GOD’S SON WASHED HIS DISCIPLES’ GRUBBY FEET.

The Lord Jesus acted under extraordinary circumstances. The Passover feast was due, the perfect fulfilling of HIM as the Passover Lamb: He knew that He would soon leave this world; that He would return to His Father in heaven; and that he maintained His love to his disciples firmly to the end.  John 13:2 We must remember this.  In addition, the arch-enemy satan injected seeds of betrayal into Judas’ flabby heart: our Lord knew that ‘The Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was returning to Him.’ The Lord had spoken, (Matt11:27), ‘All things have been delivered to me by My Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son, and he to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.’  

Then Deity sensationally humbled Himself in washing men’s grubby feet. Observe the valuable order: ‘He rose from supper, laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself.’  While washing their feet was simple, it symbolized the majestic life and ministry of the Lord Jesus.  ‘He rose from supper’ prefiguring our Lord’s leaving heaven’s unspotted beauty and the immediate Presence of the Father and the Holy Spirit? Yet, He rose from supper, for he had left all that behind. John 3;13 tells, ‘No one has ascended to heaven but he that came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man that is in heaven.’ He also explained, ‘I am among you as One that serves,’ as Luke 22:27 tells us His lofty purpose in coming. Never forget that!

His disciples gasped as ‘He laid aside His garments’ (v4) a sacrificial emptying of the Son of God, explained by Paul in 2 Corinthians 8: 9, ‘ For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.’  He deliberately laid aside the heavenly garments, assuming poverty that He might enrich us. Christ had removed His Shekinah (heavenly radiance) to wash our lives from sin’s stains.

He became a slave for ‘He took a towel and girded Himself.’ In visiting a high class official in South East Asia, I saw how the servant must approach visitors on their knees. This tore my heart. When I whispered my gratitude, the servant recognized my indebtedness; especially when I  expressed my love.  Yet, all that paled in the light of God’s Son demeaning Himself, assuming a menial slave’s duty.  He chose to be the carpenter of Nazareth, before launching His redemptive ministry.  Our Lord Jesus said, ‘I came not to be ministered to, but to minister, and give My life a ransom for many. ‘Does Calvary shape our attitude in serving others, as it should?’

Paul expressed this stepping down of the Lord Jesus well, ‘Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, who being in the form of God did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a servant, and coming in the likeness of men.  And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.’ (Philippians 2: 5-8)  This passage summarized His foot washing.

Our Lord undertook extraordinary exploits for His chosen people, for He pledged, ‘I will sprinkle clean water on you and you shall be clean: I will cleanse you from all your filthiness, and from all your idols.  I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you.  He guaranteed further, ‘I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.’  (Ezekiel 36:25)  Indeed, He poured out Life-giving water, for the Scripture recorded how ‘He poured water into a confined space, that is, into a basin.’  When our Lord fed the 5000 men plus children, he compressed thousands of hours into seconds as he dispensed and multiplied loaves and fishes. He literally poured out His life into a basin.  

 Our Lord Jesus ‘Began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded.’ The Saviour washed sweat and grime from the disciples’ feet!  I have walked the streets of Nazareth when serving in our hospital unit in WW11, realizing that our feet need to be constantly cleansed from all such contamination.  Sweat came from the fall, ‘In the sweat of your face, you shall eat bread till you return to the ground, for out of it were you taken: for dust you are and to dust you shall return.’ (Genesis 3:19)  Sweat and dust both evidence the fall.  On the eve of Calvary, the Son of God taught this profound truth, Our Lord’s redeeming death destroyed the devastating effects of the fall. Ponder that!  

‘In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.’ This marvellous assurance from Zechariah 13:1 told of our Messiah coming to open a fountain that would expunge our misdeeds and pollution. This prophesied washing their grubby feet.

David yearned for cleansing after stealing Bathsheba from her husband, crying, ‘According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions.  Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.’ (Psalm 51: 2)

Our Lord said, ‘What I am doing you do not understand. You will know after this.’
The disciples partially understood the Lord’s washing of their feet before Calvary.  Remember how Peter protested ‘You shall never wash my feet.’  Our Lord replied, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.’ Peter responded, ‘Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.’  Then he fiercely denied His Lord three times. Those tears flowed from a cleansed life and heart.  John affirmed this truth in his first epistle, ‘If we confess our sins, HE (the Lord Jesus) is  faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.’ (1:7)

‘This is HE that came by water and blood- not only by water, but by water and blood. (1 John 5:6)  John wrote much of the cleansing our Lord gives.  Here the water is the Word of God flowing into every part of our being as the blood courses through our veins and arteries.  He majors on the precious blood of Jesus Christ, which cleanses us from all sin. (1:7) He never forgot our Lord’s foot-washing.

Have you allowed the King of glory to bow before you and
wash your feet of all inner grime and evil?