THE FOOT WASHING GOD
“You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you” (John 13:14-15). There is no place here for self-serving. We are called to a higher order. This is ‘an example’ for us to do as He did. An example is a pattern, or a model. There is no explaining this away as anything except an example. “The slave is not greater than his master, neither is the one who is sent greater than the one who sent him” (13:16). To think we are greater than our Master is to think we are exempt from the lowly, servant, foot-washing God. To think this, is self-serving. To think this is to believe we can wash our own feet, and only our own feet. To be like the Master is to bow low, go to the feet, wash and bless, and dry gently. “If you do these things, you are blessed if you do them” (13:17).
My concern is that we are missing huge blessings by not serving others. We have been fed a phony ‘prosperity gospel’ and the prosperity of it has defeated our desire to serve.
The blessing is in washing. And especially in washing the feet of someone like Peter. Peter said, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” (13:6). “Never shall you wash my feet!” (13:8). Peter is the example of one who prefers the ‘self-serve’ line for foot washing. “I will do my feet and you do yours.” Jesus’ response is, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me” (13:8). Peter is every one of us. He will later be the rock to form the church but at this point he is dealing with the character and formation blueprint needed for such a community and such a leader. These are the architectural plans of a new people. No rock is needed in us until we get through the plan of serving by foot washing. An organization without this plan is a self-serving organization. It may be called a rock, but it is sand by virtue of not following the blueprints and plans.
“If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.” Jesus