John 13:3-8 - You will understand

13:3-5

See how these two verses fit together. What does Jesus know about Himself? He  knew that the Father had put all things under His power, that He had come from God, and was returning to God. So what is His response? A normal human response would be to be full of oneself, to be proud. Instead, Jesus got Himself ready to wash the disciples’ feet, and then proceeded to do so. Note the details given, emphasising the careful preparation and the dedication to the task. Now washing a person’s feet was the most menial of menial tasks. Sometimes they wouldn’t even allow a Jewish servant to do the task. Yet here was Jesus, the leader of the group, doing this task.

The more secure we are in God’s love for us, in our position in Christ, the more of a servant we will be. In the world the confident person is thought to be the one who promotes himself, who pushes himself forward, but this is really just a sign of insecurity. The truly secure person is ready to do any task that is required, even ones that are viewed as the most menial. We can do this because we know who we are in Christ.

13:6-8

Imagine the thoughts going on in the minds of the disciples. Jesus was the Messiah, the one they were devoting their lives to, He was their leader. Yet here He was doing this job that was the lowest of the low. It would challenge every social convention they had. Typically Peter voices these concerns, while the others kept them to themselves. Peter is horrified and seeks to stop Jesus washing his feet. Jesus tells him that Peter must let Him do this, otherwise he has no part in Jesus.

This task was both a demonstration of how we are to serve, but also of the cross. We are sinners, we need to be cleansed of sin, we need to be forgiven. Our sins are not nice, our uncleanness is far worse that any dirt the disciples might have picked up on their feet. Yet Jesus went to the cross to cleanse us of these sins, He had to do a far more terrible and costly thing than wash our feet in order to wash us of our sins. And unless we are prepared to let Him do this then we have no part in Him. There is only one way to come to Jesus and that is as a repentant sinner seeking forgiveness and cleansing.