12 When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. "Do you understand what I have done for you?" he asked them.
This is a fantastic picture of what Jesus will be doing shortly. Previously, we looked at the way Jesus took of his clothes as a picture of setting aside his heavenly glory to become a man. Jesus washing the disciples’ feet is a picture of removing their sin from them. He will be doing this very soon as he dies on the cross. This picture explains that he will finish this task and having finished it, he will put his clothes back on. He will take up the glory he had with the Father in heaven when he returns to his place at the right hand of the Father.
However, it isn’t enough to give someone a picture of what you want to teach unless you make sure they understand what you have taught. So, Jesus quizzes his disciple and ask if they understand what he did. When we share the gospel with someone, we want to make sure they understand what we’ve told them. We don’t want them to think that merely saying a prayer without any understanding will save them. They must understand the basics of the gospel, so we quiz them.
Do you understand that heaven is a free gift and you can’t earn it in any way?
Do you understand that you are a sinner and God must punish sin?
Do you understand that Jesus is God in the flesh?
Do you understand that Jesus came from heaven to take your punishment so you can have the gift of eternal life?
Do you understand that faith in Jesus’ death for you is the only way to receive the gift of eternal life?
Do you understand this faith is only in Jesus?
Do you understand this faith is demonstrated by obedience to Jesus?
Do you understand this faith is demonstrated by repenting?
Do you understand this faith requires confessing Jesus is your Lord?
Does all this make sense?
If you have clearly presented the gospel to them and have quizzed them, and they answer no to the any of the questions, especially the last one, then you must find out what part doesn’t make sense and then clarify that point. As an example, maybe you didn’t clearly point out that Jesus is God in the flesh and lived a sinless life and that is why he could take God’s punishment. Maybe they simply missed it. But that’s not all. There is more to ask.
Do you want to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lord right now?
Are you willing to trust Christ alone?
Are you willing to obey Christ?
Are you willing to repent?
Are you willing to confess Christ?
When they answer yes to all these questions, then they will truly understand what Jesus has done for them. Now, Jesus askes his disciple if they understand, but he was showing them something other than his descent from heaven, sacrifice on the cross for our sins, and his return to glory.
13 "You call me 'Teacher' and 'Lord,' and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another's feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Do we really understand what it means to call Jesus our teacher? The disciples had a good understanding because that relationship of a teacher and disciples was well formulated in their culture. Their whole desire was to become like their teacher. They hung on every word and every parable and every action to learn to emulate their teacher. Jesus acknowledges that this is what he expected from them and took the responsibility to teach them everything they needed to become more like him.
How do we do when it comes to letting Jesus become our teacher? Do we hang on his words, trying to understand what he is teaching us in the Gospels as well as the rest of the Bible? Or do we just read it and go on with our day? Do we look at what he did, especially in this scene and apply his actions to our lives?
Do we really understand what it is to call Jesus Lord? Above, we ask, “Do you want to receive Jesus as your Savior and Lordright now?” I would venture that 99% of people with whom we share the gospel have no idea what Lord means. I’m pretty sure the disciples didn’t grasp the full meaning of it until the Holy Spirit came to fill them. There are two aspects of Jesus’ Lordship. The first is tied to his kingship. He is Lord in the sense that accepting him as Lord means we are bound to him as slaves and he owns us. In that regard, we call him Lord and acknowledge it by being obedient to him.
The second aspect of calling Jesus Lord is acknowledging that he is God. Maybe this should be the first aspect because we wouldn’t have a problem with the first if we understood what we were confessing by calling him Lord. The early church understood that calling Jesus Lord was acknowledging that he is indeed God. It is evident that this is true because they had to make a choice of calling the Roman Emperor “Lord” or Jesus Lord. They fully understood that calling the emperor Lord was acknowledging him as the supreme god. Knowing there is only one God, they could not call the emperor Lord along with Jesus. We don’t understand the full implication of this because we don’t have a Greek translation of the Old Testament handy. Even if we did, we couldn’t read it without knowing Greek. But fortunately, others have. So, for time’s sake and a study of your own, you can search to verify that the name of God, Yehovah, was translated kurios in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament. His name is rendered Lord in most English translations. Bibles use small caps to distinguish that this is the translation of the Hebrew Yehovah And not one of the other words translated lord.
