Corporate cleansing

 

He continues “Ye are clean, but not all; for He knew who should betray Him” therefore He says “Ye are not all clean.”  The piercing eye of Jesus penetrates the inner man and He knows who are clean and who not.  In the ensuing verses we move from the need of personal cleansing to the importance of corporate cleansing.   Uncleanness cannot exist in presence of God and cannot continue amongst His people.   He introduces here the sad subject of the betrayer which He will expand in v18-30.   “So after He had washed their feet, and had taken His garments, and was set down again, He said unto them.   Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord, and ye say well; for so I am.  If I then your Lord and master have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another's feet.  For I have given you an example that you should do as I have done to you.  Verily, verily, I said to you, the servant is not greater than his Lord nor he that is sent greater than He that sent him.  If you know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

There is yet a further lesson which the disciples need to learn.  Not only does the Lord wash our feet, but we are to be engaged in washing one another’s feet-v14.  Note: They called Him Master (teacher) and Lord (sovereign); Master suggests instruction whereas Lord (kurios) suggests authority, sovereignty and supremacy. This was true; He was indeed their Master and Lord, but they had it in the wrong order.  He was in fact their Lord and Master-note the reverse order in v14.  We like to be taught (Master) and then decide whether or not to be obedient (Lord). The Divine order is the opposite!  If I am to benefit from His teaching, I must first of all be subject to His Lordship-John 7v17” If any man do His will (Lordship) then he shall know of the doctrine (Master).  Again in Matthew 11v29-Take my yoke-Lordship-upon you, and learn of me-Teacher.  He is our Lord before he is our teacher, we do not choose what we will learn, or what we will obey, or how we will act.   So, if He, as our Lord and Master, has washed our feet, we have an obligation and debt to follow His example and do the same to other believers-v.14-15.  How do we wash one another’s feet? Not literally of course!  Not by finding fault with one another; not by correcting and criticising; but by ministering Christ one to another.  Certainly it involves a servile attitude to one another, a humble approach to each other, a genuine consideration for each other.  It is clear that the practise of feet washing was prevalent in olden times in middle eastern culture.  Reference to the following scriptures will make that clear-Genesis 18v3-5; 24v32; 43v24; Judges 19v21; Luke 7v44.  The practise was continued in the early church-1^st Timothy 5v10.  However it is not the practise in a western culture in our modern age, so we need to consider the application of this in the present time.  It is important we understand this, for our Lord clearly says that this is a debt we owe to one another- “…ye also ought to wash one another’s feet,” and it is His wish we do it.

It seems to me there are three thoughts endemic in feet washing in a spiritual sense today: courtesy, humility, and ministry.  Before we ponder each of these, let us think of the symbol of the word as water in the bible, the agency of cleansing.

Again Ephesians 5v26 “…having cleansed it by the washing of water by the (spoken) word”: Psalm 119v9 “Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? but by taking heed thereto according to thy word”: John 17v7 “Sanctify them through thy truth, thy word is truth”: 2^nd Corinthians 7v2 “Having therefore these promises (in the word) let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God”: John 15v3 “Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.”   Thus the word is the cleanser of our lives before God, and it is in the gentle application of it to others we can effect cleansing from defilement, it is the word which cleanses.

So the washing of feet is the ministry of the word; not in any official sense, but in a very personal and humble and servile sense.  Ministry is just service, it is not some overbearing position.  The key to the understanding is the phrase “one another”, which is found multiple times in the New Testament.  We can think of it in terms of courtesy, we are encouraged to greet one another, as equals, and privileged equals at that.  The action of feet washing also suggests humility, something the disciples knew little about, but which they learned, as can be seen by Peter’s teaching in his 1^st epistle 5v5 “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder; yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility; for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.”  It can be seen in the ministry to one another, as we share with the saints what we have learned from the word.  It may be a word of comfort, or of rebuke, or of encouragement, or of doctrine, or restoration.  It will be such that removes the defilement of the way by the soothing, cleansing word of the Lord.  The phrases “one another” abound in the New Testament, and should be our watchword as we serve the Lord.  Our service to each other should be in the interest of the other person’s welfare.  In this way we can wash each other’s feet and so follow His request, and so acknowledge Him as Lord.