“Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” John 13:1
We can look good from head to toe with the right hairstyle, clothes, and makeup when we are around people. But when it comes to our feet – well – the façade is over. Because feet get dirty and stink. We all have dirty feet. If you don’t believe me, check your neighbor’s feet out right now. It’s impossible to keep your feet smelling and looking good all the time. We are uncomfortable with people seeing our feet up close. You may wonder, “What will they think when they see my feet? Will they notice any toe jam or fungus? Will my feet stink? Will they still like me or will they run away from me?”
We don’t like it when people see our blemishes. We are afraid they will reject us. Think about it for a moment? Why do we even worry about what others think of our feet!?! After all, who doesn’t have dirty feet!?! We all have dirty feet! Jesus came to earth to clean dirty feet. All of us need Jesus to clean our feet!!! Amen!?!
In our study of the gospel of John thus far we have looked at the first twelve chapters which present seven miraculous signs to persuade non-Christians to believe in Jesus for His gift of eternal life. Beginning with chapter thirteen of John, the apostle will begin to present intimacy with Christ to persuade non-Christians to believe in Jesus. He also uses this section (John 13-17) to motivate Christians to experience the abundant life of Christ through a discipleship relationship with Him.
In John 13:1-17, Jesus is going to address the problem of dirty feet. From these verses, we will learn how to experience the blessedness of clean feet. Turn in your Bibles to John chapter thirteen. In the context of this passage, Jesus is in the final week of His life before His crucifixion. On Monday, He entered the city of Jerusalem triumphantly (John 12:12-19). This was the day the Passover lamb was selected. On Tuesday, Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem (Matthew 21:12-13). He returned to Bethany that evening. On Wednesday, Jesus cursed the fig tree on the way from Bethany to Jerusalem and had conflict with the religious leaders (Matthew 21:18-23:36). On the Mount of Olives, He spoke of His Second Coming and predicted that in two days He would be crucified at the time of Passover (Matthew 24:1-26:2). In John 13, it is Thursday, our time.
How can we experience the blessedness of clean feet? First, we must RECOGNIZE JESUS’ LOYAL LOVE FOR US (John 13:1-2; cf. I John 4:18-19), dirty feet and all. John informs us, “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.” (John 13:1). This does not refer to the Last Supper occurring before the Passover, but that Jesus “knew” before the Passover that His death was imminent. The time for Jesus’ hour of suffering did not take Him by surprise. He would suffer and die and go to be with His Father in heaven.
Christ had loved His “own” disciples “to the end” or full extent despite their shortcomings. Christ would reveal His loyal love through His humble service (John 13:1-17), His teaching (John 13:18-16:33), His praying for them (John 17:1-26), and finally His death (John 18-19). All four would reveal His love.
Christ’s love knows no limits. From this point on, Christ concentrates on those He loves intimately. The word “love” (agapaō) refers to doing what is best for another person. This was Jesus’ last evening together with His disciples before His death and He wants to express His love to them in a very special way.
“And supper being ended, the devil having already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him.” (John 13:2). The Passover “supper” had just finished. 1 Luke 22:24 tells us that the disciples had been arguing at this supper about who was the greatest when Jesus needed them the most to be available for Him before His sufferings and death. The disciples were imperfect, yet Jesus loved them despite their shortcomings. Satan had already prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Because Judas’ heart was open to the devil, he allowed himself to serve Satan. He was not forced to betray Christ, he chose to yield to Satan’s temptation. The other disciples had also opened their hearts to serve the devil by arguing about who was the greatest. Although the disciples had dirty feet, Jesus still loved them, including Judas who would betray Him.
And you know what? He still loves you and me although we often betray Him with our thoughts, our words, and our actions. We are no different than Jesus’ imperfect disciples. And like them, we also need Jesus’ loyal love daily. This unlimited love of Jesus Christ beckons us to let Him cleanse our dirty feet; to wash our sin-stained lives clean with His forgiving grace. When we focus on the perfect love of Jesus, any barriers we have, especially fear or shame (cf. I John 4:18-19), will be cast out so that we will permit Him to see and cleanse our dirty feet (i.e. our sinful lives). Without the recognition of His loyal and unlimited love for us, it will be very difficult if not impossible to experience the blessedness of intimacy with Christ.
Prayer: Lord Jesus, I dread to think where I would be were it not for Your unlimited love for me. Because I know You love me regardless of how dirty and smelly my feet are, I can be open and honest with You about my sin and shame. You are not uptight or ashamed of my brokenness or sinfulness. You are more aware of these things in my life than I am. And yet You want to spend time with me and cleanse me of the sin and shame that so often interrupt my fellowship with You. Thank You, my Lord and my God, for loving me to the very end despite my unworthiness. You alone are worthy of all the glory and praise. In Your loving name I pray. Amen.
ENDNOTE:
1. There seems to be a conflict between the Synoptic gospels which teach that the Last Supper was the Passover meal (Matthew 26:2, 17-19; Mark 14:1, 12, 14, 16; Luke 22:1, 7-8, 13, 15) and the gospel of John, which teaches that the Last Supper was not a Passover meal (John 13:1; 18:28; 19:14, 31-36). This apparent contradiction between the Synoptic gospels and the gospel of John can be resolved when we recognize that in Jesus’ day there were two systems of reckoning the day: from sunset to sunset (Exodus 12:18; Mark 4:27; 5:5; Luke 2:37) and from sunrise to sunrise (Genesis 1:14, 16; Deuteronomy 16:4; Matthew 28:1; Acts 4:3; 20:7-11; 23:32). The Galileans and Pharisees used the sunrise to sunrise reckoning. Thus, according to the Synoptics, the Last Supper was a Passover meal. Since this day was to be reckoned from sunrise, the Galileans, and with them Jesus and His disciples, had the Passover lamb slaughtered in the late afternoon on Thursday, Nisan 14 (cf. Exodus 12:6) and later that evening they ate the Passover with the unleavened bread. On the other hand, the Judean Jews who reckoned from sunset to sunset would slay the Passover lamb on Friday afternoon which marked the end of Nisan 14 and would eat the Passover lamb with unleavened bread that night which had become Nisan 15. Thus, Jesus had eaten the Passover meal when His enemies, who had not as yet had the Passover, arrested Him. This interpretation eliminates the difficulties presented in John’s gospel. First, this gives good sense to John 18:28 where the Jews did not want to enter the Praetorium so as not to be defiled since later that day they would slay the Passover lambs for those who reckoned from sunset to sunset. Second, John 19:14 makes sense for it says that Jesus’ trial and crucifixion were on the “day of preparation for the Passover” and not after the eating of the Passover. Third, this fits well with John 19:36 where it speaks of the fulfillment of the Old Testament (Exodus 14:26; Numbers 9:12) when no bones of Jesus, the Passover Lamb of God, were broken. After Jesus’ trial and crucifixion, He died when the Passover lambs were slain in the temple precincts.