JOHN 13:4 FOOT WASHING

[Doug]

John 13:4 He riseth from supper, and laid aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself.

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.

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.

13:11 For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.

Jesus said all but Judas were clean. Jesus said that he that is washed was clean but needed to only wash their feet.

Leviticus 16:4 He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches upon his flesh, and shall be girded with a linen girdle, and with the linen mitre shall he be attired: these are holy garments; therefore shall he wash his flesh in water, and so put them on.

Aaron was commanded to wash himself with water to be cleansed as were the Levite priests (Numbers 8:6-7).

Exodus 30:19 For Aaron and his sons shall wash their hands and their feet thereat:


30:20 When they go into the tabernacle of the congregation, they shall wash with water, that they die not; or when they come near to the altar to minister, to burn offering made by fire unto the LORD:

30:21 So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations

Even though they were clean Aaron and his sons had to wash their hands and feet to go into the tabernacle.

The twelve disciples and the believing remnant of Israel would reign with Christ in the coming earthly kingdom as kings and priests (Revelation 5:10) and would require cleansing.

13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

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.

The foot washing was also to be an example of servanthood. It was not to be taken as a religous rite but only an example of the attributes to be exhibited to be great in the kingdom by being least.

.

 

[breathoflife]

One of the things I found most fascinating was the claim the Lord made. He said all power was given to Him and He then washed their feet. Imagine someone in power doing that probably wouldn’t happen to often but for the God of all creation it was a great act of Love.

 

[Willie T]

Foot washing has been elevated to a Christian Celebrity status. It was first demonstrated as a humbling of one's self to do a servant's dirty work. How many people (Christians) today will quietly go to your house while you are out, unknown to anyone else, and scrub your toilet with their bare hands? Not many, I suspect. But to be the center of attention at a formalized Foot Washing Service.... well, that is now a cool thing in religious circles.

 

[amadeus]

It's been many years ago now... but I had some wonderful experiences in washing people's natural feet, but as has been said there is much more to it than that. I then add to this thread a few verses I collected on this subject quite a few years ago:

Why was it that Jesus washed His apostles’ feet, but when Peter suggested that He wash more than his feet, Jesus then answered?

"... He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all." John 13:10

The purposes of the heart and head of each, except Judas, were clean.

“For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.” John 13:11

All of them had walked in places that were unclean. That is to say, they had each and every one of them walked in sin. Jesus was preparing them to walk on a new pathway. Only the one mentioned retained evil purposes in his heart and he alone needed more than a foot washing.

“If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet.

For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.” John 13:14-15

How can we walk along the “highway of holiness” [Isa 35:8] when our feet are still unclean from the sinful pathways on which we have already walked?

Thus it was needful for the priests under the old covenant to wash themselves so as not to defile the tabernacle in the wilderness or the temple. This was a shadow of the place where we are to enter with Jesus and His Father.

"So they shall wash their hands and their feet, that they die not: and it shall be a statute for ever to them, even to him and to his seed throughout their generations." Exo 30:21

Jesus explains here why it was not necessary to wash one’s hands:

“But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.
For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:
These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.” Matt 15:18-20

"The LORD maketh poor, and maketh rich: he bringeth low, and lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust, and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to make them inherit the throne of glory: for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's, and he hath set the world upon them.
He will keep the feet of his saints, and the wicked shall be silent in darkness; for by strength shall no man prevail.” I Sam 2:7-9

"And she arose, and bowed herself on her face to the earth, and said, Behold, let thine handmaid be a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord." I Sam 25:41

"God is my strength and power: And he maketh my way perfect.
He maketh my feet like hinds' feet: and setteth me upon my high places." II Sam 22:33-34 [Ps 18:33][Hab 3:19]

"He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.” Ps 40:2

“For thou hast delivered my soul from death: wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living?” Ps 56:13

“The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.” Ps 58:10

“I thought on my ways, and turned my feet unto thy testimonies.” Ps 119:59

“My son, walk not thou in the way with them; refrain thy foot from their path:

For their feet run to evil, and make haste to shed blood.” Prov 1:15-16

“I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?” Song 5:3

“How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!” Isa 52:7 [Rom 10:15]

When our feet are still marked with the filth of the wrong pathways we have followed then as Pharaoh, we will rub off some of our dirt on others who rub shoulders with us during our day.

