WWUTT 928 Jesus Washes His Disciples' Feet?

Jesus said to his disciples that the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, because we've been justified, we don't need that again, but we still need to be sanctified when we understand the text.

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Here once again is Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. Continuing our study of the Gospel of John chapter 13,

I'll begin reading in verse 1 and we'll read through verse 11. Now before the feast of the

Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the

Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him,

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

He laid aside his outer garments and, taking a towel, tied it around his waist.

Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet? Jesus answered him,

What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand. Peter said to him,

You shall never wash my feet. And Jesus answered him, If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.

Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus said to him,

The one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him, and that was why he said,

Not all of you are clean. So of course, this is the story of Jesus washing his disciples' feet at the last supper.

Now I mentioned yesterday that there's some confusion as to what day this actually took place on as it pertains to the story in John, because some scholars will say that this was in Bethany.

This happened before the actual last supper, which would have been on Thursday and is what is written about in Matthew, Mark and Luke.

But I showed going to the end of the supper right at the start of chapter 18, how this could not have been anything else other than that last upper room supper that Jesus had with his disciples on Thursday.

Now, the Passover lamb is not slaughtered until Friday, and yet Jesus is having this supper with his disciples on a

Thursday. So what are they eating then if the Passover lamb has not yet been slaughtered?

Well, it's kind of a rushed meal rather than the official meal for reasons that aren't exactly given to us.

But to kind of compound the mystery even more, you can go to Luke chapter 22, where we read

Luke's account of the institution of the Lord's Supper. And it says in Luke 22, 14, and when the hour came, he reclined at table and the apostles with him.

And he said to them, I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer.

For I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.

So just kind of add to the confusion a little bit more. What is Jesus saying here?

Is he saying he's going to eat it with them or he's not going to eat it with them? And some would assume that the way we're actually supposed to understand the language here is

Jesus is saying, I will not eat it again with you until it is fulfilled in my father's kingdom, which would be the same as what he said regarding the cup that he passed to his disciples.

I will not drink of this vine with you again until I drink it new with you in my father's kingdom.

So just as Jesus said that about the cup, perhaps he was also saying that about the Passover meal. But like I said, it's a mystery and these things will continue to be debated until Jesus comes.

But nevertheless, I do believe that we are able to understand the specifics of the meal a little bit better when we combine it with everything else that was written in the gospels.

And as I said yesterday, the four gospels are not in disagreement. It is clear from what we read,

I believe, that this meal happened on Thursday. Jesus was crucified and buried on Friday.

So this is the last supper here in John 13. And the one thing about this meal that differs from the way that we read about it in Matthew, Mark and Luke is we don't have the institution of the

Lord's Supper. And as I had mentioned to you at the start of our study of the gospel of John, I think this is one of the evidences of a later dating of this gospel, that it would have been after 70

AD, after the destruction of the temple when John wrote this gospel, because the Lord's Supper had already been instituted.

It was being practiced in all of the churches. There was not a reason for John to have to write about that again.

Even Paul had written about it in First Corinthians chapter 11, exactly the way that you should be conducting this meal in your churches and the disciplines that should surround it.

So these traditions were already established in the church. It wasn't the reason for John's writing.

John was giving more details into some of the discourses and the things that Jesus taught, more than he was instituting custom and tradition, which had already been set in place in the churches.

So in this particular case, John is recalling an instance of Jesus showing his service for his own disciples in the washing of his disciples' feet.

Verse two, during supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot Simon's son to betray him,

Jesus, knowing that the father had given all things into his hands and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper.

They had sat down for supper. They had probably eaten, you know, some appetizers, sorts of things, and before the meal is actually being served,

Jesus is rising now from the table. So it's as though the ones who were serving them the meal, this was taking place in an upper room and the hosts of that house were preparing the meal for them.

So as it's now being announced, we're ready to serve the meal. Jesus is standing up to wash his disciples' feet.

He laid aside his outer garments so not to get them wet. They would have retained a lot more water than the undergarments would have.

And taking a towel, he tied it around his waist. It was this towel that he was going to use to dry the disciples' feet.

Then he poured water into a basin and he began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

Now you have to consider the time period, the day and age in which this act that Jesus is doing for his disciples was being done.

Everybody pretty much wore sandals. They walked to and fro. So you're kicking up a lot of dirt and your feet get really, really dirty.

And I'm talking really dirty, not just when you're out in flip flops and you're walking around and you get kind of some dust on your feet or you get some grime under your toenails or something like that.

We're talking caked on dirt that combines with the sweat in your foot.

And so it kind of creates like a layer. You almost have like a mud slipper or a dirt slipper on your foot because of all the dirt that you've been kicking up.

It takes a little bit more effort to get the dirt off than just, you know, coming in and kind of stamping your feet off.

And so here Jesus and his disciples have come into a guest's house. And in the upper room, they didn't necessarily go through the house to get there, but it was probably a staircase that was on the outside of the house.

