God the Creator knelt down and washed sinful man’s feet

Koot van Wyk (DLitt et Phil; Thd) Visiting Professor, Department of Liberal Education, Kyungpook National University, Sangju Campus, South Korea, Conjoint lecturer of Avondale College, Australia

 

But before the festival of the Passover (see the δὲ contrastive in the phrase Πρὸ δὲ τῆς ἑορτῆς τοῦ πάσχα) Jesus knew (εἰδὼς) that His hour (ἡ ὥρα) has come. The eternal God and Creator of the World and Human Race had an hour. That hour came. A number of things happened that hour. Jesus knew about it. John is going to tell us about it. He will return (μεταβῇ) out of this world to the Father, Who godly-loved (ἀγαπήσας) the own in the world, unto the end (εἰς τέλος) He godly-loved them. What end? The End of Time, the end of His program of salvation which is His great business and involvement with this earth. Well why does God not come into the open today that we can see Him? He appeared sporadically in the Old Testament times to writers who could tell of His program and plans. He cannot reveal Himself in this world for the evil is not yet destroyed and Satan roams on this earth. We have to participate in a drama for the unfallen angels of heaven to see. That is why. If people believe by “awe and overpowerment of mind (due to His great glory) then it is not considered by the opposition (Satan and angels) fair. He will keep godly love people until the end which is the Second Coming of Christ. Satan at that hour of knowledge of Christ has already given over unto the heart of Judas Iscariot, one of the notorious disciples, to hand Him over (ἵνα παραδοῖ αὐτὸν). He also knew about victory, namely that the Father in heaven has given all things to Him (εἰδὼς ὅτι πάντα ἔδωκεν αὐτῷ ὁ πατὴρ). When Christ takes it from the hand of the Father then it does not mean that He did not have it before 31 CE. He had it from Creation time and basically all the time, but when He became flesh and human, Someone had to hold it. That was the Father. That is now in this hour given back to Him. He had to die as God. Heaven risked itself by handing all to the frail Christ shortly before the festival of the Passover started. He knew very well that He came from the Father and that He is going back there (13:3 καὶ ὅτι ἀπὸ θεοῦ ἐξῆλθεν καὶ πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ὑπάγει). They were busy eating but not the Passover meal since the event happen before the Passover festival (13:1 Πρὸ). This was just an evening meal that everyone eats every night. The evening meal was in progress (13:2 καὶ δείπνου γινομένου). When He finished His meal, He got up from the sitting position, with no chairs of course, and took off His over-clothing (13:4). He took a towel and wrapped Himself (λαβὼν λέντιον διέζωσεν ἑαυτόν). The actions are not complete since “after that or εἶτα” He threw water into a basin (νιπτῆρα) and started to wash the feet of the disciples (καὶ ἤρξατο νίπτειν τοὺς πόδας τῶν μαθητῶν). This is a very unusual action. There is not a king in the history of mankind that will do this. Here is the Creator God of the Universe kneeling down to wash sinful human’s feet. It is the ultimate of self-sacrifice. He just received from the Hand of His Father, Who has taken over as Trust from Him His rulership at Incarnation or becoming flesh, and now received it back, not only as God, that He did not give up, but as full ruler. Heaven risked itself giving Christ everything in the face of the suffering, persecution, trial and punishment that awaited Him from this moment on. This is the Jesus that knelt at the feet of sinful selfish disciples to wash their feet. It is an awesome drama. In verse 6 the drama took on a twist of flow of events. Everything went smoothly, until. . . . Yes, Peter. Can you remember washing your children when they were small? Girls may be different but when mother washes the boys they always cry and protested. They do not want to be washed. Well, here Peter is protesting. He said with a double pronoun (one independent and one built into the end of the Greek verb as it is usually) for emphasis: Lord, are YÓÚ going to wash my feet? (Κύριε, σύ μου νίπτεις τοὺς πόδας;). Jesus answer to Peter is equally strong with a double pronoun for Peter and a double pronoun for Himself: “What Í do yóú will not now understand, but you will know afterwards”. (Ὃ ἐγὼ ποιῶ σὺ οὐκ οἶδας ἄρτι, γνώσῃ δὲ μετὰ ταῦτα). Christ evaluated Peter in such a way that He could see the future of Himself but also that of Peter. What good news. That even if he did not understand at the moment, the security is provided that he will understand later. Should one wash only the feet of the one who knows? No. The feet of anyone who wants to wash feet is welcome in the ceremony of washing, Jesus