04/10/2013
Written by Matthew Thompson
John 13:6 He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” 7 Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” 8 “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”
You have to love Peter. He had the knack of stating what no one else was brave enough to utter. Yet it was a perfectly legitimate concern. Who wouldn’t be uncomfortable with having Jesus take on a servant’s role? If I were to go home right now and find Jesus was literally standing at my door, I don’t think I could handle it if He walked into my house, put an apron on, and grabbed the Tidy Bowl. I wouldn’t want Jesus to do that. I’d want Him to sit on the couch, relax, sip some Texas style sweet iced tea and let me take care of His needs.
In this passage, the response that Jesus gives back to Peter’s objection is intriguing. “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” You see, Peter needed to understand something. The cleansing that comes through Christ does not come because we work to earn it. THAT was the religious concept Jesus came to abolish.
It is only when we are washed by Christ that we are able to dwell with Him. It is only when allow Him to cleanse us that we are truly clean. It is only when accept the sacrifice that He made for us that we can truly dwell with Him. Jesus made it abundantly clear that without His cleansing hand, we can have NO part in Him.