Dear friends, I regret that I have missed a few recent blogs. But Linda and I had to fly to Massachusetts to bury a member of my family who helped my parents raise 7 boys. Alice was like a second mother to me, so the event of her death took a lot out of me. We flew to Massachusetts as the hurricane hit, and we ended up being one of the last flights to make it into Atlanta before the airport shut down. We made it home to Alabama at 3:00 am. Then my mother-in-law became very sick, so we have had her hospitalized and are now looking for facilities to admit her for aggressive rehab in a skilled nursing facility. Not an easy task for an 89 year-old woman who is very weak! And Linda and I are sick and on antibiotics with sinus infections. So hopefully I can catch up with you today. Please pray for God to heal us and guide us.
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“Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. 2 The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray Him. And during supper 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off His outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. 5 Then He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around Him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 Peter said to Him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with Me.” 9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10 Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” 11 For He knew who was to betray Him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 After He had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” John 13:1-17.
Oh dear friends, just amazing words. This second Book of Glory in John’s Gospel brings me to tears. Overwhelming and sorrowful are these words.
These are words about the great cycle of Jesus’ life: decent from the Father to death and resurrection and return to the Father. If you think about it the ascent to the Father really begins when Jesus takes on the form of a servant (verse 16), for “Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father” (verse 1). But I cannot help but see an invitation in the washing of feet to be Baptized into the servanthood of Jesus.
And please notice that the Last Supper occurs before Passover!
Leviticus 23 says: “5 In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month (Nisan), at twilight, there shall be a passover offering to the Lord, 6 and on the fifteenth day of the same month is the festival of unleavened bread (Passover) to the Lord; seven days you shall eat unleavened bread. 7 On the first day you shall have a holy convocation; you shall not work at your occupations. 8 For seven days you shall present the Lord’s offerings by fire; on the seventh day there shall be a holy convocation: you shall not work at your occupations” Leviticus 23:5-8. This means that Passover begins on the 15th of the month of Nisan for the Jewish day always begins in the evening at sunset. Thursday which begins at sunset is the 14th day of Nisan, the day for a passover offering, according to Leviticus. John has the Last Supper taking place before the Passover, a meal that has all the characteristics of the Passover — except the blood of Jesus which is spilled on Passover, connecting the blood of the Eucharist with the Exodus blood of the Lamb and the blood of Jesus on Friday, Passover.
But now the hour had come, and John has Judas not hungering to make a profit, but falling to the temptations of Satan, for “2 the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray Him”
John 13:2. And Jesus washing the feet of his Apostles is a result of the power of His Father in heaven, for “3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, 4 got up from the table, took off His outer robe, and tied a towel around himself” John 13:3-4. Jesus washing feet is a very pedestrian task allocated to slaves, and so it is understandable that Peter objects. But Jesus’ “lesson” for Peter is much more than mere humility, is a “lesson” that Peter will understand only when Jesus is glorified in heaven with His Father after His death and resurrection and ascension. it may very well have made Peter humble at that moment, but later he will understand that baptism flows from the blood and water that flows from the side of Jesus on the Cross. Only when Jesus is glorified will Peter understand the lesson Jesus is teaching in the washing of feet.
But never forget that Jesus places eternal importance on foot washing when He says: “Unless I wash you, you have no share with Me” John 13:8.
This is why Peter wants a total bath and not just a foot washing. Jesus’ response is the key here: “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean” John 13:10. To be bathed in Greek is to be baptized in the New Testament Church, so Jesus’ actions of washing feet is a symbol of baptism, thus what Jesus is saying is that one who is baptized needs no re-baptism. It is only after completing the washing of feet that Jesus teaches them the lesson of humility: “15 For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. 16 Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. 17 If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them” John 13:15-17.
So dear friends, find time today to reflect deeply on the meaning of your baptism and from where it comes. John wants to say that Jesus washing feet is more than just a teaching about humility, but is in fact an example of the baptism you received, a baptism that comes from the suffering, death, and resurrection of Jesus. Jesus washed us clean of sin and eternal damnation, and the foot washing pointed to this!
Oh dear Lord, Jesus Christ, Son of the Living God, have mercy on me a sinner. May your blood that washed me clean of sin continue to cleanse me of my sinful life, and this I pray in Your holy Name, Amen.
From the Bible:
“For this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins” Matthew 26:28.
“How much more will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God” Hebrews 9:14.
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace” Ephesians 1:7.
“But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin”
1 John 1:7.
“So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you” John 6:53.
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