Washing Feet (1)
Jhn 13:1 Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end. Jhn 13:2 And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's [son], to betray him; Jhn 13:3 Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from God, and went to God; Jhn 13:4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. Jhn 13:5 After that he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe [them] with the towel wherewith he was girded. Jhn 13:6 Then cometh he to Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? Jhn 13:7 Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter. Jhn 13:8 Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. Jhn 13:9 Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also [my] hands and [my] head. Jhn 13:10 Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash [his] feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. Jhn 13:11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. Jhn 13:12 So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Jhn 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for [so] I am. Jhn 13:14 If I then, [your] Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. Jhn 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Jhn 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. Jhn 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
The Background of Washing Feet
This chapter in John's Gospel tells the story of the Lord's washing the feet of His disciples as well as His commandment to them that they should wash one another's feet. Let us first inquire as to when the Lord has washed His disciples' feet and had commanded them to wash one another's feet. The Bible carefully narrates the history and background to this situation. So, we shall look at all this verse by verse.
Verse 1a - "Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour had come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father." This incident of Jesus washing His disciples' feet happened at the feast of Passover. Jesus knew that the hour of His departure out of the world and of His return to the Father had come. If this evening I would leave the world and return to the Father, what would I do? I would probably return some money to my fellow workers and their wives or I would do some other important things. In any case, I would try to set everything in order. Suppose, however, I know my departure will not happen till five years later; I could very well postpone setting things in order during those years. But since I will soon leave, I must quickly conclude these important affairs. One thing is sure, that whatever things I do, these must be very important, not just some insignificant matters such as asking a child to purchase some candies or to watch a theatrical play. This was true of the Lord as well. Before His leaving the world and returning to the Father, what He did to His students was to wash their feet and ordered them to do likewise. Many last-minute things He did not do; but He did perform this one thing of washing the feet of His disciples. This shows how very important was this matter of washing feet.
Verse 1b - "having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end." If you do not love anyone in the world, you can let many matters go and not do anything. If you have no relative, no friend, no children, you can simply die on peace. But here the Lord had many whom He loved. If I am leaving the world and I have one whom I love dearly, what I must do as my last act is to leave my last will and testament with him. This is what we would do, but the Lord was different. He washed His disciples' feet. Jesus had a thousand and one things to do, yet He did not do them; instead, He washed His disciples' feet. He did so because of love. Hence, feet washing must be a wonderful thing. If the Lord did not love those of His in the world, this act of washing feet would not be so wonderful. But His love made this act wonderful to us. For it tells us that washing feet is the expression of the Lord's loving to the end.
Verse 2 - "And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him." This is rather uncommon: a man was going to betray Him but the Lord Jesus already knew it. Here at this hour, He encountered a most unusual and most difficult situation. Suppose a man knew for certain that his house would fall down and yet he could not leave the house - unlike the rich in a city who can move away and build other houses should their present house collapse. The poor, however, cannot move away. Or suppose that a war, a most dangerous war, breaks out and you know that within five minutes danger will come: either a cannon shell will come upon the house or the enemy will come. Can you calmly wash your face at that moment? Or brush your shoes? Or course not. We would not engage in such mundane activities. We would do only thee most essential things. Yet, at such a critical moment, the Lord began to wash the feet of the disciples. What did this indicate? Would you not think that He did the wrong thing? But no, feet washing here signified something highly important, because the Lord did it at the moment when He knew about the betrayal of Judas.
Verse 3a - "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands." This indicates that Jesus would soon be highly exalted, receiving glory, authority, honor, and the throne. The Lord knew these things would soon happen. Suppose you know you will soon be exalted and glorified, having power and honor. What will you do next? Most likely you will do something which is in agreement with your future identity and position. The Lord, though, knowing of His soon leaving the world and knowing of all the exalted things to be given Him by the Father, washed His disciples' feet. At this moment, feet-washing in the eyes of the Lord is the most important matter. He not only washed the disciples' feet but also commanded them to wash one another's feet. For this reason, we cannot neglect this important passage in the Bible.
Before we deal with the main subject, we must first be clear under what circumstances this feet-washing event had happened. We have already seen that this occurred at the time of the Lord's soon leaving the world and returning to the Father. He loved those who were His and He loved them to the end. He also knew that there was already danger, for He knew Judas was going to betray Him. But He also was aware that the Father had given all things to Him. It was under these various circumstances that He arose to wash His disciples' feet and commanded them to do the same.
