John 13:1 NIV
[1] “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

These words preface five chapters in John’s gospel rich in the revelation of the Trinity… Father, Son, and Holy Spirit… working together in harmony to bring about the greatest event in human history, the death and resurrection of the God-man, and to bring the effects of that event into the lives of ordinary people.

Jesus’ first intention, in these final treasured moments in the Upper Room, alone with His disciples, was to show them that love is the key to all that He was about to reveal and to do to bring heaven to earth.

How did He demonstrate this love? ? He washed their feet!

No big deal for us who live in the 21st century. Most of us still have water in our taps. We wear closed shoes. Farm animals don’t coexist with us. At least many of us are not obliged to walk on dirt paths contaminated with filth!

In Jesus’ day, washing feet was both essential and the task of the lowliest of slaves… not in the job description of a rabbi, least of all a rabbi with authority, and certainly not the task of the one whom they held in highest honour and treated with the greatest respect.

Yet, Jesus deliberately disrobed, took a basin of water, and a towel, and knelt on the floor to wash His disciples’ feet. What a reversal of roles! What a demonstration, what a way to reinforce a lesson! A leader is a servant, not a boss… a slave, not a slave-driver.

Love alone makes it possible to ignore, to cancel rights, position, protocol… whatever elevates one above another, obliterating everything but common humanity to serve, to lift others up at the expense of the server.

Jesus could do this because He had nothing to prove and nothing to defend.

John 13:3-5 NIV
[3] “Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; [4] so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. [5] After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.”

How unique it was to enjoy the company of one so free that no provocation caused offense, no situation created crisis, or displayed emotional immaturity. Jesus was just such a person. He could wash filthy feet with the same dignity as when He engaged people in discussion or debate.

This love was the love Paul described in 1 Corinthians 13,the famous “love” chapter.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 NIV
[4] “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. [5] It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. [6] Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. [7] It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

Jesus’ demonstration of love was not so much to give them a new ceremony to follow but to highlight the attitude in the heart of a true disciple. Real love puts aside self for the sake of others. Only when we can do the lowliest, the most undignified or humiliating task for another without revulsion, can we show the love in our hearts that mirrors the love of Jesus.

This is a standard so high that few ever reach it in our ministry to one another. There is often a sneaky attitude of pride even in our most humble service. “Look at me…” However, Jesus urges us, not to carry out another ceremonial act for show but to serve each other with the selfless devotion that comes from a heart transformed by grace.

Our old nature rebels against any affront to its ego. Our self-centred pride demands to be protected at all costs. The disciples, especially Peter, balked against this demonstration of the kind of love which was absolutely foreign to him. He first resisted then went overboard…

John 13:8-9 NIV
[8] “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” [9] “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

Jesus had to drive home the message…washing their feet was symbolic of the daily cleansing from the contamination of their walk in the world. The deeper cleansing of their souls was effected by the work of the cross. It was their role, as members of one body, to care about the way they related to each other, preserving unity and fellowship by transparent and loving service.

John 13:10 NIV
[10] “Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.”

Later on, He would explain…

John 15:3 NIV
[3] “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.”

Through the message He was to them, His disciples were aready washed by the Word. Their role was to apply that cleansing to their daily walk, in their togetherness and fellowship.

What was Jesus showing and telling them?

John 13:34-35 NIV
[34] “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. [35] By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

By His demonstration of love, He showed them that all the commandments of the Old Covenant would be fulfilled by their loving service to one another. So, John, with understanding, would later write…

1 John 3:16, 23-24 NIV
[16] This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters…
[23] And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. [24] The one who keeps God’s commands lives in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.”

And Jesus’ final disclosure? How is His message ever going to reach the world of wicked and rebellious people?…

John 13:35 NIV
[35] “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

… Not by bashing people with Bible but by the power of the sacrificial love of Jesus poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.