Let Him Wash Your Feet

Every home has a job nobody wants, like scrubbing the toilet. Most of us quietly hope someone else will do it.

On the night before he died, Jesus did the worst job in the room. Then one of his closest friends told him no.

The story comes from John, one of four books in the Bible that tell the life of Jesus. These books are called Gospels. Gospel means good news.

It was the time of Passover, a yearly feast when Jewish families remembered how God freed their people from slavery in Egypt. Jesus was in Jerusalem, the capital city, eating supper with his twelve disciples. A disciple is a learner who follows a teacher. Jesus knew his time to leave this world had come (John 13:1). Within a day he would die on a cross. The Romans, who ruled the land, killed the worst criminals by nailing them to a wooden cross.

People walked dusty roads in open sandals, so a host would offer water for guests' feet (Luke 7:44). The washing itself was a servant's work.

That night, Judas, one of the twelve, had already decided to betray Jesus, which means to hand him over to his enemies (John 13:2). And Luke's Gospel says the disciples argued at that supper about which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24).

Nobody in that room was reaching for the towel.

1. He knew he had all power, so he picked up a towel

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. 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.

John 13:3-5

"The Father" is how Jesus spoke of God. Jesus knew everything was in his hands, and he used those hands to wash feet. He had nothing to prove, so he was free to do the lowest job.

How low was it? Long before, a wise woman named Abigail heard that David, who later became Israel's most famous king, wanted to marry her. She answered:

Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.

1 Samuel 25:41

"Behold" means look, and a handmaid is a female servant. Abigail was saying she would gladly take the lowest place there is. To show how low she would go, she named one job: washing the feet of servants.

The towel was also an early picture of the cross. John wrote in Greek. His words for Jesus laying aside his robe, and for taking it again afterwards (John 13:12), are the same words Jesus used about his life: "I lay down my life that I may take it up again" (John 10:17). He would soon die, and rise again.

Paul was an early leader among Christians, the people who follow Jesus. He described how far Jesus came down:

But emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

Philippians 2:7-8

Jesus did not stop being God. He let go of the honour that was his and became a servant, all the way to death. Paul wrote this to urge Christians to stop putting themselves first (Philippians 2:3-4), like the disciples at that supper.

2. Saying no to Jesus is not humble

Jesus came to Peter, a fisherman and one of the first disciples he called (Mark 1:16-18). Peter was shocked: "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus said he would understand later (John 13:6-7). Peter still refused.

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."

John 13:8

Peter's no sounds respectful. He means, "You are too great to touch my dirty feet." But it is still Peter deciding what Jesus is allowed to do for him.

"No share with me" means no part in Jesus and no place with him. Nobody loses that over a foot bath. So Jesus means a deeper washing, one only he can do.

Hundreds of years earlier, God spoke through Jeremiah, a prophet, someone who carries God's message to people. His listeners had turned from God, yet claimed they were clean:

Though you wash yourself with lye and use much soap, the stain of your guilt is still before me, declares the Lord GOD.

Jeremiah 2:22

Lye is a harsh, strong cleaner. Guilt is the wrong we have done, still counted against us. No soap can reach it. Think of an ink stain on a white school shirt that stays however hard you scrub.

So God made a promise through Ezekiel, another prophet. He spoke after enemies had destroyed his people's city and carried them far from home:

I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean from all your uncleannesses, and from all your idols I will cleanse you.

Ezekiel 36:25

Idols were statues people worshipped instead of God. Notice who does the washing: "I will." God promised to clean his people himself, because they could not do it.

In that room, the one who keeps that promise was kneeling in front of Peter. Refusing him meant turning down the washing God had promised. In everyday life, being washed starts with a hard sentence: "I cannot fix this myself."

3. Clean, but your feet still get dirty

Then Peter swung the other way. Wash my hands and my head too, he said (John 13:9). Jesus answered:

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.

John 13:10

Picture a guest who bathed at home before dinner. On the walk over, only his feet got dusty. He needs those washed, not another bath.

Jesus meant more than water. John explains that "not every one of you" was about Judas (John 13:11). His feet had just been washed, yet he was not clean. So clean here means clean before God, on the inside.

The rest of the Bible explains the bath. It is complete:

For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified.

Hebrews 10:14

Hebrews is a letter to early Christians who knew the temple in Jerusalem, where animals were killed and offered to God again and again. The single offering is Jesus' death, which never needs repeating. "Perfected for all time" means made fully right with God, for good. "Being sanctified" means slowly becoming more like Jesus. That is the bath.

But we still walk through a dusty world. We snap at our family, lie to get out of trouble, and think unkind things. That is the feet. A short letter called 1 John says what to do with it:

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

1 John 1:9

Sin is anything we think, say, or do that goes against God. To confess means to say plainly what you did wrong, with no excuses. Faithful means God keeps his word. Just means fair, and it is fair for God to forgive because Jesus already paid for these sins.

You do not need to be saved all over again each time you fail. You bring your dusty feet back to the same Jesus.

4. Now do it for each other

When he had finished, Jesus sat down again and explained:

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.

John 13:14-15

"Lord" means master. If the master did the servant's job, no follower is too important for it. And Jesus did not mean only feet. Later that night he said, "Just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another" (John 13:34).

One way to wash feet is to help each other with our daily dirt. Paul wrote to churches in Galatia, a region in what is now Turkey:

Brothers, if anyone is caught in any transgression, you who are spiritual should restore him in a spirit of gentleness.

Galatians 6:1

A transgression is a wrong, a line someone crossed. "You who are spiritual" means people led by God's Spirit, God himself living in his people. To restore is to help someone back to where they belong. When a friend messes up, do not spread the story. Help them get clean, gently.

But here is the hard part. Jesus washed Judas's feet too. Then he quoted a song by David from the Bible's book of Psalms (John 13:18):

Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.

Psalm 41:9

David was describing a friend who turned on him. Lifting the heel is a picture of turning on someone, like a sudden kick. Jesus said those words were coming true at his own table, from a foot he had just washed.

The washing did not change Judas. He took bread from Jesus and went out into the night (John 13:30). So serving is not a trick to make people treat you well. Jesus served anyway.

What to do this week

Let him wash you first. Tonight, tell God one specific wrong you did today, plainly and with no excuses. Then thank him that Jesus has already paid for it.

Take the towel job. Do one task at home, school, or work that nobody wants and nobody will thank you for. Do not mention it.

Serve someone who hurt you. Do one practical, kind thing for a person who has wronged you. You do not have to pretend it did not happen. Jesus knew what Judas was doing, and he still knelt.

Peter learned it in that order. First he was washed. Then he was sent to wash others.