2010 – November 14 – Washing Even the Dirtiest Feet

Study from God’s Word… Taken from Jesus’ time with His inner twelve in the Upper Room in Luke 22, Mark 14, Matt 26, and especially from John, Chapters 13 - 14 … Passage for Reflection: John 13: 14 … NIV Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you should also wash another’s feet.

My Journal for Today: Today, my devotional leader/editor/writer has chosen one verse from that remarkable passage at the beginning of the so-called “Upper Room Discourse” in the book of John, where Jesus, perceiving that His inner twelve are getting the wrong idea about their importance for the coming kingdom, teaches them the importance of being “servant leaders” by doing something that anyone in a position of leadership or lordship would never do in those times; and that is to wash the feet of his (in this case, “HIS”) guests. Washing the feet of others at such a dinner gathering would traditionally have been done by someone considered by the guests to be a slave or servant; and here was Jesus that night before the Passover, taking on the role of servant and washing the dirty feet of the men the Lord had been traveling with now for three years. It’s a remarkable scene on several levels, isn’t it?

And we know from this account how “foot-in-the-mouth” Peter tried to reject Jesus doing the foot washing bit; but finally relented. And in today’s highlight text, we read of the bottom line of instruction that Jesus is giving to His inner Disciples, who had just (in context) been squabbling over who was the most important in the coming kingdom. And Jesus’ message; … well, it’s that recurring theme that Christ had been trying to get across to His men … that the first will be last and the last will be first. It is the lesson that Jesus came to serve and not be served and that we should (again I say from Luke 9: 23) learning to deny self and follow the example of Christ in all parts of life.

And I think the most remarkable demonstration we see from the foot washing passage is that Jesus even washed the feet of the one with the dirtiest feet, … the man whom He knew was about to betray Him, … Judas Iscariot. And I hope we all glean this incredible lesson … that when we see someone who has dirty feet – and I mean really dirty feet – Jesus is willing to wash them; and so should we. He was even willing to wash the feet of the one who was going to turn Him over to be crucified.

And that is me! For years my life picked up some the dirtiest feet one could imagine. And I turned on Jesus much worse than did Peter … or even Judas. But when Jesus, in 1983, came around to offer to wash my feet and make me clean of all my past dirt, picked up from years of walking in the manure of sexual sin, I relented; and Jesus washed me clean (as it says in 1st John 1: 9). And I hope/pray that all who read here have had themselves fully washed by the blood of Jesus; and they now – and forevermore – will walk in Christ’s kingdom with clean feet.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, I walk with clean feet any day I’m willing to let You wash my feet to walk in Your path of righteousness. Amen