Thoughts You May Not Have Thought About Foot Washing (Part 2)

When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, 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 to you." (John 13:12-15 ESV)

I would hate it if you washed my feet. Most people would, probably. If they're not terribly ticklish like I am, they're probably worried about how their feet smell or they have some other hang-up. It is some relief to know, then, that Jesus probably wasn't giving us a specific command to wash each other's feet, but a general command to serve one another.

The disciples had been arguing about who would be the greatest in the kingdom whenever Jesus got around to establishing it. Jesus paid little attention here to their misconceptions about what his kingdom would be like, and focused on their misunderstanding of greatness. Wrapping a towel around himself, he showed them greatness by doing for them what only the hired servants of the day normally did, and only because they had to.

You want the world to admire your greatness? Do things for others that are mildly inconvenient and will be noticed by a lot of people. You want the Lord to admire your greatness? Do things for others that no one else wants to do and no one else will know about.

"If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them." (John 13:17 ESV)

Thoughts You May Not Have Thought About Foot Washing (Part 1)

Then 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. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, do you wash my feet?" Jesus answered him, "What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand." 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." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!" Jesus said to him, "the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, "Not all of you are clean." (John 13:5-11 ESV)

Should a Christian pray to God for forgiveness?

Some say no. The Christian by virtue of having his or her sins washed away has been forgiven by God for sins past, present, and future. To ask God for forgiveness would be to ask him to do what he's already done.

Some say yes. When Jesus gave us the model prayer, the example of which we should follow when we pray, he said, "and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors." Not praying for forgiveness when we sin means we're not following the example Jesus clearly set for us.

Which is right?

I believe the answer appears above, in the words Jesus said to Peter before washing his feet. In the middle of teaching one lesson about humility and servanthood, he slips in another lesson, that's easy to miss, about our standing with God.

"The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you." Apparently Jesus wasn't just talking about hygiene here. "Not every one of you" is clean, he said, making an obvious spiritual application.

When a person with faith is baptized, and his sins are washed away, he is indeed forgiven of his sins. Past, present, future, all forgiven. They will not be held against him in the Day of Judgment. He is clean with regard to where he will spend eternity. But...this Christian is still walking on this sinful earth, and in the process he regularly gets his feet dirty with sin. The dirt doesn't cover him from head to toe, and he isn't defined by it, but it is there, and it is a problem.

The solution is not to return to the baptistry for the full washing of salvation. His salvation hasn't been cancelled by the sin, but the sin is still there and needs to be treated. His steady relationship and communion with God is interrupted, and he needs a good foot washing so he can start walking again with clean feet. If he is wise he will confess before God and pray for forgiveness. Not the legal forgiveness of salvation, but the forgiveness that restores the relationship he's trying to maintain with his Father, and which cleans his feet to walk again.

Share the bad news of the Gospel.

Jesus said to her, “Go, call your husband, and come here.” The woman answered him, “I have no husband.” Jesus said to her, “You are right in saying, 'I have no husband'; for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband. What you have said is true.” (John 4:16-18 ESV)

Here is a lesson for us in evangelism. Jesus is confronting the woman at the well with his knowledge of her sin. Before he tells her the good news of how she can be saved from her sin, she must be convinced of the bad news that she is a sinner in danger of suffering the wrath of God.

It is common these days for Christians to be timid in speaking to others about sin. We don't wish to offend, so we don't talk about it. But no one will accept a Savior until he is convinced he needs one, and this won't happen if he is not aware of his lost condition due to his sin. We must be willing, with love, to explain the existence and danger of sin to those who are lost. Only then will the good news of the Gospel make sense: Jesus suffered the punishment we deserve so we can enter an eternal life we don't deserve.