Washing Feet - John 13

A little while ago, we had an event called “You Got Served,” and if you were there you got a very good picture of what Christians did during the days of the early church. If you weren’t there, we shared a meal together and ate Mediterranean food and served one another. But the Love Feast that the early Christians observed was modeled after the feast in this passage. That’s also why we washed each other’s feet, just like Jesus did at this dinner (to see how “fun” it was you can go on Facebook and see a clip of Josh Chang washing John Hickernell’s feet). But the reason why we did all of this is important, and what better way to find out than look at the Bible itself!

Read John 13

In the olden times, servants would wash the feet of the guests when they entered the house. The roads and towns places weren’t as clean as they are now. If you’ve ever walked on a clay tennis court, or in the sand at the beach, that’ll give you a little idea of what people’s feet looked like at the end of the day. The thought of washing someone’s feet today is unpleasant, but think about what the servants felt when they had to wash those types of feet! Jesus is calling us to be a servant, and just as He showed us, we need to serve others, even if that means doing the “dirty” jobs, like taking out the trash after youth group. Try and think about any things you can do to serve in your school, church, or family.

The next two parts of the passage talk about Jesus and Him talking about His betrayal and Peter’s denial. Peter asks where Jesus is going, and asserts that he will lay down his life for Jesus. However, Jesus knows that he will deny Him three times before dawn (when the rooster crows). Sometimes we feel like that could never happen to us. But if someone was bullying a kid at school because they were Christian, and then came up to you and asked if you were with him, would you say yes? If it became illegal to be a Christian, would you still be one? If your teacher or college professor (in the future) were an atheist, would you stand up for your faith when they say demeaning things about it? We all need to stand up for our faith.

However, this doesn’t mean that we have to post: “I am a Christian. If you are a Christian, re-post this…”. Not at all. In fact, I don’t like these posts because they pressure Christians into writing something, and make them feel like they’re going to hell if they don’t. A lot of times they use the verse “Whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven.” (Matthew 10:33) However, just because we don’t post something on our Facebook doesn’t mean that Jesus is going to deny us in heaven. While we do need to stand up for our faith, that doesn’t mean we HAVE to do certain things. Like, what if a Facebook post said “I get on a knee and pray every time I get an A on a test. Every Christian should do this or Jesus will deny you in front of God…” ? Jesus cares about the heart, not about whether you Tebow or not. He wants you to stand up for your faith when it is put to the test.