WASHING THE DISCIPLES’ FEET - AN ACTED PARABLE
On the night before His Passion Jesus spoke some wonderfully prophetic words: "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand" (John 13:7). These are the words of Jesus addressed to His disciples. The scene is the room in Jerusalem in which Jesus celebrated the feast of the Passover shortly before He was arrested. It’s likely that they had eaten the Passover meal together in previous years and had found it a joyful experience. That was the intention, for it was the way in which the Jews remembered how God had delivered their forefathers out of the clutches of the Egyptians many hundreds of years before. But on this occasion it was all so different. It wasn’t a united and happy company of disciples that gathered with Jesus. The frame of mind in which they found themselves could best be described as one of "fightings without and fears within" (2 Cor 7:5). A dispute had arisen at the supper table as to which of them should be accounted the greatest. Perhaps there had been an undignified scramble to get the places nearest to Jesus around the meal table.
The disciples were like the children that Jesus had spoken of, arguing in the marketplace because they couldn’t have their own way. C S Lewis, in his book "The Screwtape Letters", imagined that he could overhear what a chief tempter in Hell was saying: "It will be an ill day for us," the tempter says, "if what most humans mean by ’Religion’ ever vanished from the Earth. It can still send us the truly delicious sins. The fine flower of unholiness can grow only in the close neighbour-hood of the holy. Nowhere do we tempt so successfully as on the very steps of the altar." Any well-informed Christian will agree that it’s true. How our Lord must be grieved by position-seekers in the church, petty jealousies between believers and so on.
These "fightings without" of the disciples, of being at odds with one another were only a symptom of their "fears within", their true relationship with God and His Son. For some time now tension had been building up as Jesus had realised that the crisis hour of His Passion was drawing near. Jesus became extremely conscious of the forces of evil seeking to overwhelm Him as He prepared for His self-sacrifice. There was a great battle raging in His mind over doing His Father’s will, and He confessed that His soul was troubled. Naturally He would have welcomed any spiritual help and support from His followers in this time of stress - but it wasn’t forthcoming. You’ll know the saying and have proved it from experience that "a friend in need is a friend indeed". This is a ministry that all Christians can engage in. No special qualifications are required but a heart of love and sympathy. The Lord Jesus failed to find this in His disciples. It’s so easy to criticise the disciples - but what about us? Somebody once said that when we point an accusing finger at another we automatically point four at ourselves! Very often only a simple act of kindness is all that’s necessary to bring cheer to someone who is low in spirit.
The time had come for Jesus to teach the disciples a lesson and He chose to do it in the form of an acted parable - that of washing their feet. The inspired evangelist John was an eyewitness of the scene. It had made an indelible impression on his mind. He remembered ever so clearly how Jesus poured water from the pitcher into the washbasin and then proceeded to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the end of the towel tied around His waist. The reactions of all but one of the disciples aren’t recorded. They probably kept their thoughts to themselves. Perhaps they were at a loss what to say, being perplexed and ashamed of the fact that Jesus was doing for them what they should have done for Him and for each other. But not when it came to Peter’s turn. He was the man who couldn’t keep still. He did his thinking aloud: "No," he protested, "you shall never wash my feet?" Peter was shocked. He saw the absurdity of the situation, the unreasonableness of what was happening. The Lord of glory on the one hand, and Peter’s feet on the other! What a contrast! It was at this point that our Lord uttered these magnificent words, "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
What did Jesus mean? We can see in these words an invitation by Jesus to His disciples to watch closely what He’s doing and listen carefully to His explanation that was to follow. Anyone who has been house hunting will remember the process of getting details from the estate agent of a likely property and looking at it from the outside. But you can get only a general idea of what the house is like. So you look at the brochure and see what are the arrangements for gaining access. When you get the key you can complete your understanding of the inside of the house. This is just a parable of life’s meaning of our spiritual pilgrimage. Often we can’t understand what’s happening at the time, but there’s a key to gaining understanding, and it’s found in the Lord Jesus Christ: "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand."
