John 13:1-20 Jesus Washes the Disciples Feet

Wow! There is a lot packed in this 20 verses!

You could read this from an evangelistic perspective or a pastoral perspective or an elders perspective and get three different thoughts.

Let me just give a couple of the things that stick out to me.

Jesus washed the disciples feet. Not some of the disciples. Not all but one disciple. All of them.

Did you catch that? Jesus washed Judas' feet.

He already mentioned that one of them would betray him. He wasn't unaware. He wasn't just playing some little "guess who" game.

Jesus washed the feet of the one that would betray him.

You don't find that kind of humility in the church today. Or outside the church either.

We would rather surround ourselves with people that love us. Keep out those that don't. Stay next to like minded people that don't rock our boat.

I keep thinking of times when as a pastor or leader in a church I felt compelled to "guard the flock" against the sinners. Not letting people that were still weak in some area of their lives work in the body.

I know, I know. There are times and places where we must be careful. But are we sure we know the difference between being "careful" and being "judgmental"?

For myself I need to be way more accepting of those that might rock my boat.

The other part I love about these verses is Peter's responses. "Lord, I will not let you wash my feet!" and "Lord, wash all of me"!

He is always so fully persuaded and reacts so quickly, before thinking.

So very like myself. (although, I would have thought long and hard before climbing out of any boat).

So very child like. I can see why Jesus loved Peter.

I wonder why none of the others were recorded as responding to Jesus washing their feet. In these verses, it appears Peter wasn't the first to have his feet washed.

How would you have reacted? Think about it.


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