proclaims here. Even if the person is unacquainted fully as to what is at stake. It is an open invitation from Christ. But, Peter’s faith is little and shallow, or not at all even. So he was not convinced still by Jesus insistence to wash his feet. It only reveals Peter’s inability to understand Jesus fully. Peter still thinks that the Lord cannot wash his feet. It is unthinkable for him that his teacher washes his feet. Peter defiantly said that Jesus is not going to wash his feet even unto eternity. Never never never. That is Peter’s reply. Peter is obstinate. (John 13:8 Οὐ μὴ νίψῃς μου τοὺς πόδας εἰς τὸν αἰῶνα.). But it cannot be because as we will learn later, Jesus had in mind to continue this practice in heaven as well especially “unto eternity.” So Peter’s objection is unwarranted and out of place. In the plan of God this modesty (as Peter wants to see it) has no room. Then Jesus informed Peter about the severity of rejection of this ceremony. Up to this point the washing of his feet was the same as his mother bathing him. But there is a turning-point here in the drama by Jesus next words that changed the whole event from an ordinary event to a deeper symbolic one with lasting effects and essential for humans to fully understand. Jesus said to Peter that if He cannot wash His feet then Peter cannot have a part in His salvation (John 13:9 Ἐὰν μὴ νίψω σε, οὐκ ἔχεις μέρος μετ’ ἐμοῦ). Peter was shocked. This is the last thing he wants. He left his fishing trade to follow Christ and he was heavenbound. To hear that he cannot enter heaven to live eternal with Christ if He does not wash His feet is something that Peter could not accept. Peter made a 180 degrees turn: if that is the case then to be double, no triply sure that he is saved, Jesus should wash his feet, his hands and his head. Wash it like my mother use to. Peter does not mind.(John 13:9 Κύριε, μὴ τοὺς πόδας μου μόνον ἀλλὰ καὶ τὰς χεῖρας καὶ τὴν κεφαλήν). The human being is full of drama and heaven watching this occasion smiled with gratitude and pleasure at Peter’s answers. Honesty shined forth from Peter’s simple heart and probably the whole of heaven loved him for that. We will only know in future how many heavenly CNN’s were on this event watching the real-TV in unfallen worlds out there in the universe. It is the same with us and if we do not know it, perhaps it is time to know it. Jesus now answered one of the most difficult answers for Greek scholars to explain. The famous Greek scholar J.A.T. Robinson said at this verse John 13:10: that if only the “feet” part was left out of the sentence, it would have made more sense but still not completely. Robinson was not a Seventh-day Adventist and so were many scholars like him and thus their inability to understand the situation fully. Scholars tried to allocate the words to the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist as they call it but both J.A.T. Robinson and R. Bultmann (the liberal scholar) guessed that it may refer to the Christian baptism. Adventists do not guess, they know: it refers to the baptism by immersion. Jesus said: The one who is washed have no need but to wash his feet since he is wholly (John 13:10 ἀλλ’ ἔστιν καθαρὸς ὅλος) clean. Why is the person totally clean? Because he/she was baptized and came out of the waters with a clean heart and clean mind and severed past behavior. Wholly clean. Totally clean. But the feet need to be washed! What a paradox! Clean but should be washed. No dirt is on the feet, it is not unclean, but it needs to be washed by Jesus. Suddenly, the whole event takes on a meaning beyond a simple footwashing that was the custom in those days. Jesus did not do them just a favor. The drama takes on a level of importance that supersedes the ordinary and spiritual dimensions enter the picture. If clean feet needs to be washed, since the person is totally clean by immersion baptism, then churchgoers need to be at the edge of their seats here. What is going on here, they should inquire. If baptism is just by sprinkling, one already sits with the problem that five drops on the hair cannot be called “washing” and cannot be called “totally clean”. It has to be an immersion baptism to qualify. “You are clean but not all”. Of course all were baptized by immersion so they are all clean but one of the persons chose to be weed and not the seed of God. He rejected in his heart the Spirit’s promptings. That is the one not clean. Even if the person is baptized but continues in sin, the person is not clean. The disciples were not perfect yet but their persistent push to “grab His garment” like the woman did in the crowd” qualified them for salvation and be called clean. One was not, for he behind the scenes took money from the purse, organized