When I was in the Army I would go "to the field" on training exercises that would last for an entire week. On one occasion when I was a platoon leader my unit went to Fort Polk, Louisiana where we slept out in the woods and swamps for two weeks straight. It was during the summer months and the temperature was near 100 degrees. There were no tents, just our ponchos that we would tie to trees and make "hooches" to keep the rain off of our heads. Unfortunately when it really started to come down our make shift tents couldn't keep the streams of muddy water from running underneath our sleeping bags. It was pretty miserable.
I distinctly remember how it felt when we were finally finished and ready to come home. We were disgusting, caked with dirt and sweat, and smelling like a bunch of farm animals. When I finally got to take a hot shower and put on clean clothes I felt like a new man. It was an unbelievably good feeling to be that dirty and then suddenly to be clean.
As a drank my coffee this morning I was reading John 13:3-8 where Jesus washes his disciples feet in the days before his death.
3Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, 4rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 5Then 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. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" 7 Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." 8 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." (ESV)
I picture Jesus, who as this passage states had "come from God" washing the caked up dirt and rocks and sweat off of the feet of his friends. Why does Jesus wash their feet? Do they smell that bad?
I think Jesus gives us the answer in verse 8. He says "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." What does he mean? Does he mean to say that no one with stinky feet can hang out with him? No, he is saying that unless he cleanses a person of their inner dirt - their sin - their rebellion against God - their evil desires and tendencies - their selfishness and greed, then a person cannot have "a share" with Jesus.
What does he mean by "a share"? Go back to verse 3 where John tells us "that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God". In other words if you want to be near to God, if you want to be a part of his Kingdom, which is the Kingdom that will be around forever then you must be washed by Jesus himself.
Jesus did this foot washing to symbolize the washing that he would do at the cross. As the Roman Soldiers drove metal spikes through his wrists and feet and hung him on the beam of wood his blood ran out all over his arms and all over the wood and all over the ground. The Bible tells us this blood washes us of all of our inner dirt.
Maybe you are feeling dirty. You feel caked up on the inside with all of your junk. You feel stuck and miserable. You don't have to stay that way.
Notice that in John 13 Jesus is going down the line of disciples washing their feet and he comes to Peter. Peter says to Jesus "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus replies "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Peter relents and lets Jesus wash his feet.
As I thought about this little conversation between Jesus and Peter something struck me. Jesus has to argue with Peter to wash his feet. There is Jesus in his towel, the water poured, ready to make Peter clean. And it's Peter that resists.
Sometimes I am resistant to Jesus too. Sometimes I'm sitting around caked up with all of my dirt and I would rather stay that way than allow him to make me clean.
I thought about how different this is from my view of God. Somehow I think that its God who is resistant and its me who has to beg him to change me. But nothing could be further from the truth. God has already made the preparations. He has poured the water and he's looking up at me saying "Gabe if I do not wash you, you have no share with me." All I need to do is relent.
To Jesus be the glory.
I think Jesus gives us the answer in verse 8. He says "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." What does he mean? Does he mean to say that no one with stinky feet can hang out with him? No, he is saying that unless he cleanses a person of their inner dirt - their sin - their rebellion against God - their evil desires and tendencies - their selfishness and greed, then a person cannot have "a share" with Jesus.
What does he mean by "a share"? Go back to verse 3 where John tells us "that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God". In other words if you want to be near to God, if you want to be a part of his Kingdom, which is the Kingdom that will be around forever then you must be washed by Jesus himself.
Jesus did this foot washing to symbolize the washing that he would do at the cross. As the Roman Soldiers drove metal spikes through his wrists and feet and hung him on the beam of wood his blood ran out all over his arms and all over the wood and all over the ground. The Bible tells us this blood washes us of all of our inner dirt.
Maybe you are feeling dirty. You feel caked up on the inside with all of your junk. You feel stuck and miserable. You don't have to stay that way.
Notice that in John 13 Jesus is going down the line of disciples washing their feet and he comes to Peter. Peter says to Jesus "You shall never wash my feet." Jesus replies "If I do not wash you, you have no share with me." Peter relents and lets Jesus wash his feet.
As I thought about this little conversation between Jesus and Peter something struck me. Jesus has to argue with Peter to wash his feet. There is Jesus in his towel, the water poured, ready to make Peter clean. And it's Peter that resists.
Sometimes I am resistant to Jesus too. Sometimes I'm sitting around caked up with all of my dirt and I would rather stay that way than allow him to make me clean.
I thought about how different this is from my view of God. Somehow I think that its God who is resistant and its me who has to beg him to change me. But nothing could be further from the truth. God has already made the preparations. He has poured the water and he's looking up at me saying "Gabe if I do not wash you, you have no share with me." All I need to do is relent.
To Jesus be the glory.
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