Living for Jesus: John 13:1-5, 12-17: When Jesus Washed the Feet of His Friends

Did you ever know someone who seemed to live for others? Not as a martyr, but as one whose greatest happiness in life is to make other people happy? Jesus was like that.

JOHN 13:1-5, 12-17: WHEN JESUS WASHED THE FEET OF HIS FRIENDS

INTRODUCTION

One of the favorite people in my life was my granny. She lived in Kansas City in a big three-story house. We loved to go there because she was such a loving person and because her house was so interesting. She had unusual toys to play with, a harmonium, and a third story with a dormer window you could look out of at what seemed like a great height. She had a radio with push-button tuning, something so one else we knew had. When we had breakfast at her house, she invited us children to go into her pantry, each to choose a jar of jam from her collection of jams for our breakfast toast.

One thing I remember about Granny’s house was a framed Bible verse above the steps to the second story. The letters appeared to be made of pearl. The verse was Romans 15:3: “Even Christ pleased not himself.”
I wondered about that verse. It seemed to say that even Jesus thought he fell short in some way.
But later I came to realize that what the verse meant was that Jesus was always thinking of pleasing other people, rather than himself. I know why Granny had that verse there—because that was how she tried to be—always thinking about the happiness of others.

I have been thinking about Jesus in this way.

When Jesus was arrested, he told his captors, “If you are looking for me, let these go.” And so he spared his disciples from sharing the tragedy he was facing (John 18:8).

When Jesus was carrying his cross through the streets of Jerusalem, some sympathetic women followed mourning and wailing for him. We read that Jesus turned and said to them, “Don’t weep for me; weep for yourselves and for your children because of the disaster that will come on Jerusalem” (Luke 23:28).

When the soldiers had nailed Jesus to the cross, even in his terrible pain he prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23; 34).

When the repentant thief turned to Jesus and asked to be remembered when Jesus came into his kingdom, Jesus kindly promised him: “Truly I tell you, today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43).

And then Jesus turned to his mother who was standing beneath the cross weeping and committed her to the care of his beloved disciple John: “Woman, here is your son…Son, here is your mother.” And the disciple took her to his home to spare her from the pain of seeing the death and to care for her for the rest of her life.

But I think the story of Jesus that illustrates this beautiful trait most clearly is the story of how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples at the last supper.

John 13:1-5 and 12-17

I. In that time the roads weren’t generally paved and people went barefooted or with only sandals on their feet.

A. When a guest came to a house, the host would typically assign a slave to do the kindness of washing the dirt and grime of the road from the feet of his guests. The cool water would not only cleanse away the dirt but would feel refreshing to the tired feet.

Sometimes if the host wanted to particularly honor a guest, he might bathe the guest’s feet himself.

This time Jesus is both the host and the slave. The action he does is both a kind gesture and a lesson with deep meaning for his disciples.

B. Picture the scene.

At a Passover dinner—which his was—the guests would recline on couches to eat.
They propped up their heads on their left hand and took the food or drink with their right one.
In this way their heads were close together, and their feet would be away from the table.
Jesus, we read, took off his outer garment and wrapped a towel around his waist.
He is now attired like a slave.
He takes a pitcher of water and a basin and goes from one to another, washing the feet of each of his disciples.

I don’t know whether the company gathered in that room was only the 12 disciples, whose names we read or whether some of the other disciples were there also, including the women who followed and served him.
I like to think that some of the women were there too.

C. Then Jesus used the opportunity to teach his friends something important about life.

He said, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (vv14-15).

If Jesus, the King of Glory, showed his Divine Majesty by washing the feet of his human brothers, how much more we should count it a privilege to serve others.

Jesus uses this opportunity to show his disciples what it means to be great in the kingdom of God. To be the greatest in the Kingdom of God is to be the servant of all.

Someone said, “When Jesus put on the towel and took up the pitcher and basin, it was not only to wash the dirt from their feet but also the proud feelings from their hearts.”