The Meaning of Washing Feet
Let us now see what is the meaning of feet washing. We know that the feet are in constant touch with the earth. The hands may not touch the earth, the head can be high above the earth, and the backs need not to lie on the earth, but feet must of necessity be in touch with the earth. It can be truly be said that if you want to live you have to touch the earth, for you live on the earth. The head is for thinking, the hands are for doing, the heart is for loving, the legs are for walking, the back is for resting; but he feet are for touching the earth. Here the Lord did not wash hands. The Jews always washed their hands before meals, but here the Lord is seen washing the disciples' feet during a meal. The Lord did not wash head, back or hands but He washed feet. Why was it so? Here is a rather deep meaning which I hope I can explain enough for your understanding.
While men live on earth, they are separated from God because of sin. But now this problem has been solved through the shedding of the precious blood of our Lord Jesus on the cross. The sins that we committed in the past have all been washed clean. After we are saved and become saints, we may overcome the power of sin because of the victorious life of Christ in us. The judgment of former sins has been solved by the cross, and the power of sin is overcome today by the indwelling victorious life of Christ. So we would inquire, is there nonetheless anything apart from sin that can still separate us from God? Honest people will acknowledge that besides sin there are still many things which can separate us from God, and all these things are related to the world and come from contacting the world.
For instance, in the morning you have a quite time before God in prayer and reading the Bible. You sense sweetness in prayer and the word of the Lord seems to speak to you. You fee that heaven seems to be so near that your hands could touch it. This happens from five to seven o'clock in the morning. After eight o'clock, many daily things begin to make us busy. Some of you go to trading, some of you to go to teach, some go to the office, some go to study, some to medical practice, some to the market, and some of you clean the house and wash the laundry. Each and every one of us has many things to do. But a problem now arises. During the morning, as you pray and read the Bible, you feel yourself near heaven. But now you go to trade, or go to the office, and everything you are engaged in is legitimate. You have not committed any crime. Yet after three or six busy hours, when evening comes, do you still feel as close to heaven as you did in the morning hour? Sadly, the answer is no.
The student studies in school, and the housewife works at home. After you have done your work, you frequently sense that heaven has backed away and is not as near as in the early morning. You may still have time to pray, but you do not have much to say. You may still be able to touch the letter of the word, but you fail to touch its inner reality. If you attend the prayer meting in the evening, you want to pray, but you have no word within you. Even though you may come up with some words, yet you feel uneasy in your conscience. You may even shout Hallelujah, and the words and sounds may be the same as before, but the meaning and the taste are different. You feel as if there is something standing in the way between you and God. You cannot find out what sin you may have committed, and even if you confess you sin it does not seem to help. If you are separated from God because of committing sin, you must deal with it on the basis of the shed blood of the Lord on the cross. But here you have not committed any sin; nevertheless, you feel somewhat gloomy within. You have lost your former brightness. Such condition require a different treatment. For this is different from ordinary sinning. The way of dealing with this kind of situation is feet washing. So, what is washing feet? Feet washing deals with something other than sin and yet something that separates one from God.
In our experience, we often meet such situations. Even though we have not sinned, yet we cannot touch God. It is reasonable to us if we sin and are separated from God. But if we have not sinned and yet we cannot touch Him, this puzzles us. Thank God, our Lord not only washes away our sins, He also washes our feet. It is not a washing of hands, for hands point to what you do. You have the authority do or not to do. It is not a washing of the head. Head signifies your thoughts: you have the authority to think of nor to think. It is not washing the back, for you have the authority to lie down to rest or not to lie down. If your head, hands, or back go out of order, you have sinned because they are under your control. But your feet must stand on the ground. This latter is something out of your control. What, then, are the feet? The feet represent contact with the family, trade, school, and so forth. All these are unavoidable in daily life. To be a human being, and as long as you and I are still living on earth, we have to stand upon the earth and make contact with it, till one day the Lord shall come and receive us to himself. Immediately before Jacob left the world, he pulled up his feet and rested them in his bed (see Gen. 49.33). What he means was, Today I have no more need of my feet because I am going to be gathered to my fathers. Before we go to our fathers, our feet must touch the earth, they cannot be withdrawn to the Lord.
