My Feet? Why Do You Want to Wash My Feet?
Good question, why the feet? This is the Thursday prior to when Jesus was brought to a mock trial for being a righteous man, and in John 13, we read this:
|
5Then 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. 6He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” 7Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” 8Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 9Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” 10Jesus 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.” Why the feet? It was what slaves did to the guests of their masters, to wash the dust from their feet. I suppose today we would equate this act with people who clean public bathrooms, a job that requires a certain amount of humility. Jesus was a great communicator, he used stories to tell about God's values, and principles. He enacted principles like this act of washing the feet to illustrate that even the great, the most powerful, the most intellectual person can bow themselves in service to others. This is precisely what this story tells us. That the God of the Bible served people by humbling Himself to wash their feet. Now, this wasn't the end of the illustrations of serving people. In just a few short hours from the time He washed feet, He would be hanging on a cross serving all of humanity with a gift of eternal salvation. This is the God of the Bible, not the narcissistic being that atheists say God is, the kind of God who wants all the attention. Atheists tell us that God is a being who beats and pounds out punishment in order to get His way. Here is an illustration of their thinking. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SGkgmU9vG_o&feature=youtube_gdata_player Now, I share that with you because this is the kind of thinking that distorts a loving caring God and twists His intentions to mean something completely different from what the Bible teaches. God created man with a free will, and it was this free will that made him do evil things by rebelling against God. God not only came to remedy this problem, He came to show the nature of God through the actions and words of Jesus Christ. The only person who could twist the life of Christ into a self serving narcissistic would the the ultimate narcissist, Satan. Satan always wanted to be worshipped by God's creation, so he created his own form of worship, called addiction. Satan hates the cross, and hates the resurrection, because it defeats his control over people. Jesus Christ, God's only son, demonstrated how love wins by serving others by sacrifice and the first feet He would wash would be those who do not believe in Him. The late Keith Green died in July 1982 but the message of his song, "The Easter Song" still rings clear today. It is a great reminder that the God of the Bible is a God who life was sacrificed for you and for me. |
Until Good Friday........keep it honest and truthful.....K
Larry Kutzler
Reader Comments