So they go up the steps to that upper room area. And that's where it is that they are seated. And it was customary for them to be washed before.

They sat down to eat. But like I said, if this was a case where they were coming from outside into the upper room area, then maybe there wasn't there weren't any slaves in that particular part of the house to wash their feet.

The slaves would have been downstairs. This was typically a job that slaves did. The slaves of the house would wash the feet.

It wasn't necessarily the host of the house that did so. So this was a slave's job, which was why it was kind of surprising to the disciples, even to the point of Jesus saying to or I'm sorry,

Peter saying to Jesus, I'm not going to let you do this. He came to Simon Peter.

That's verse six, who said to him, Lord, do you wash my feet?

Jesus answered him what I am doing. You do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.

Now, remember that Peter is common for some pretty Sunday school answers. We have that in several places, like, for example,

Matthew chapter 16. Jesus asks his disciples, who do you say that I am?

And they say, well, well, who do the people say that I am? That's what Jesus asks first.

And they say, well, some say that you're Elijah and some say you're one of the other prophets. And Jesus says, but who do you say that I am?

And it's Peter who's the first one to speak up and say, well, you are the Christ, the son of God. And Jesus says, blessed are you,

Simon Bar -Jonah, for flesh and blood is not revealed this to you, but my father who is in heaven.

And then a little bit later on, exact same chapter, just a few verses later, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem, that he is going to suffer.

He's going to be turned over to the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and they're going to kill him. But he says,

I'm going to be raised again on the third day. He says that to his disciples. And in Matthew 16, 22,

Peter took him aside and rebuked him saying, far be it from you,

Lord, this shall never happen to you. And Peter thinks he's being noble. He thinks he's showing his love and his affection for his master.

But if he truly loved him, he would have heard what he just said. I'm going to die, which is in fulfillment of the scriptures.

And then on the third day, I'm going to be raised. Peter, it's like he forgot. He completely missed that part.

But Jesus turned and said to Peter, get behind me, Satan. You are a hindrance to me for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.

So a few verses before Peter was praised for his answer revealed to him by the father. But then a few verses later, he's rebuked for answering from his flesh rather than from the spirit of God.

So, Peter, he's common to the Sunday school answers. And we've seen this in the gospel of John. Also, back in John, chapter six, when

Jesus taught many difficult things to the disciples that followed him, there are people who said, who can understand what he is talking about?

And they turned and they walked away. John 6, 66. After this, many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him because Jesus had said, if you want to enter the kingdom of heaven, you must eat of my flesh and drink of my blood.

And Jesus said to the 12, do you want to go away as well? And Simon, Peter answered him,

Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed and have come to know that you are the holy one of God.

Here's Peter trying to earn some teacher brownie points again. But Jesus answer in verse 70 is, did

I not choose you the 12? So quit trying to praise yourself. I'm the one that chose you. And yet one of you is a devil,

Jesus said. So even after Peter's answer, he doesn't have any congratulations for what it is that he just said.

So in this particular case, Peter is making another one of those Sunday school answers, you know, where a teacher asks a question and you can raise your hand and say the

Bible or Jesus. And that's probably the answer. So Jesus is giving one of those kinds of responses.

He thinks he's being noble when he said to Jesus, you shall never wash my feet.

This is a job for slaves. You are our master and our teacher. So we're not going to let you do this because you're not a slave.

And Jesus replied to him, if I do not wash you, if I do not wash you, then you have no share with me.

So here's Peter being the stubborn teacher's pet, thinking that he's saying something humble, saying something noble by refusing to let

Jesus wash his feet. And Jesus has to tell him in a rebuke, if I do not wash you, you have no share with me because you cannot wash yourself.

In order to be with Christ, you must be cleansed by Christ. He cleanses us from all unrighteousness.

First John one nine. If we ask God for forgiveness, he is faithful and just to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

He forgives us and cleanses us of our sin. He is faithful to do so because he has said that he would and we are his children.

He is just to do so because the price for our sin has been paid in Christ. So because it's been paid,

God is not only faithful to forgive us our sins. He is just in doing so because he put forward his own son

Christ as a propitiation for our sins. And it is the blood of Christ that cleanses us of our sins.

So Jesus saying, if I do not wash you, then you have no share with me. Our fellowship with God is by faith in Christ, by whose blood we are forgiven.

So then Peter changes his tune, verse nine, and he gives yet another Sunday school type answer.

So Simon Peter said to him, Lord, not my feet only, but but also my hands and my head.

In other words, OK, if if I have to let you wash me in order to have share with you, let's do the whole thing, not just my feet.

Do it. Do all of it. Jesus, get me from the head down to the feet. OK, Peter's getting a little

Pentecostal here. He's getting a little hyperactive about this whole thing. A little holier than thou almost in the eyes of the other disciples that would have been sitting around him.

