching church, then Jesus bids you come and feast and be strengthened. If that isn’t you, then please refrain for now.

For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread, 24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body, which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” 25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.” 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes. 

The night he was betrayed Jesus took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to his disciples, saying, “this is my body which is for you, take and eat”

In the same way after supper he took the cup and having given thanks he gave it to his disciples saying, “this. Up is the new covenant in my blood, which is shed for the forgiveness of sins. Drink it, all of you.”

Numbers 6:24–26 (ESV): 

The Lord bless you and keep you; 

25  the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; 

26  the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.