Peter watched indignantly as Jesus knelt before each man in the room. The towel wrapped around His waist belonged to a servant, not the Messiah! How could the others let Him wash their dirty feet? Peter’s face was set and his heart grieved as the Lord moved the pan of water in front of him. He shook his head and pulled away.
This was Jesus the Messiah, the Son of God–not some humble servant! He remembered Jesus walking across the waves to pluck him out of the sea when his faith had wavered on the Sea of Galilee. Peter had watched milky white eyes of the blind clear and open at Jesus’ words. He had watched miracles happen through Jesus’ hands day after day.
“Is it for You…YOU to wash MY feet? You will never wash my feet!” Peter whispered through his clenched teeth.
But Jesus was not going to be so easily deterred. He looked into Peter’s eyes and quietly said, “Unless I wash your feet, you will have no part in Me.”
Washing the feet of the disciples was both a prophetic act and an example. As a prophetic act, Jesus was demonstrating the need we have to be cleansed of the grime we pick up by living and walking in a fallen world. As an example, He was teaching us to serve each other in humility.
Jesus has girded Himself with the towel and bends before the church in America with His cleansing water again. He sees how the dust of this world has clung to us and hindered the purity of our walk. He sees how the pride, the ambition, the greed, the philosophies of this age linger on our feet. He saw when we swerved toward the paths of convenience and comfort. He watched when we courted the world. He saw us tolerate what we should have cast off or cast out. Church, our feet are dirty! We need Him to wash our feet!
Let’s just go ahead and get personal tonight…child of God, your feet need to be washed. If you want to be yoked with Jesus as He moves in these last days, let Him wash your feet. If you want to be identified with Him, let Him wash you. If you value His presence more than the world’s presents, hold out your feet. If you want Him, let go of what clings to you–the distractions and glittering promise of entertainment and entrapment –and let the Man with scars in His hands wash your feet!
He is inviting you to walk with Him in deeper ways and to participate in an end times revival that will usher in God’s kingdom. The dark is only going to get darker. Jesus needs a people who are ready to show His love to the lost and dying people around you. He needs you to serve others. He needs your feet to be clean.