John’s Gospel often records incidents that have two meanings - one which lies on the surface, with a meaning at a human level, but also another meaning that which is beneath the surface, yielding a rich spiritual lesson. We find both as we look at this simple account of the washing of the disciples’ feet. Here was a striking:
EXAMPLE OF HUMILITY IN SERVING OTHERS
It was normally the task of the most junior servant to perform the lowly duty of washing the travel-stained feet of guests. The scene is easy to imagine. Each of the disciples no doubt hoped that one of the others would do the job. Each would be justifying himself for not doing it personally on the grounds that "it wouldn’t be quite the thing for him to do". They would agree that, in principle, it would have right to do it, but in practice, well, no! To be honest, it was beneath their pride. In a moment Jesus swept away all this reasoning. I’m sure that as soon as Jesus began the menial task they would all have given anything to be allowed to do it - but it was too late! How mean they must have felt, how wretched and uncomfortable it was to be exposed like this. They must have felt like the man that Jesus mentioned who placed himself at the top table at a banquet only to be humiliated publicly when he was made to vacate his seat to make room for someone whose rightful place it was. It’s so easy to fall into the trap of pride - as it has been said, "pride of face, pride of place, and pride of grace". A proverb tells us that "pride goes before a fall" and certainly the disciples fell. They must have loathed themselves as they saw their Lord and Master humble Himself to the position of a servant.
Jesus applied the meaning of His action very clearly. "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet" (14). Surely, He says, if the Lord of glory is willing to take the form of a servant, actually washing the feet of those who are very far below Him, it ought to be easy for mere disciples to render loving service to one another. Some Christians have taken the words of Jesus literally. I read of one fairly large denomination in America that practices feet washing - and perhaps they find it helpful in combating pride among church members. But Jesus wasn’t instituting a new ordinance here. He isn’t commending His disciples to do what He has done but rather giving them an examp1e. He wants them to do as He has done, to render loving service to one another in the spirit of genuine humility. " … later you will understand," said Jesus. We have the advantage of hindsight. We know how we should act towards each other - but do we?
"You do not realise what I am doing, but later you will understand." These words of Jesus point to a symbolic lesson in humility - but there’s a deeper meaning in the words than that. Any good teacher could have shown up the disciples’ pride - but Jesus is more than a good teacher. He’s rapidly approaching the crisis point in His life so any of His words and actions must be full of significance. John wrote the Gospel when he was an old man, and he’d had a lifetime to ponder over the meaning of what had happened on this eventful night. He was inspired to record the ceremony of the feet-washing, because it’s a:
DRAMATISED PARABLE OF THE SUBMISSION OF JESUS TO DEATH
The prophet Isaiah had seen in a vision "the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted" (6:1) and then as a Suffering Servant who would be "led like a lamb to the slaughter" (53:7). Now it was the disciples’ turn to be shown what the work of Jesus would involve. Jesus knew that He was God, but in order to accomplish our salvation He was willing to surrender all. A symbol of this willingness was His humiliation as He fulfilled the duty of a household slave. We’re told that Jesus "took off his outer clothing" (13:4) even as He was soon to "lay aside" His life. He tied a slave’s apron around Him, poured water into a basin and "began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them clean with the towel" (5). It was an act of great condescension: the Son of the Almighty stooping to the level of a slave.
