Take a moment and think of the person you would consider your worst enemy. The person you hate (or at least strongly dislike) with every fiber of your being. Perhaps this is someone who has betrayed you in the past. Perhaps this is someone who gets on your nerves and pushes all your buttons. Perhaps this is someone who is meanspirited and rude or condescending and arrogant.
You got that person in your head? Good. Now imagine doing something really nice for them. Like REALLY nice. Like shoveling snow from their driveway in the middle of winter. Like buying them a fancy dinner from their favorite restaurant of all time. Like giving them a genuine compliment on their appearance or their work.
Could you do it? Could you actually sacrifice your time, effort, money, and/or pride to do a nice thing for someone who wouldn’t think twice about turning on you and throwing you under the bus? If most of us are being honest with ourselves, we wouldn’t go through with it. We wouldn’t want to waste our time and resources on someone who will never show us any kindness or respect in return.
Thankfully, Jesus is a lot more humble and loving than we naturally are.
Shortly before His crucifixion, Jesus was sharing a final Passover meal with His closest disciples. Despite knowing that His suffering and death were imminent, He humbled Himself and put His friends and followers before Himself (John 13:1).
“[Jesus] rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. 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.” John 13:4-5, ESV
In first-century Israel, it was customary for a non-Jewish servants to wash guests’ feet upon arrival. Jews didn’t have vehicles, concrete sidewalks, or closed-toed shoes. They traveled long distances by foot on dusty roads in sandals. Their feet were dirty! And they needed to be washed because they did not sit in chairs to eat at a high table. Instead, it was their custom to recline on couches and dine at low tables.
Evidently, there was no slave present that evening, so Jesus rose to serve His disciples. This would have been a humiliating thing to do. It was a job for a lowly Gentile slave, not a respectable Jewish rabbi. But Jesus chose to humble Himself in this way for three main reasons.
One, Jesus loved His disciples. John 13 tells us that He loved His own to the end (John 13:1). And He washed their feet to show His unfailing, unconditional love for them. When we read the gospels, it’s obvious that Jesus loves disciples like Peter, the rock on whom Jesus would build His church (Matthew 16:18), and John, the disciple whom Jesus loved (John 13:23). But do you know who else was present this night? Judas. The man who would betray His Lord, His rabbi, His friend with a kiss (Mark 14:4). And Jesus already knew that he would do this, but He loved Him anyway. Pastor Costi Hinn reflects,
“Imagine the unconditional love of Jesus as he took a knee to wash Judas’ filthy feet. Think for a moment of the towel hanging from his waist, and his calloused but caring hands. Those hands took hold of Judas’ feet, and while the Son of God could have crushed his betrayer right then and there, he began to wash. Slowly, diligently, lovingly, the Lord Jesus scrubbed the sinful feet that would run to aid in the spilling of his innocent blood. At that very moment, Jesus was the embodiment of his own words in Matthew 5:33: ‘I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’”[1]
Two, Jesus was revealing how He would wash away the sins of His followers. Just as Jesus cleansed the dirty feet of His disciples, He would cleanse the dirty, sinful hearts of those who would believe in Him through His impending death on the cross (John 13:6-10, 1 John 1:9, Titus 3:5, Hebrews 9:14). Jesus not only loved His close friends, but He loved the entire world (John 3:16)! And He was making a way for us dirty sinners to enter into relationship with Him.
Three, Jesus was setting an example of humility. Jesus, our Savior and Lord, King and Creator of the universe humbled Himself to wash his friends’ dusty feet, and He would soon humble Himself to suffer and die on the cross, naked and alone (Philippians 2:5-8). These acts of humility served as an example to the disciples—
“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 13:14-15
Jesus used this moment to teach His closest followers of the importance of humble servanthood. And this moment teaches us the same thing. God loves us so much that He sent His own Son to die in our place. We ought to love God in return, and that requires us to humbly obey the Lord and serve those around us. Author Gretchen Saffles writes,
“Great love for God is revealed in our willingness to do small things for him, to serve those in front of us, and to bend down to wash another’s feet.”[2]
This Easter, I urge you to remember the great love with which God loves you, and I challenge you to find a way that you can serve and wash the feet of those around you. Jesus loves you, and He will love you to the end. May we all humble ourselves and show the love of Christ by washing the feet of the Peters, the Johns, and yes, even the Judases of our lives.
“Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” John 13:16-17
[1] Costi Hinn, More Than a Healer: Not the Jesus You Want But the Jesus You Need (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2021), 125-126.
[2] Gretchen Saffles, The Well-Watered Woman: Rooted in Truth, Growing in Grace, Flourishing in Faith (Carol Stream: Tyndale Momentum, 2021), 236-237.
