Always Teaching

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ALWAYS TEACHING

John 13:1-11

13:1 It was just before the Passover Feast. Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love.  

2 The evening meal was being served, and the devil had already prompted Judas Iscariot, son of Simon, to betray Jesus. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; 4 so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 5 After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. 6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" 7 Jesus replied, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand."  8 "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me."  9 "Then, Lord," Simon Peter replied, "not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!" 10 Jesus answered, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you."  11 For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

NIV

We are about to share in the Passover meal with Jesus and his disciples. Everything is in place and they have all arrived in the upper room. We also know from this narrative Judas is also ready to betray Jesus, and Jesus knows it too. We also know Jesus came from God and that he was going to return to God. This should give us a great deal of confidence as we continue to live out our lives. For we too came from God and will return to God. That sounds a little strange, but if we consider God knit us together in our mother’s womb, and that he knew us before the foundation of the earth and knows the number of hairs on our head, then how can we say we did not come from God? We also know at the end of this earthly life, we will go to be with God. As well as we say we are in Christ and he is in us, so it still applies that we came from God and we know we are going to be returning to God. However, Jesus is God and we are not, so there is still quite a difference here regarding Jesus, being the divine Son of God who was from the beginning coming to earth in the form of his creation, man. As always, everything Jesus does and says is a teaching moment. Here he washes his disciples’ feet before the meal. There is much said about this event and his conversation with Peter. Some scholars are of the opinion the Jews performed a ceremonial washing before the Pascal meal, although there may not be sufficient evidence for that view. This exchange between Peter and Jesus contained two truths for us to understand. First, Jesus was showing them the humility of being a servant, although he was the master. He always shows an example of how we are to live. All too often we fall short of his example. It is so easy to get caught up in self and our wants or our feelings, in essence, being self-centered rather than Christ-centered. What about this servanthood attitude, that Jesus was giving us an example? As we will see, Jesus tells them to now wash each other’s feet. There is also this second truth where Jesus tells Peter he is clean, just his feet are dirty as well as unless he washes them they have no part of him. Let’s see this truth he teaches. Unless we are washed by Jesus, washed in his blood, we are not part of the Body of Christ. This has everything to do with accepting Jesus for our salvation, for being born again, being made pure and holy by the blood of Jesus. There is no remission of our sin unless by the shedding of his blood. Although it is true he died for all mankind, it is necessary for a person to accept being washed by Jesus in order to be a part of him. There is also this truth that although we are clean, our feet need to be washed. We can see Jesus is telling Peter that although he took his bath, the dirt of the world has made his feet dirty. We have been cleansed by the blood of Jesus and we have been made holy and righteous in the eyes of God, but the world can still dirty our feet, so to speak, That is to say we can still be influenced by the dirt of the world, the ideologies, the ways of the world, and so before we partake of the Pascal meal, the Lord’s Supper, we need to have Jesus wash our feet. We should not take this meal lightly, or in an unworthy manner, as we are admonished by Paul in his letter to the Corinthians. Is it always good to approach the words of Jesus to see his teaching, his truth, because he is always teaching.