Thursday 24^th January

John 13:1-17

Have you ever seen the programme called Secret millionaire? It’s basically based around a CEO or Manager of a big cooperate company, who disguises himself as a normal employee to see how the company is being run at ground level. The CEO/manager gets involved in every aspect of the job (even the menial tasks), speaks with people and tries to understand the companies needs. After a week of working they reveal themselves and reward those they think should be commended for their professionalism and hard work.

In today’s passage, we find the Ruler of the universe doing the same thing. The only difference with Jesus is that He revealed who He was purposely, for it was only in knowing who He really was, that His followers could get access to the Father. However, Jesus didn’t humble Himself and take the form of a servant as our prime example for a T.V show, He did it because that was and is His very character. His act of humility and compassion for the disciples, in this demonstration of feet washing, comes from the endless supply of Love in His heart. It is this same Love, manifest in humility and compassion for a sinful and undeserving world, that led Him to give His life as our ransom for it.

We read in verse 6 that when Jesus approaches Peter to wash his feet, Peter’s response is to plainly and out rightly refuse this action. He can’t fathom that His Lord and Master would stoop down, take the role of a servant, and wash his dirty feet. Again, after Jesus tries to wash his feet once more, Peter retreats and boldly states “No, You will never wash my feet”. Jesus then states in a simple yet prophetic statement that if He does not wash Peter’s feet, then He has no part with Him. What Peter didn’t realise is that although Jesus’ act of feet washing was a humble act of love, it was also symbolic of His cleansing us from our sin with His soon approaching sacrificial offering of His life and shedding of His blood. Although it does not state this here in today’s text, we know from 1 John 1:7 that it is the shedding of Jesus’ blood that cleanses us from our sin (of course this requires repentance also).

Peter then, in verse 9, understanding the importance of being washed by Jesus, yields to Him and asks not only for his feet to be washed but his whole body. Jesus’ answer is plain and clear here. If you have had a bath then you are already clean. For it is not necessary to wash your body again. It is in the washing of the feet that Peter was made clean. Well how can we translate this passage into our daily lives? The key to understanding and applying this in our lives is found in Jesus’ words in verse 10. When we except Jesus into our lives, our repentance is like bathing in God’s grace and forgiveness. We accept His sacrifice and are made whole by His love. However, we live in a fallen world and we are not yet fully perfected, so we sin and disobey our Heavenly Father. This sin, not only separates us from His presence but severs that intimate relationship with the Father. This is why we need to come before a Holy God daily, acknowledging that our feet our dirty and humble ourselves and ask Jesus to wash us clean again. For in doing this we restore our communion with Him and receive His love and kindness. Humility for us is not an abstract ideology, is the core of who Jesus was and an attitude that we should adopt in our lives daily.

“Let this attitude be in you, which was also found in Christ Jesus….” Philippians 2:5