In the kingdoms of the world the greatest ones are the ones who have the most people serving them. In God’s kingdom the greatest ones are the servants.
It’s not natural to want to be a servant. It’s not natural but it’s beautiful.
If we as Christian believers are willing to serve others—even in difficult or humble ways—that is a great witness to the truth of the gospel.

I heard about a believer who, whenever he had a guest, shined the guest’s shoes. He had the right idea.
You who were wives can remember how many times you served your guests as you practiced the art of hospitality. If you did it cheerfully and with love, it was a ministry that pleased Jesus.

II. But there’s another even deeper meaning in the story.

A. This happened at the last supper, just before the part where Jesus took the bread and wine and offered it to the disciples as symbols of his body and blood given for them.

When Jesus took the bread and said, “This is my body,” and when he took the cup and said, “This is the blood of the covenant,” he was, in a sense, giving himself to them as their sin bearer.
He was illustrating the meaning of his soon coming death.

B. John doesn’t tell us the story of the last supper, but I think the account of Jesus washing the feet has something of the same meaning.

His action in washing their feet is symbolic of the service he would do by laying down his life for them.
Just as Jesus—in giving them bread and the cup—showed his friends how he would give himself for them on the Cross.
So he showed them—by washing the dirt from their feet—that he would cleanse their souls from sin by his death.

This story is about being loved by Jesus. In the first verse we read: “Jesus knew that his hour had come…having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

CONCLUSION

People like to boast about what sets them above other people, but the pleasure of believers is in the opportunities we have to serve.
I know that in your long lives you have had many opportunities to serve others—in the home, at work, in the church, and in your neighborhood.
I want you to know how pleased God is with your service because, when you served others, you were like Jesus.

A STORY

A young woman took a job in a long-term care facility as a nurse or nurse aide.

One of her first patients was a woman named Eileen. Eileen’s major health problem was that she had had an aneurysm burst in her brain, leaving her totally unconscious to the observing eye, and apparently unaware of anything that was going on around her. It was necessary to turn Eileen every hour to prevent bedsores, and she had to be fed through her stomach tube twice a day. Eileen never had visitors--there was no one who cared about her.

One of the other nurses said, "When it's this bad, you have to detach yourself emotionally from the whole situation…." As a result, more and more Eileen came to be treated as a thing, with people just going in and doing their work and then leaving again as quickly as they could.

But this young nurse decided that she, in living out her Christian faith, would treat this woman differently. She talked to Eileen, sang to her, said encouraging things to her, and even brought her little gifts.

On Thanksgiving Day, however, the young nurse came to work reluctantly, wanting to be home on the holiday. As she entered Eileen's room, she knew she would be doing the normal tasks with no thanks whatsoever. So she decided to talk to Eileen. She said, "I was in a cruddy mood this morning, Eileen, because it was supposed to be a day off. But now that I'm here, I'm glad. I came. I wouldn't have wanted to miss seeing you on Thanksgiving Day. Do you know that this is Thanksgiving Day?”

Just then the telephone rang and the nurse turned away from the bed to answer it. As she was talking, she turned to look back at Eileen.
Suddenly, she saw that Eileen was looking at her, crying. Big damp circles stained her pillow, and she was shaking all over.”

That was the only emotion that Eileen ever showed, but it was enough to change the attitude of the entire staff toward her. Not much later Eileen died.
The young nurse said, "I keep thinking about her….It occurred to me that I owe her an awful lot. Except for Eileen, I might never have known what it's like to give myself to someone who can't give back.”

I like the story of Eileen and the young nurse because it illustrates what Jesus was trying to teach us in when he washed his disciples’ feet.
It gives us an idea of what it means to love like Jesus loved.
It gives us an idea of what it means to serve Jesus by serving others.

A Prayer

“Blessed Jesus,
who didst use thine own most precious life
for the redemption of thy human brothers and sisters,
giving no thought to ease or pleasure or worldly enrichment,
but filling up all thine hours and days
with deeds of self-denying love.
Give me the grace today to follow the road thou didn’t first tread,
and to thy name be all the glory and praise,
even to the very end.”
(John Baillie, Diary of Prayer, day 2, morning)