militia activities and was sold out to politics. He was not clean. Jesus knew in future who the one is that will give him over to the authorities in the garden of Gethsemane (John 13:11 ᾔδει γὰρ τὸν παραδιδόντα αὐτόν). After Jesus finished the actions of washing their feet and drying it with the towel He took his “overcoat” (τὰ ἱμάτια αὐτοῦ) and sat down (ἀνέπεσεν) again with them. He looked at them since all were silent and said: “Do you know what I did to you?” (John 13:12 Γινώσκετε τί πεποίηκα ὑμῖν;). Jesus is asking a penetrating question. He wants to know if they can see through the mere washing event a deeper sense that is of vital importance for salvation and eternal life. The God Creator and Yahweh of the Old Testament bent down and washed sinful man’s feet. A greater act of self-emptying there cannot be. Heaven gave everything to humanity to save humanity from sin and the Devil’s demeanors. Jesus decides to fill them in what is at stake here: “You call me teacher and Lord.” They call him Rabbi and Yahweh. (John 13:13 ὑμεῖς φωνεῖτέ με Ὁ διδάσκαλος καὶ Ὁ κύριος, καὶ καλῶς λέγετε, εἰμὶ γάρ). Jesus answered that to call Him Rabbi or Yahweh is good (καὶ καλῶς λέγετε = and you say good). Then follows an astounding admission by Christ that He is Yahweh: “because I am” (John 13:13 εἰμὶ γάρ). I am what I am He said to Moses. People went to John the Baptist to ask him “Are you Him?” He answered “I am not, the Christ” (John 1:20). But here Christ said “I am”. He is the Great I AM of the Old Testament. Judaism missed this great fulfillment of the promises in the Old Testament and still do. They denied the Trinity passages of the Old Testament and still do. God is one but with three functions independent of each other. Complex to properly understand but the texts of the Old and New Testament unveiled it, we have to believe it and accept it. Jesus then drive the nail deeper into the understanding: If I am Rabbi and Yahweh of the Old Testament, and I have washed your feet, you need to do the same to one another (καὶ ὑμεῖς ὀφείλετε ἀλλήλων νίπτειν τοὺς πόδας). This is not a command to freely suggest to a friend or visitor or older person “come, there is a tap outside, I will wash your feet for you”, or “you are old and cannot bend properly, let me wash your feet”. This is not local footwashing that Jesus upholds here. What Jesus did was not local custom even though it was local custom. What Jesus did is a symbolic action of God giving His life for mankind by becoming nothing from being everything. The Creator bend down from heaven a great distance and humanity need only a small bending of less than half a meter! True humility cannot be given a great example. Said Jesus: “I have given you an example that you should also follow” (John 13:15 ὑπόδειγμα γὰρ ἔδωκα ὑμῖν ἵνα καθὼς ἐγὼ ἐποίησα ὑμῖν καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιῆτε). “I have shown you an example (ὑπόδειγμα) that what I did to you, also you may do” (καὶ ὑμεῖς ποιῆτε). Are we? Are we doing what He did? Are we following His example? People say, it is only Christ Who did it to His disciples. We do not need to do it today. Some, even in Biblical Commentaries of their churches say that it was only a local custom. Jesus said to His disciples: “Verily I say unto you that a slave is not greater than his master nor an apostle greater than the one who sent him” (John 13:16 . ἀμὴν ἀμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν, οὐκ ἔστιν δοῦλος μείζων τοῦ κυρίου αὐτοῦ οὐδὲ ἀπόστολος μείζων τοῦ πέμψαντος αὐτόν). The dynamic of this event is tied to the Lord Supper context only. It is not a general activity to be carried out in a bathroom between spouses, although such actions are not unwelcomed. Now comes the part that if the reader has come thus far in the reading of this blog, the point is made by Christ: “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do it (αὐτά)”. Do what? Participate in the Footwashing part that is connected to the Lord’s Supper. It is singular and refers back to the context of the event just carried out by Christ here (John 13:17 εἰ ταῦτα οἴδατε, μακάριοί ἐστε ἐὰν ποιῆτε αὐτά). If your church does not practice Footwashing before the Lord Supper and after you explained it to them refuse to, you need to find another church denomination. If you were baptized by sprinkling as is common by Catholics and some Protestant churches, you need to go and search for the church denomination that has this full package following Jesus’ words exactly.

 

Dear God

Also our hands and head needs to be washed by immersion if we are not baptized properly and also we want to participate in the Footwashing ceremony that precedes the Lord’s Supper in our churches. Save us and bless us also when we do it. Amen.