Look how much better I can do. I'm not just getting my feet washed. I'm getting my head washed. But then what

Jesus says to him next is still to show him that he still doesn't understand. Remember, Jesus said, what

I am doing for you now, you do not understand. This was verse seven.

But afterward, you will understand. So even in this case where Peter refuses to be washed, Jesus says,

I have to wash you or you have no share with me. So then Peter gets a little zealous about the whole thing. And and yet he still doesn't get it.

So Jesus has to tell him the one who has bathed does not need to wash except for his feet, but is completely clean.

And you are clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him. That was why he said not all of you are clean.

So because they had been chosen by Christ and they were his apostles, they were already clean.

He had cleansed them. They had been bathed and not bathed with water, but bathed with the spirit of God.

And of course, that would that would be that would come to greater fulfillment at Pentecost, which would happen a little more than 50 days from this particular occasion that's happening here when the apostles are in Jerusalem, the

Holy Spirit comes upon them and they are baptized in the Holy Spirit. But they are clean in this particular case because Jesus is the one who has chosen them when we are chosen by God to be followers of Jesus Christ.

We have been cleansed. We are washed with the water through the word, as Paul illustrates in Ephesians chapter chapter five.

And by the way, this foot washing tradition in this particular time period, it was the slaves that would wash the feet of the people who came into the house.

But later rabbinic traditions. So some later Jewish traditions shows that the wives would actually wash the husband's feet.

That's just kind of an extra factoid for you there. But anyway, all of that to say that it is through the

Holy Spirit and the washing of water through the word that we have come to faith and we are being cleansed and we are being sanctified.

We also have in Titus three, five. He saved us not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the

Holy Spirit. And we also have one of these occasions mentioned in first Corinthians chapter six.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived.

Neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.

And such were some of you. But you were washed. You were sanctified.

You were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the spirit of our

God. This is the kind of washing that Jesus is talking about. We are bathed from head to toe.

And in this washing that is done for us spiritually through the Holy Spirit of God, through the teaching, the hearing of his word,

Romans 10, 17, faith comes by hearing and hearing through the word of Christ. It is through this that we have been cleansed and we stand before God righteous by Christ who has cleansed us.

Now, when we are justified, we're now clean head to toe. We don't need to bathe again.

That's what Jesus is indicating here. When he says the one who is bathed does not need to wash except for his feet.

As we continue to walk this earth, kicking up dust in this sordid fallen place in which we live, we're going to get a little bit dirty and we need to be cleansed from that.

And that is the washing of our feet that needs to be done. So we are bathed from head to toe.

We are able to enter into the Holy of Holies because of the cleansing that we've received through the Holy Spirit of God.

But in that process of sanctification, as we continue to walk this earth and kick up dust, we still need a foot washing.

And that's what's being shown here through this act that Jesus is doing for his disciples and that he is washing their feet.

This is the act of sanctification. Washing them from head to toe, bathed, having already done that, that's justification.

The washing of the feet, the little bit of washing that needs to continue to be done daily, that's the sanctification part, the growing in holiness, the constant need for Christ that we have.

And he not only justifies us, but he also sanctifies us.

We're not just justified by Christ, we're also sanctified by Christ. So this growing in holiness is a work that Christ is doing in the lives of every believer.

We need to be justified and then we're in the process of being sanctified until we meet with our

Lord forever in glory, presented before him as holy and spotless, the righteous bride of Christ, as described in the book of Revelation, presented before the bridegroom and we will be forever with him in glory.

These things are beautiful to think about and to ponder and how great a God we serve who continues to serve us in this way, not just in laying his life down so that by faith in him, we may be justified.

But even that as mediator between us and the father, he continues to sanctify us even now through the washing of his word, being washed by his word.

And Jesus says, you are completely clean, but not every one of you. For he knew who was to betray him.

And that was why he said, not all of you are clean. And that, of course, was in reference to Judas. And we'll talk more about that as we continue this narrative with Jesus in the upper room with his disciples next week, following Easter.

But at least we got a little bit of the upper room in here before we got to Easter. Let's conclude with prayer.

Our wonderful God and Savior, we thank you so much for what you have done for us and what you continue to do for us, that we are being sanctified in Christ Jesus.

We are being perfected day by day. We are growing in holiness, being shaped in the image of our

Savior. And this is not a work that we could even do for ourselves, but Christ is even doing that work for us, not only making us presentable before the father, but is growing us in holiness day by day.

And so I pray that we would be obedient to your word, that we would desire God, that we are fervent in prayer, that we are praising you.

We do everything to the praise of your glorious grace and the exaltation of your great name and lead us in those things today as we go, that we find more and more ways that we may praise

God for these situations and these circumstances, not being quick to complain, but to praise for this is what you continue to teach us as we traverse this world.

Be with us, our Savior, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. You've been listening to When We Understand the

Text with Pastor Gabe Hughes. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, Gabe will be going through a New Testament study.

Then on Thursday, we look at an Old Testament book. On Friday, we take questions from the listeners and viewers.