The disciples didn’t see the meaning of this act of humiliation by Jesus. How blind we can be to the truth that God reveals to us. St. Paul wrote that the devil, "the god of this world has blinded the minds of unbelievers" (2 Cor 4:4). It’s quite apparent that Peter and his fellow disciples completely misunderstood what Jesus was doing. First of all he refused to have his feet washed at all. Jesus told him that there could be nothing in common between them and their companionship would have to be abandoned unless Peter allows Him to do what He desires to do. In making this protest Peter was displaying the pride of those who say they have no need of divine cleansing. Before anyone can become a Christian, all thoughts of being able to save ourselves must go. Only the Lord Jesus Christ was able to offer the acceptable sacrifice for sin and make redemption possible. You know the words of the hymn: "There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin, He only could unlock the gate of heaven and let us in." The feet-washing ceremony was also an:
ANTICIPATION OF THE CROSS AND THE EMPTY TOMB
Jesus was looking ahead to His great act of atonement for sin, which meant that He would have to suffer death by crucifixion. "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand" said Jesus. And so it was. The crucifixion of Jesus left the disciples confused and frightened men, and it wasn’t until Christ’s glorious resurrection that their minds were enlightened. Good Friday by itself was incomplete - it looked like the defeat of all that was good and the victory of evil. But it was another case of "but later you will understand." The key to understanding was found three days later, on Easter Day. Good Friday was like entering a house with no electricity but Easter Day is when the power is connected and all is revealed. It was then that the disciples understood that in submitting to death and in being raised to life again Jesus had made possible their salvation and ours. One moment they were in the dark as to what had really taken place then with the resurrection appearances of Jesus it all clicked into place - they understood! Many Christians have had an experience like this. Before they had committed their lives to Christ they knew the facts about the Passion of Jesus. But it wasn’t until they went further than that and trusted in Him for forgiveness of their sin that their understanding was enlightened and the assurance of salvation brought peace and joy.
Charles Haddon Spurgeon had this type of experience. Even as a young lad he was conscious of sin, but couldn’t find peace. It so happened under the providential over-ruling of God that one Sunday morning he was prevented from attending his usual place of worship because of a snowstorm. He was obliged to stop on the road because of the weather conditions. Rather than not go to church at all he went into a little Methodist chapel that happened to be near by. The service began but no minister appeared - he’d been delayed in the same way as Spurgeon. At last one of the church officers came to the pulpit and opened his Bible and read the words: "Look unto Me and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth" (45:22). It appears that he set his eyes on Spurgeon and said, "Young man, you’re in trouble; you will never get out of it unless you look to Christ." Then lifting up his hands he cried out, ’Look! Look! Look! It’s only LOOK!’" Spurgeon recorded in later life that he saw at once the way of salvation. He said, "I’d been waiting to do fifty things, but when I heard this word ’LOOK’, what a charming word it seemed to me." That morning the future "Prince of Preachers" simply "looked" to the Lord Jesus Christ and left the service a new creature in Christ Jesus.
The acted parable of washing the disciples’ feet is full of meaning as we enter Holy Week - the days immediately before the anniversary of the central point of our faith. We’ve seen how the Lord Jesus acted decisively to teach His disciples humility. Later on they understood that it pointed to His own act of ultimate submission to His Father’s will in laying down His life for His friends, but also His enemies as well. What He did was hardly under-stood at the time, but afterwards it became wonderfully apparent - he never makes a mistake. It also carries a:
MESSAGE FOR US TODAY
Many years have gone by since that first Holy Week. Jesus has been active in the lives of His people in the same way. What He does we don’t always realise what He’s doing "but" he tells us, "later we will understand." Perhaps we find God’s actions difficult to understand. Why does He allow the hurts of life to visit us, sometimes to humiliate, to perplex - why? The answer is because He loves us and wants us to grow in His grace and knowledge, as St. Paul writes, "to be conformed to the likeness of his Son" (Rom 8:29).
His actions are always motivated by love. We see the greatest example in His self-giving on the Cross, but natural man finds it so hard to accept. Like Peter we rebel at his action: "not me Lord", but there’s no way to enter His kingdom apart from the willing acceptance of what He has done and His Lordship. When we accept His work of grace in our lives - for salvation, for growing up into Him - we shall understand. The key is allowing Him to have His way, to follow His example of humility and sacrifice. Our under-standing of what Jesus accomplished on the Cross only begins down here on earth. It grows as we experience His saving and keeping power day by day, and its full realisation will only come when we see Him "face to face".
The disciples and Christians down the ages have proved the truth of the words of Jesus, "You do not realise now what I am doing, but later you will understand." There are no more fitting words to close with than the words of Jesus: "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them" (13:17). May we all be given grace and courage to prove Him true.