“Son of man, take up a lamentation for Pharaoh king of Egypt, and say unto him, Thou art like a young lion of the nations, and thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou camest forth with thy rivers, and troubledst the waters with thy feet, and fouledst their rivers.” Ezek 32:2

“And as for you, O my flock, thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I judge between cattle and cattle, between the rams and the he goats.
Seemeth it a small thing unto you to have eaten up the good pasture, but ye must tread down with your feet the residue of your pastures? and to have drunk of the deep waters, but ye must foul the residue with your feet?
And as for my flock, they eat that which ye have trodden with your feet; and they drink that which ye have fouled with your feet.
Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD unto them; Behold, I, even I, will judge between the fat cattle and between the lean cattle.
Because ye have thrust with side and with shoulder, and pushed all the diseased with your horns, till ye have scattered them abroad;
Therefore will I save my flock, and they shall no more be a prey; and I will judge between cattle and cattle.
And I will set up one shepherd over them, and he shall feed them, even my servant David; he shall feed them, and he shall be their shepherd.
And I the LORD will be their God, and my servant David a prince among them; I the LORD have spoken it.” Ezek 34:17-24

"And he turned to the woman, and said unto Simon, Seest thou this woman? I entered into thine house, thou gavest me no water for my feet: but she hath washed my feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head.
Thou gavest me no kiss: but this woman since the time I came in hath not ceased to kiss my feet.
My head with oil thou didst not anoint: but this woman hath anointed my feet with ointment.
Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, the same loveth little.” Luke 7:44-47

 

[John Caldwell]

This is an account scott McKnight recounts (by permisson of a church member) in A Community Called Atonement:

In my years in the ER, I saw Jesus daily doing His kingdom work in and through a group of His followers. It was a true expression of the church.

One day stands out beyond all the others and left me radically changed forever. It was the day I saw Jesus face to face… “Give us hearts as servants” was the song they were singing as I left the church service, heading off for my second twelve-hour shift in a row.

Weekends in the ER can be absolutely brutal! I was physically and emotionally spent as I walked up to the employee entrance. The sound of ambulances and an approaching medical helicopter were telltale signs that I would be literally hitting the ground running.

“Dawn… can you lock down room 15?” yelled out my charge nurse as I crawled up to the nurse's station. (When someone asked for a lockdown it was usually a psychiatric or combative case.) Two security guards stood outside the room, biceps flexing like bouncers anticipating a drunken brawl. My eyes rolled as I walked past them into the room to set up.

The masked medics arrived with [Name, N.] strapped and restrained to their cart. The hallway cleared with heads turned away in disgust at the smell surrounding them. They entered the room and I could see N. with his feet hung over the edge of the cart covered with plastic bags tightly taped around the ankles. The ER doctor quickly examined N. while we settled him in. The medics rattled off their findings in the background with N. mumbling in harmony right along with them.

The smell was overpowering as they uncovered his swollen, mold-encrusted feet. After tucking him in and taking his vital signs, I left the room to tend to my other ten patients-in-waiting. Returning to the nurse's station, I overheard the other nurses and techs arguing over who would take N. as their patient. In addition to the usual lab work and tests, the doctor had ordered a shower complete with betadine foot scrub, antibiotic ointment, and non-adherent wraps.

The charge nurse looked in my direction. “Dawn, will you please take N.? Please? You don’t have to do the foot scrub—just give him the sponge in the shower.”

I agreed and made my way to gather the supplies and waited for the security guard to open up the hazmat shower. As I waited with N., the numbness of my business was interrupted by an overwhelming sadness. I watched N., restless and mumbling incoherently to himself through his scruff of a beard and 'stache. His eyes were hidden behind his ratted, curly, shoulder-length mane. This poor shell of a man had no one to love him. I wondered about his past and what happened to bring him to this hopelessly empty place? No one in the ER that day really looked at him and no one wanted to touch him. They wanted to ignore him and his broken life. But as much as I tried… I could not. I was drawn to him.

The smirking security guards helped me walk him to the shower. As we entered the shower room I set out the shampoo, soaps, and towels like it was a five-star hotel. I felt in my heart that for at least ten minutes, this forgotten man would be treated as a king.

I thought for those ten minutes he would see the love of Jesus. I set down the foot sponge and decided that I would do the betadine foot scrub by myself as soon as his shower was finished. I called the stock room for two large basins and a chair. When N. was finished in the shower I pulled back the curtain and walked him to the “throne” of warmed blankets and the two basins set on the floor.

As I knelt at his feet, my heart broke and stomach turned as I gently picked up his swollen rotted feet. Most of his nails were black and curled over the top of his toes. The skin was rough, broken, and oozing pus. Tears streamed down my face while my gloved hands tenderly sponged the brown soap over his wounded feet. The room was quiet as the once-mocking security guards started to help by handing me towels. As I patted the last foot dry, I looked up and for the first time N.'s eyes looked into mine. For that moment he was alert, aware, and weeping as he quietly said, “Thank you.”

In that moment, I was the one seeing Jesus. He was there all along, right where he said he would be. “

‘For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me….’ ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’”

 

[amadeus]

@John Caldwell
That my friend was truly beautiful. Thank you for sharing!