“Unless I wash you...”

April 10, 2021

13:1-35 Loving one another, just as Jesus loves us

Read John 13:6-8

It’s not surprising that the disciples were taken aback when Jesus got up part-way through the meal and started washing their feet (13:4-5). This was a menial task, performed by a servant upon the arrival of visitors. So for Jesus to do this clearly was completely unexpected and must mean that it had a particular significance which they would not understand until “later” (7). Only after his resurrection and the coming of the Spirit would they see that it was essential that he died in order to cleanse them from their sins.

Peter’s reaction was typical of the human pride that thinks it can save itself without submitting to the cleansing which Jesus freely gives. His insistence is emphatic – “no” and “never” (8a). He thought (rightly) that Jesus is worthy of honour and so he concluded (wrongly) that his refusal of humble service from Jesus was good and virtuous. It seemed to him that his response showed humility and deference but in fact, it demonstrated how little he still understood about why Jesus had come (Mark 10:45).

So Jesus replied to Peter’s emphatic refusal with an even more emphatic statement: “Unless I wash you, you have no part in me” (8b). The saving work he was about to do was necessary for sin to be cleansed, and without personal acceptance of that work then there can be no knowledge of God in our lives. Only afterwards would the disciples be able to understand this. How tragic it is if we who live this side of the cross make the same mistake so that our human pride stops us from receiving the cleansing which we need and which Jesus died for us to have (1 John 1:7).