As I am writing this, it is Good Friday. It’s on this day that we remember the day Jesus accomplished the primary goal he was sent for: to die for the sin of the world, to experience and endure the punishment for sin that we deserved. We know this because we have the New Testament to help us understand the meaning of Jesus’s death. But that wasn’t the case for the disciples. Good Friday was probably one of the most confusing days for the disciples as they watched their Rabbi be crucified. Everything they thought they had worked for seemed to go down the drain in a matter of hours. It seemed like the ministry of Jesus was over like a flash in the pan.
But John 13-18 gives us some good insight into what Jesus was doing for his disciples before he would be murdered. John 13 really puts into perspective the entire mission and ministry of Jesus. The death of Jesus was the ultimate expression of washing feet. And Jesus made a point to reiterate his message and mission by washing each of his disciple’s feet. Hopefully, this would help them remember that to follow Jesus is to lay down your life for the sake of others, to set aside your pride and preferences to serve the needs of others even when it’s hard.
Washing feet doesn’t sound very enjoyable. It’s definitely not a task for the noble or for people of importance. Washing feet was for the servants. Feet are dirty, smelly and not always great to look at. It’s a dirty job and rather disgusting. But Jesus reverses the standard of the world by demonstrating that to wash feet, to serve others, to bless others is to fulfill the mission of Jesus even when it’s hard and smelly and not so enjoyable. The death of Jesus was God washing the “feet” of sinners. The most important, powerful, and holy person in the world got on a cross and washed all of our sin away. He did the dirty work so that we would go and do the same. As we remember what our Savior did for us, let’s remember what we are called to for others. Washing feet is to remember how Jesus washed all of our sin away.
