Digging Deeper Days
Finding the original intent of Scripture and making good application to our everyday lives as we become equipped to correctly handle the Word of Truth!
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The Questions
John 13:1-15
Before the Passover Festival, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
2 Now when it was time for supper, the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray him. 3 Jesus knew that the Father had given everything into his hands, that he had come from God, and that he was going back to God. 4 So he got up from supper, laid aside his outer clothing, took a towel, and tied it around himself. 5 Next, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet and to dry them with the towel tied around him.
6 He came to Simon Peter, who asked him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
7 Jesus answered him, “What I’m doing you don’t realize now, but afterward you will understand.”
8 “You will never wash my feet,” Peter said.
Jesus replied, “If I don’t wash you, you have no part with me.”
9 Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not only my feet, but also my hands and my head.”
10 “One who has bathed,” Jesus told him, “doesn’t need to wash anything except his feet, but he is completely clean. You are clean, but not all of you.” 11 For he knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
12 When Jesus had washed their feet and put on his outer clothing, he reclined again and said to them, “Do you know what I have done for you? 13 You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are speaking rightly, since that is what I am. 14 So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done for you.
Original Intent
1) Why would Simon Peter ask an obvious question in verse 6 and follow it up with such a strong statement in verse 8?
In the cultural context of Jesus’ time, washing feet was the normal, common custom in every home. Footwear in the far east consisted mostly of bare feet! If someone did wear shoes, it was merely a wide strap of leather or wood bound with thin leather straps to the wearer. Considering that travel was almost always on foot, and the roads were dirt-packed, it’s easy to understand why foot washing would become the customary rule in society. When you entered the house, shoes were removed, if they were worn at all, and a household slave would have the unsightly task of washing filthy feet. In this scene from the Upper Room and Jesus’ final Passover meal with His disciples, there was no slave present to wash their feet. When Jesus removed his outer garment, signifying He was preparing to do a servant’s work, Peter knew instantly what Jesus was intending to do. But, he was so mortified that the esteemed Teacher and Son of God would consider such a low task, Peter gave over to his emotions, and in horrified, unfathomable disgust asked, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?!”. It was as if he shouted, “Surely Not!”.
2) Why is this foot washing such a big deal to Jesus? (verse 8)
With frustration that boiled dangerously near anger, Peter burst out, “You will never wash my feet!”. Jesus, undeterred, with firm insistence, responded, “If I don’t wash your feet, you have no part in Me.” It was as if Jesus was saying, “Peter, oh Peter, how I love you! You must let me show what it means in the everyday life to mercifully serve others. You must let me show you that, if even God the Son does not consider Himself to be so far above the work of a slave, then you, my beloved Peter, can have no part of My work or My kingdom. You will have missed everything about my life, my love, and my sacrifice on your behalf. You must let me wash your feet, so you can love others.” If Peter did not let Jesus touch His filth-ridden-feet, his view of how God should act would remain unchallenged. His view of himself, as a future ambassador for King Jesus, would also remain unchallenged. Power and position, to Jesus, did not give a blank check for passing on the dirty-work. Rather, Christ viewed His powerful position as an opportunity to leverage love and mercy with humility in real-time. This was the whole of His mission to earth. If Peter missed this, he missed everything. (John 13:12-15)
3) What does Jesus’ response to Peter mean regarding bathing and not everyone being clean? (verse 10)
As was often the case with Simon Peter, his emotions flung him quickly from one extreme to the complete opposite. One moment, Peter is vehemently stating Jesus would never wash his feet, and then, hearing the reprimand from Jesus, is flaming with a new insistence, “Well, then, Lord! Not, just my feet, but also my hands and my head!”. If this washing is so important, Jesus, then, take all of me! Douse me in water. Plunge me in it. I want it all! But Peter had, again, missed the point. I wonder if his big emotions, so familiar to the Lord, made Jesus smile just a bit at their extreme opposites. Patiently, Jesus drew it out for Peter explaining that “one who had bathed, didn’t need to wash anything but his feet.” While confusing at first, when we read the rest of Jesus’ words, we gain a little more understanding. ““You are clean (speaking to Peter), but not all of you (speaking to all of the disciples).” For He knew who would betray him. This is why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”” (verses 10-11) “Clean”, here, meant having a genuine saving relationship with Jesus flowing from faith. Faith in realizing Christ was indeed the long-ago promised Messiah who would come, fulfill the requirements of the Law perfectly, and would come to set all people free. They didn’t understand all the details of Christ’s soon-to-be-realized sacrifice on the cross, but they fully believed Jesus was God, and trusted Him with all they had. The one who was not clean, was Judas Iscariot, who would betray Jesus within hours. Judas did not have a saving relationship with Jesus. Because Peter already had trusted Jesus with his life, becoming “clean”, Jesus said he only needed his feet washed. This meant, he only needed to continue learning what it was like to follow Jesus in real life.
Everyday Application
1) Why would Simon Peter ask an obvious question in verse 6 and follow it up with such a strong statement in verse 8?
