Such a Simple Declaration

“Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God and was going back to God, got up from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself.

Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded. So He came to Simon Peter. He (Simon Peter) said to Him, ‘Lord, do You wash my feet?’

Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I do you do not realize now, but you will realize hereafter.’

Peter said to Him, ‘Never shall You wash my feet!’ 

Jesus answered him, ‘If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me’” (John 13:3-8).

There it is: 

“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Every liberal theology, secular humanist argument, and not wanting to "hurt the feelings of those who believe differently," is an independent protest against the Biblical Christ; a push-back that pronounces, 

“No, never” to Jesus. 

“Never will I let Him in. Never will I embarrass myself. Never will I accept that there is anything even remotely close to “sin” in this world, much less in me! Never will Christ wash my feet, or any part of me. I will have nothing to do with Him.” 

Even those who appear, in word and deed, to have given ascent to Christ, in reality have not if they have eschewed Christ’s washing them in His blood, shed on the Cross. 

“Not everyone who says to Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS’” (Matthew 7:21-23).

What is the will of the Father that Jesus speaks of in the above?

“This is the will of Him who sent Me, that of all that He has given Me I lose nothing, but raise it up on the last day. For this is the will of My Father, that everyone who beholds the Son and believes in Him will have eternal life, and I Myself will raise him up on the last day” (John 6:39-40).

Many people pass through life without ever properly considering who God is, much less who Jesus is. They often misleadingly think they believe in Jesus, when in reality what they have done is merely consented to His name only (Romans 1:21). 

This often comes about through adopting the church (not Christ) of their youth, or the denomination of their spouse or family. Whether they attend a corporate church or not, they agree with the idea of God or Jesus without knowing God or Jesus.

For others, belief in Christ can be nothing more than a religious ritual, observance of a holiday, or a rote personal or corporate prayer.

As a non-believer, I used to recite the Lord’s Prayer before every car ride, never actually hearing the words or knowing what they meant. The superstitious mouthing of the words is what I now call my “Lucky Rabbit’s Foot,” spoken so as to prevent an accident. 

I also thought that, since I had been baptized as a baby in the Presbyterian Church USA, that I was a bonafide religious person—never mind the fact that I had absolutely no clue as to what baptism meant. To me, I was a Presbyterian who accepted a nebulous God—casually throwing God into the mix of my sincere belief in the power of horoscopes, “praying” to the full moon and wishing on stars! 

When Peter said, “Never will You wash my feet!,” he was asserting a self-righteousness that raised himself above the Lord. When we do this, we become the stumbling block to knowing Christ (Acts 28:27), and to His knowing us (even though Christ knows everything about us: Psalm 139; John 1; 2:24; 4, Hebrews 4:13;). We put up our guard and Christ cannot “know” us in the context of us being in His family, as His very own brothers and sisters:

“While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and brothers were standing outside, seeking to speak to Him. Someone said to Him, ‘Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.’ But Jesus answered the one who was telling Him and said, ‘Who is My mother and who are My brothers?’ And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, ‘Behold My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven, he is My brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:46-50).

Again we hear, “whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven.” The will of the Father is that we not only behold the Son, but believe the Son (John 6).

Peter, instantly discerning this at Jesus’ response, immediately surrenders to Christ:

“Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, then wash not only my feet, but also my hands and my head’” (John 13:9).

At that moment, Simon Peter loved the Lord His God with all of his heart, all of his mind and all of his strength. And although certainly Christ already “knew’ Peter, now Christ can know Peter in the context of Peter now also knowing Christ.

Peter understood, finally, the truth, and that truth is what set Peter free from his own high regard for himself and from the intellectual reasoning and religious rubber-stamping that had kept him from being washed in the living Christ.






Copyright Barb Harwood