It's considered one of the Bible's most righteous acts of humility. To people outside the Church, washing someone else's feet could be viewed as humiliating. That's not what Jesus thought. Whenever He did anything, it had a purpose and usually more than one important reason. Washing His disciples' feet (including Judas') was a remarkable act of self-awareness and selflessness. Jesus washed the disciples' feet to model humility, spiritual cleansing, and unconditional love. He set an example of servitude and prepared them for His ultimate sacrifice on the cross.
Jesus Teaches Through Servanthood
In John 13, Jesus stopped eating and started serving during the Last Supper before He went to the Cross. This man, their teacher and friend, removed a towel wrapped around Him and filled a basin with water. Everyone in the room seemed to know what was coming. Naturally, Peter, who seemed to always need a nudge in the right direction, asked the obvious question and received a revelatory answer.
Then He came to Simon Peter. And Peter said to Him, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I am doing, you do not understand now, but you will know after this.
Peter said to Him, "You shall never wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you." John 13:6-10 NKJV
Humility as a Path to Service
Washing feet wasn't a novel act. These were men who walked with open sandals in a desert. They weren't sitting at fancy dining room tables when they gathered to eat. They sat on a dusty floor, so having clean feet was the least they could do around the food. Yet, it was a servant's job to clean off the feet of an upper-class homeowner. Peter knew this, which is why he spoke up to Jesus.
Jesus wanted to welcome His guests during dinner. Washing someone's feet was a customary practice of literal hospitality and a Christ-like practice of spiritual purification. Peter missed that piece.
A Symbol of Spiritual Cleansing
In Peter's mind, Jesus was the "upper-class" person in the house. Peter was His servant, so offering to wash the Savior's feet was what should have happened—at least to Peter. "You shall never wash my feet, Lord." Peter didn't understand that Jesus had done that for Peter every day since they met. Nonetheless, he insisted Jesus may have gotten this tradition wrong.
Jesus' truth was in His service to others despite leading and teaching the disciples and the masses. Then, something peculiar happened. Peter understood Jesus' act, so he begged for more. "Well, since you're washing my feet, can you get my head and hands too, Lord?" During this intimate moment between people–master to servant, Lord to student, parent to child–Jesus wanted to teach one more lesson.
There is no class or creed, young or old, status or stature of person that Jesus can't roll up His sleeves in this world to bless. Jesus washed their feet to show them how they should wash everyone else's with their actions and words. The key was humility; however, both parties must exhibit it to partake. Without it, how can either party appreciate the act and the heart behind it?
The Lower Service
In the message, we learned that all had "bathed," and they were "all clean" but one, Judas. Bathed people must wash their feet after walking miles daily amid a foray of dust and grime. Then, Jesus makes the point to say the greatest of these should serve the least of these (Matthew 25:40) because the action shouldn't be seen as stooping to their level but rather reaching down and lifting the rest.
This was reiterated in John 13, a moment Jesus used to underscore the need for us to become living epistles (2 Corinthians 3:2-3).
So, when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet."
"For I gave you an example that you should also do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them." John 13:12-17 NIV
What was Jesus trying to teach His disciples by taking the position of a lowly house servant? He washed their feet, which is not what the head of the house or the master of all would do.
What good does it do the Lord to ask someone to do something He wasn't willing to do Himself? If the Son of God is not going to take the place of someone else before a meal, how will he replace the position of all humanity on the Cross? The lesson was I am more than a Master; I am a servant. Take that position in your heart and serve everyone. Forget tradition. Ignore customs. Do what is right and put everyone on the same level because that is what Jesus did.
The Higher Standard
There were 12 disciples in the room, including that one elephant everyone chose to ignore. What did Jesus mean when he addressed everyone in the room?
Jesus said to [Peter], "He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet but is completely clean, and you are clean, but not all of you. For He knew who would betray Him; therefore, He said, "You are not all clean." John 3:10-11 NKJV
Was He saying someone here is less clean than the rest? Surely, a few of the disciples knew they were doing good by Jesus and honoring a solid example as Christ. But "not all of you."
The Deeper Meaning: Washed by Christ's Sacrifice
As we would later learn, Judas was identified as the betrayer of Christ (John 13:26-29). Yet, Jesus washed his feet, too. That was the first lesson: Treat everyone the same. The Bible says there is no partiality with God (Romans 2:11). Jesus was living that example in front of his closest friends and followers before that scripture was considered.
People will lie to your face, turn you around with their words, and stab you in the back. Even still, wash their feet. No one is beyond the touch of the Lord. If you don't do it with a basin of water and a damp cloth, find other ways to serve people. Dedicate those actions to the Lord and pray Jesus blesses them through your service.
"Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." (John 13:8 NIV)
That leads us to the second blessing of Jesus' standard–we aren't washed by water but by the shed blood of Christ. The washing of feet was an allegory that took His followers forward past the Via Dolorosa and up to Golgotha's hill. The crucifixion was the ultimate action of service, and that washed us all. That's why we should look back at Jesus' words to Peter and emphasize where it belongs.
Most Christians read John 13:11 like this: "For He knew who would betray Him; therefore, He said, "You are not all clean." Jesus is pointing someone out in this room. As disciples, they'll figure it out eventually. So, they go on living the good life, walking alongside Jesus. But change the emphasis, which may be the way Jesus needs us to read this verse.
"For He knew who would betray Him; therefore, He said, "You are not all clean."
You think your good work is your reward, and you believe your kind words bless you. But you're not quite where you think you are in God's graces. There is another task that will make you "all clean." Following the Passover meal and past Jesus' walking out of the borrowed man's tomb, we must accept that He washed all of us in His blood. That single act made us all clean.
Now, go wash others.
