Humility And Service Are The Path To Blessing (John 13:1-20) Series

For this reason he said that

"Not all, clean, you (plural) are.

There are two types of washing going on here (H/T Charles Talbert, who was really helpful here). There is "bathing." And then there is a foot "washing."

Bathing is something that's only needed once, as every five year old boy intuitively understands. Bathing makes you clean. Washing, though, is something that needs to happen more often. As you go through life, you pick up dirt. And Jesus insists that you let him wash your feet, so that you are completely clean.

And it's if you've been bathed, and then let Jesus wash your feet, that Jesus will fellowship with you.

What is Jesus talking about here? What is the higher level of truth we are supposed to reach for?

I think-- and there are plenty of people who agree, and disagree, with what I'm about to say-- that Jesus is talking about sin, and baptism, and forgiveness, and spiritual cleansing.

When you are baptized, this is a one-time washing, that makes you clean. But as you go through life, you get dirty. You sin. And this isn't good. This is something Jesus wants to fix. And so Jesus offers to make you clean, again.

It's not that you've lost everything, and need to start over. You don't need to get rebaptized every week. You haven't thrown everything away, and lost everything. What you need, in that moment, is Jesus to wash your feet. You need to be cleaned, and forgiven. Jesus is perfectly willing to do this. And he insists on doing this. If you want to have fellowship with Jesus, you have to let him do this.

Now, sometimes you'll hear Christians talk about how Jesus' death paid for all of your past, present, and future sins at once. The idea is that if you sin today, or tomorrow, Jesus' death has already covered the cost of that.

And you are never really dirty. In its most obscene form, it could be argued that even in the act of terrible sin-- adultery, stealing, idol worship-- that you stand before God, clean, and holy, and forgiven. At every moment, you are clean.

Maybe there are Bible verses somewhere that talk that way. I don't know them. What I think, is that when you sin, you break fellowship with Jesus. And in that moment, you are dirty. You're not clean. You're dirty. You need Jesus to wash your feet. And so what you do, is you come to Jesus, seeking forgiveness, and he cleanses you. I think what we are seeing here, in Jesus washing Peter's feet, is a picture of 1 John 1:6-10:

6 If we claim to have fellowship with him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. 7 But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all[b] sin.

8 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word is not in us.