Peter’s response to Jesus’ extremely humble gift of love was mortification. Jesus deserved to be served! Jesus was God the Son, Maker of Heaven and Earth, Sustainer of all things, and was as far removed from the position of slave as could possibly be imagined. Peter wanted to make sure he, and his dirty feet, weren’t cause for Jesus to humble Himself. What Peter missed was that Jesus came for this. Christ’s humbling began when He left the glories and rights of His heavenly position as co-equal with God the Father, in order to become sin for us. (2 Corinthians 5:21) He came for the purpose of being humbled, even to the point of death on a criminal’s cross. The Maker of the World would die to become its Savior. When we look at Jesus through the lens of the Almighty One, then cast a furtive glance at our own “dirty feet” of our sin, our lies, our gossip, our anger, and our arrogance, it’s easy to see why Peter would sputter with such indignation. Lord! You are holy! I am not! Leave me, and my dirty feet, here! You don’t deserve to be touching me! And, we would be right, He doesn’t deserve to be touching us. He doesn’t deserve this coming to earth, this dwelling with us, this dying in our place. He deserves none of it, but that’s precisely the point. He didn’t come because He had to, He came because He loved us. The Samaritan in the story of the “Good Neighbor” had the most reasons to keep on walking and leave the hurt man on the road; it wasn’t his job. But He Didn’t. In humility, Jesus loved the unlovable, us.
2) Why is this foot washing such a big deal to Jesus? (verse 8)
Have you ever found yourself using your Christianity as a reason to not engage someone else? Perhaps someone you unintentionally, or very intentionally, viewed as less? They go to the bar, I can’t associate with them! What if my pastor sees me? She cheats on her husband, I need to distance myself from her. What if my friends think I support her decision? I can’t walk away from this gossip among my Christian friends; they will think I’m a snob! She looks full of herself, there’s no way she would want to come to church with me. Oh, the inconsistencies that plague us in our everyday life choices! And I’m speaking to myself! Sisters, with tears in my eyes, we must fall on our knees and beg the Lord Jesus to come, convict us of our arrogant perspectives! We must ask Him to teach us to submit to the power of His Spirit so we can love others with humility and mercy. Sit with the Lord Jesus there in the scene of the Upper Room, wash basin on the floor, water splashed around. May the image of the Lord, having shed His power and position of royalty to pick up the slave’s towel, stick with us as we move through our everyday, and move us to humble acts of lavish, undeserved love!
3) What does Jesus’ response to Peter mean regarding bathing and not everyone being clean? (verse 10)
There are at least two practical applications we can make from this snippet of the foot-washing scene on the night Jesus was betrayed and handed over to be crucified. Of primary importance, we must each honestly evaluate whether we are “clean” as described by Jesus. Are we washed by Christ’s blood, which He poured out for many for forgiveness of sin? Have we been made fully new through faith, trusting Jesus as the only acceptable offering to a Holy God on our behalf? Do we trust Him as our Savior who took our rightly deserved punishment of separation from God because of our sin, and who gave us His own righteousness instead? No other question matters until this matter is settled with all certainty! If we have surrendered to Jesus, trusting Him through faith, then we must evaluate how closely we are following His lead in our lives. Are we arrogantly vacillating from one extreme to the other based on our own perception of reality and what we deem to be necessary or important? Are we willing to lay aside our lens of the world and ask God to adjust our vision so we can see this pursuit of God and loving others from His vantage point? If there were a barometer which gauged our humility, and generous love born from that humility, in our lives, what would it say? Do we see others without pretense? Are we willing to love them? Do we prove it? Ask the Lord to guide you as you seek and probe into the corners of your heart. Ask Him to shine a light of truth and help you to grow in following Him!
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Digging Deeper is for Everyone!
1) Take this passage (or any other passage).
2) Read it, and the verses around it,
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3) Write down your questions
as you think of them.
4) Ask specific culture related questions and be ready to dig around for your answers. Google them, use www.studylight.org, or look them up in a study Bible and read the footnotes (click on the little letters next to a word and it will show you
other related verses!). (www.esvbible.org)
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Why Dig Deeper?
Finding the original meaning is a huge deal when we study Scripture and can make all the difference in our understanding as we apply God’s truths to our everyday lives.
In our modern-day relationships, we want people to understand our original intention as we communicate; how much more so between God and humanity?!
Here’s a little bit more on why we take Digging Deeper so seriously.
Study Tools
We love getting help while we study and www.studylight.org is one of many excellent resources, providing the original Hebrew (Old Testament) or Greek (New Testament) with an English translation.
Want to know more about a specific word in a verse? Click on “Strong’s Interlinear Bible” then click the word you’d like to study. Discover “origin”, “definition” and hear the original pronunciation – That Is Awesome!
Want more background? Click “Study Tools”, then pick a few commentaries to read their scholarly approach, keeping in mind that just because a commentary says it, doesn’t mean it’s true. (just like the internet :-))
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What a challenge. Something i think that we feel we are doing this but really, are we?
I think of times as pastor wife when people tell me the church is friendly, but what iv see is they are friendly with friends but not too newcomers especially those who are less loveable.
This was convicting for me to write as well, Mandy. It’s easy to think we are loving all well, but those lenses of false pretense rise up quickly. I need the Lord to remind me of His view of how to truly love others.