In the life of Christians, feet are their unavoidable touch with the world, yet without involving sin. Such contact is not sinful, though it may create some separation between us and God, and thus it causes heaven to be distant and prayer less sweet. As we live on earth, our feet tend to be unclean. We use our feet in standing as well as in sitting. In our whole body, our feet make us feel tired quickly. I do not say our other members of the body never tire us. What i do say is that our feet cause us to be tired most quickly. Likewise, spiritually speaking, our feet often become defiled.
Having understood what feet represent spiritually, we now need to know what unclean feet mean. They must be washed again, even though unclean feet are legitimate, unavoidable, and not sinful. But they cause to be separated from God or cause us to feel tired spiritually. Such, then, is the result of unclean feet. You may attend a meeting and speak the same old words. Though you may even give a message, yet you feel dull inside. You may read the Bible and seem to understand, but you have no inner response to what the Bible says. This proves that you have unclean feet. Simply put, unclean feet take away freshness in communion with God, while clean feet give fresh, living communion with Him.
Someone once said to me: "Formerly, in the same place I am now I felt fine, I felt the preciousness of the Lord. But today I have lost my former feeling. I still pray to the Lord. I want to love the Lord, to consecrate myself to Him, and to trust in Him. I have all these spiritual motions, but I must confess that there is within me something missing." This, I say, is dirty or defiling feet. This, for this person, was having his feet defiled through its contact with the world in daily living. Were you to ask him whether he had sinned or not, his answer would be, No. Outwardly, he is not different than what he was before, but inwardly the difference is great. He can yet declare that the Lord is precious and that he still loves the Lord, but all this that he says belongs to former years. Currently, how many can say, I love and treasure God's word today as much as former years? Many will say, Last year I felt deeply, but now I do not feel so. This means their feet are tired and defiled! This is spiritual tiredness, a losing of spiritual freshness. For this reason, the Lord says that the feet need washing. So, what is the meaning of washing feet? It means to restore your former feeling, to bring you into freshness of life, to give you new power, thus enabling you to treasure what you treasured before. This is what washing feet is all about. Thank you the Lord, He frequently washes our feet.
When we talk, frequently the outer words are the same bu the inner feeling is different. Today many believers in Christ cease to grow spiritually. Even their singing, praising and prayers are forced. Such conditions can be caused by sin, but many have not sinned. This is because their feet get defiled. This is spiritual lethargy. We ought to know that the Lord wants us to be fresh constantly. Hence, He says He will make us to lie down in the green pastures (see Ps. 23.2). There was a brother in a nearby town. He was a laborer and was out of employment for a few months. Two months ago, he got a job. His job was to cut grass. He earned one hundred dollars for every thousand pounds of grass. After these grasses were dried, they would be gathered together into six hundred bundles. Then this dried grass would be delivered to a dairy company. He earned $50 per day for delivery. So, he cut, dried and delivered. I saw lots of grass being dried. S, I asked him why he was drying the grass. He told me that he did so in order to deliver them to the dairy company. The dairy company would keep them for feeding their cows at winter time. So I said to him that the dairy company used yellow grass to feed cows, but our Lord used green grass to feed us. The Lord wants us to be fresh. He wants us to be fresh daily. Yellow yesterday, but green today. Yellow is in the morning but green in the afternoon. The Lord is the fresh living water, not just water flowing for five minutes. He flows freshly every day, every month, every year. He continues flowing, and not ceasing a minute. He is altogether fresh. But He also wants us to be fresh. Such is the life into which He leads us. This is power, joy, peace and holiness. Only then may we live out the life of Christ It conquers Jericho, and later conquers Ai. After we have great victories, there are then our daily small victories. This is what we should experience before the Lord every day.
The Bible said that Saul was a head higher than other people (see 1 Sam. 10.23), but God was not pleased with him as king. God had not chosen him as king; instead, God chose David to be king. However, the Bible never said anything about David's head; it only said that he had a lovely countenance (see 1 Sam. 16.12). This means freshness - like that of a newborn baby, a face not full of wrinkles, like Benjamin Button, but full of freshness and vitality. For God wants us to be fresh. It is said in Psalm 1 that the blessed man is as a tree planted by brooks of water which gives its fruit in its season and whose leaf fades not (see v.3). We have our leaves which stand for our outward behavior such as patience, gentleness, meekness and other virtues. Whether such outward conduct and virtues are green or are withered yellow or are fresh and aged is a matter of concern. Unless there is the fresh movement of the Holy Spirit in us, these leaves will not be green and fresh but rather will turn to yellow and become old. Perhaps you will get up at five o'clock today as you did yesterday, but today you cannot touch God as you did yesterday. The outward situation remains the same but the inward feeling and freshness are gone. Why? Because the leaves of your life are dried up. They appear like the things of the old world in Noah's ark, not like the new green olive leaves after the flood had receded. Such people cannot be of great usefulness to the Lord.
