Peter argues, but his feet still get washed
Peter argues, but his feet still get washed
"I love the way you step out without knowing / The way you sometimes speak before you think / The way your broken faith is always growing.” —Malcolm Guite
Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray him. Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.
He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”
“You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.
Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
“One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. So if I, 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 for you.
“Truly I tell you, a servant is not greater than his master, and a messenger is not greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”
—John 13:1-17
What does this story tell us about Jesus?
The Lord Jesus loves His people so much, that every day He is still doing for them much that is analogous to washing their soiled feet. Their poorest actions He accepts; their deepest sorrow He feels; their slenderest wish He hears, and their every transgression He forgives. He is still their servant as well as their Friend and Master. He not only performs majestic deeds for them, as wearing the mitre on His brow, and the precious jewels glittering on His breastplate, and standing up to plead for them, but humbly, patiently, He yet goes about among His people with the basin and the towel.
How does this passage help me make sense of my own story?
Three things strike me in this passage.
First, Simon Peter doesn’t want his feet washed. He argues with Jesus about this point. This isn’t just an argument about personal space; having Jesus wash his feet would have pushed against Peter’s pride. It also shows that Peter still doesn’t quite get what Jesus is all about. So, he argues with Jesus. And Jesus engages him and shepherds him into an understanding of what he’s all about. And while we don’t know what happens in Peter’s heart, we do know that Jesus washes his feet (v. 12).
I see this pattern in my own life. Something Jesus asks of me pushes against my pride and sense of self. Thanks be to God that he doesn’t leave me alone, but rather gently guides me into his ways and still offers me an invitation to his work even when I initially refuse.
Second, this is a diverse group that Jesus ministers to and teaches. There were rich and there were poor. Some of them had been part of this movement since John the Baptist began his prophesying; another was skeptical until the moment of meeting Jesus. One of them was known for his collusion with the oppressive empire and another had openly opposed (likely with some violence) the Roman rule, and the rest were likely somewhere in the middle of that spectrum.
To all of them, Jesus command is clear: Serve one another.
Also, did you catch who’s not with Jesus in this intimate moment of teaching and ministry? The self-righteous. Does that hurt me as much as it hurts you?
Finally, the phrase “a servant is not greater than his master” always brings to mind Matthew 10:25.
A disciple is not above his teacher, or a slave above his master. It is enough for a disciple to become like his teacher and a slave like his master.
And I’m forced to ask myself at the end of this story, is it really enough? Is it enough for me to be like Jesus, or do I actually want to be God? That question jars me out of my own self-righteousness.
And yet, this story is funny. Because regardless of how I answer that question of enough, I’m tasked with the same thing: Wash feet.