John 13

It is not easy for a great king to do some lowly act in the view of others, even if it is just for a moment. He expects others to show their humility before him by their willingness to perform the lowest acts of service. But what if a king were completely committed to some great act of humble service that was far more than a ceremonial show? What if this king would willingly give his life for his people with a full and steady heart? In that case, He would be glad to perform any ceremonial act that might communicate his love for them in advance of that death. It is with the fullness of divine love in His heart, that Christ, knowing that one of them will betray Him, takes the position of the lowest servant of the house, and washes the feet of His disciples.

The disciples did not understand what He was doing, and Peter had the boldness to question the Lord on this, and to say, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus replied, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” The washing that we need most comes through the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, but this spiritual blessing could never come to us without the blood of Christ. It is the death of Christ that speaks a word for us that alone makes us acceptable to the Father. If we are not united with Jesus in His death, then we can have no share in His life. There was one who would soon be exposed to everyone as the betrayer. He would not be clean. Somehow the cleansing that can only come from above was not for him.

Beyond the story of our purification through the true Passover Lamb, there was another message in this foot-washing ritual leading up to the cross. This way of humble service was a pattern for the church. The King has led us in this way. No one who is His follower should think of lowly service as beneath his dignity. In particular, we should give ourselves away in the service of others within the body of Christ. This is something that we should both know and do.

What must it have felt like for the one who would betray Him to have Jesus wash his feet? What would it have felt like to know that the words of Psalm 41, “He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me,” were actually referring to him? We cannot know, but we do know this, that Jesus did know everything that was happening, and He quoted the Psalm as an aid to the faith of His disciples, that when everything happened as He had said it would, they would remember and, as He said, “believe that I-AM.” The way for us is through Christ. We need to receive Him, and in receiving Him to receive the One who sent Him, but there was one there who would not receive Him. Even prior to the actual betrayal of Jesus, around the table of fellowship, Judas was identified as the man who would turn against the Lord.

But what does it actually mean that someone would “receive” Jesus Christ. John speaks of this receiving here and in other places in this gospel as believing in His Name, believing His message, welcoming Him as the person He claims to be, and happily taking possession of all that He gives, including God’s Spirit. It is this last thought that the Lord refers to when He says that, “whoever receives the One I send receives Me.” To receive a superior, is not only to put off all hostility and enmity toward that person, but also to eagerly follow the instructions that the person gives. This is not what Judas did. It is on this occasion that we hear that Satan entered into Judas. We must not think that what happened next was under the ultimate sovereignty of Satan. Remember that the cross was God’s idea, and He receives the glory for it. All the guilt goes to those who with wicked intentions participated in everything connected to the rejection of Jesus and His death. All the Glory goes to God, who ordained this for His great purposes.

This was the day that the Lord had made. Concerning the great injustice of what was about to transpire, and concerning the horror of the sinless Son of God facing the reality of eternal hell, these four words of John well express the ugly truth of this event, “And it was night.” Concerning the electing and saving purposes of God and the great display of both God’s justice and His mercy, this was a glorious and God-glorifying moment.

Jesus was going where no one else could go. No one else could take away our sin, because everyone else already had sin. For the cross to work, the Victim could not have any sin of his own. If a man of sin were to die on the cross, he would only be receiving what he already deserved. But if a sinless Man would die willingly in this way, His sacrifice could atone for others. Only a sinless Man could rise from the dead after such an ordeal. Only a sinless man could enter into heaven and sit at the right hand of the Father, governing all of the events that would necessarily take place for the completion of the Lord’s plan for us. Only Jesus Christ could do all this.

In response to the salvation that He has purchased for us, we must do what He says, and He says that we need to love one another. That love is more than a feeling. As Jesus warned Peter, love is costly. Peter could not go where Jesus went now, but he would follow Him afterward. He could not follow now because the death that He died as our Substitute He had to die alone. Peter and many others would follow afterward because they were called to love God and one another sacrificially, even being willing to give their lives for one another and for the truth that they had come to believe.

Peter could not see this all yet. He thought He was ready to be part of a team of death at that very moment, yet that was not the sovereign will of God. Christ alone would suffer and die for sinners. Before the period of the dawn signified by the rooster crowing, Peter would deny Jesus three times. Nonetheless, He was not the betrayer. He would be kept for a greater purpose than that. He would give His life in service and love for the One who washed his feet, and who cleansed his soul from the stain of sin. Our King went very low for us, and because of His willingness to love that way, we have the privilege of humble service for Him today and the hope of great glory with Him forever in heaven.