A Thirst after God
Here I would like to address by fellow laborers. We must know why God puts us in the world today. May I speak frankly that He places us in the world in order that we may create a heart of hunger and thirst after righteousness in sinners and saints. As we go out to serve we must be able to create in men a thirsty heart. In us there should be such an intangible refreshing power and supply that people who meet us cannot help but seek after God. When people are in touch with us, a kind of thirst after God should be produced in them by us. If, though, they see and communicate with us often and yet we fail to create in them a longing for God, this will be our failure. Or if we pray, read the Bible, serve, and preach the gospel and yet we are unable to make people thirsty after God, this too must be considered to be our failure.
For example there was this one sister in Christ if you went to her and sat before her for a while, you felt something was wrong in you when you left. You began to feel that she had something you did not have. You would begin to desire for that which she had.
Even when someone is newly saved they are often very proud. (As a matter of fact, few are those who are outwardly proud, but many are they who are inwardly proud.) Perhaps you may read one or two chapters of the Bible per day. But after listening to this sister and praying with her, one can become conscious of their pride, even though she does not scold the person at all. She has something others don't have. Now this impact of hers is an example of washing feet. In her presence your feet would be washed by her. Then you met God. Formerly a person lives outside of God, and was old and dark; but as soon as you come into her presence, you received freshness and light. Many times you feel washed clean when you are in her presence. Sometimes, you may converse with another brother; after you leave you sense having been washed. Your spirit is refreshed. You can face God. This is washing feet.
A few days ago you sense that your feet were defiled. At first you assumed that you had sinned. So, you tried to deal with the sin. But God still seemed far away. You sense a separation between God and yourself. You do not know what to do. In prayer you secretly laughed at yourself that you were being too analytical, for it did not come from within. Later, you went to visit a sister who probably had been saved for only two or three months. She tells you how she was saved and how she was persecuted by her family. She expected help from someone. After hearing her out, you tell her: "Thank God, when I came here my feet were defiled, but now I am clean because your testimony has washed away my old experience." This is "the renewal of the Holy Spirit" as spoken of in Titus 3.5. It is indeed a most precious word. We need the renewal of the Holy Spirit which gives us spiritual freshness.
A bronze vase needs to be brightened with polish. Lacking such polish, the vase will remain covered with a thin layer of dullness, even though it may not turn green. Likewise, it is possible that we may not sin; yet we are covered with a layer of dullness that shall keep us from shining. The Lord said to Peter, "If I wash thee not, though has no part in me" (John 13.8). Why was it so? This "no part with" the Lord does not refer to perdition; rather, it points to having no part in the freshness of communion with the Lord. If we do not have our feet washed, we will be separated from the Lord and will not be able to enjoy the fresh life of the Lord nor have His new supply. For this reason our Lord wants to have our feet washed. We should desire more washings that we may receive more refreshings.
Desire to Wash Other's Feet
There is another side to this matter, which is, we should also desire to wash others' feet. But if we ourselves do not have this victorious life nor the help of the Holy Spirit to enable us to live a life of victory, we will not be able to wash others' feet. Hence, there are those who can wash the feet of others but there are also those who are unable to wash others' feet. It is quite possible that you may live with another person for a whole year, and yet he is unable to wash your feet. It requires a person who is himself living a victorious life before God and is always fresh to be qualified to wash others' feet.
So, then, who needs to have his feet washed? And who should wash others' feet? The Lord tells us: "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet?" (John 13.14b). This indicates that all need to be washed and be ready to wash another's feet. "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought wash one another's feet," said the Lord (John 13.14a-b). In the mutual serving among Christians, nothing is as important and precious as washing feet. "If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them" (John 13.17). I treasure the frequent saying: "Today's Bible is more precious than yesterday's." May we daily experience spiritual freshness. In Darby's translation of Romans 15.32, it reads that Paul was refreshed. This is the result of washing feet.