Here is Jesus stating clearly that he is Kurio, Lord or Yehovah. But even though he is Lord, he did this as an example for the disciples and for us. The God of the Universe stooped to the lowest position of a slave to wash his disciples’ feet. He clearly tells us that we need to do the same thing. Some people take this literally and engage in an annual ceremony of washing feet. The Roman Catholic Pope does this every year to “symbolizes humility and service and highlights his papacy's attention to those on society's margins.”[1]There are two things that stand out in the Pope’s foot washing. First, it has become a ceremony and second it “symbolizes” humility. I’m quite sure that this isn’t what Jesus intended as he explains it further.
16 “I tell you the truth, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
The broader context of this includes several instances where the disciples argued about who was the greatest (Mark 9:33-34, Luke 9:46, Luke 22:24) or wanted to know who was the greatest in the kingdom (Matt 18:1). This was Jesus’ last time not to just tell them but show them that true humility doesn’t come from trying to be the greatest. True humility comes from serving others, regardless of their position in life. This is the reason that the Pope’s foot washing is only a symbol of humility. It isn’t his lifestyle. There is no way that anyone can become greater that Jesus, nor can anyone’s message come before Jesus’ since his message comes from the Father.
The question then comes for us, knowing this, how do we “wash feet?” Performing a ceremony every year doesn’t cut it. The tense of the word “do” indicate that this is an action that is constantly or repeatedly done; a continuous process or habit. This means that our lives must become lived for others first as is Jesus’ example and explained by Paul:
Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. 4 Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. 5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Phil 2:3-8)
We must remember that becoming humble or a servant of others isn’t a burden. Jesus tells us that we will be blessed when we live a put other needs ahead of ours. Our society and the world in general rebels at the idea of being humble or meek because they believe that the only way to be blessed is to be better than others and to be strong and rule over others as Friedrich Nietzsche taught. Instead, Jesus tells us that we will be blessed as we do what he did. Being blessed is not just being happy but it is finding favor in God.
18 "I am not referring to all of you; I know those I have chosen. But this is to fulfill the scripture: 'He who shares my bread has lifted up his heel against me.'”
Now, Jesus makes an exception to what he has just said. This comes from two statements. The first is that not everyone was clean as stated in John 13:10 and John editorialized explaining that Jesus knew who was going to betray him (John 13:11). The second statement is that Judas knows all that Jesus has been teaching but he isn’t putting it into practice. He will not be blessed because he will not do as he has been taught. He can’t do them because he hasn’t been chosen for salvation. He was chosen to be taught by the Lord, but he was destined to reject it all as described in Psalm 41:9 and Scripture cannot be broken. It must be fulfilled.
This is a bone of contention for those who want to alter the way God elects some for salvation and not others. Yet it is clear from the fact that Jesus quoted this Psalm to show that this betrayal would happen. It is just as clear that Judas was not saved, and this too, demonstrates that though he had permission to confess Jesus as Lord, he wasn’t given the ability.
This is a serious warning for us. We have all of God’s Word and we often ignore the clear teaching. We can’t expect to be blessed if we ignore them. If we lift up our heel against Jesus, if we reject him to the end, it shows that we were never saved. If we know Jesus as Lord in the very greatest sense of that word, we will be saved and we will do all we can to serve him and others in humility.
19 "I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it does happen you will believe that I am He. 20 I tell you the truth, whoever accepts anyone I send accepts me; and whoever accepts me accepts the one who sent me."
God is very gracious to us who are on this side of the cross. He told the disciples ahead of time so that they would believe that Jesus is Lord, Kurios, Yehovah, I AM. Here he also extends the invitation to believe simply by accepting the message of the cross from his disciples down to this present day. When we accept and believe Jesus, we believe and accept Yehovah.
[1]“Pope Visits Italian Prison for Holy Week Foot-Washing Ritual,” ABC News (ABC News Network, April 14, 2022), https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/pope-marks-holy-thursday-ahead-prison-feet-washing-84076074.
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