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Communion is more than a tradition of the newly established
Christian church. It is fellowship
between God and man. As time is nearly
out, Christ takes precious moments to “be” with His disciples. As He used to enjoy His walks with Adam and
Eve in the Garden at sunset, and even set aside an entire day to be “Holy” just
to be with us; so now He takes out a moment to simply “be” with His
disciples. They will eat, drink, and
commune together. From the point of view
of the disciples this is a celebration of the feast of Passover. From the point of view of the Messiah, this
is the last meal He will ever enjoy with His disciples. With all the burden that must come upon Him in
just a few short hours, He makes time to be with His disciples and speak, and
do, what is most important to them. John
sets the stage for us, in his gospel account beginning in chapter 13. It is the time for the feast of Passover, but
John puts his emphasis on the truth of the character of Christ.
He opens in verse 1 saying … “Now before the feast of the
passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of
this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he
loved them unto the end.” The love of
Christ never wavered. He loved all of
His disciples right up to the end of His life.
That love was paramount. That
love was the reason why He had come to our world. Jesus did not restrict His love to only those
disciples He knew would be faithful to Him in all things. If He had so restricted it; who would have
been left to enjoy the meal with Him?
For all deserted Him in His time of greatest need. Judas was at this dinner. Judas enjoyed this meal with His Lord like
John, Peter, and all the rest of them.
Jesus did not restrict His love to Judas even knowing what Judas was
about to do. Nor did He restrict His
love from Peter knowing how Peter would deny Him openly. Both dined.
Both enjoyed the company of their Lord.
But John, with the benefit of hindsight, writes now what he
knows about that night. He continues in
verse 2 … “And supper being ended, the devil having now put into the heart of
Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him;”
Judas had too long refused to be changed by the Messiah he spent his
every waking moment with. His greed and
avarice, and thirst for power and prominence had never given way to the
simplicity of humble service that the life of Christ exemplified. That life was not the one Judas wanted. Judas wanted the life of a great leader. He wanted the power and fame that comes from
a position of authority. He was not
alone in his ambitions. Right up to
these moments the disciples often jockeyed for position in who would be the
next greatest leader in the kingdom of Christ.
Judas was no different in that respect, if perhaps only in that he was
more ambitious and more secretive about his own desires. What he was not; was transformed. He lacked the humility to be
transformed. He was “happy” with who he
was, and only wanted more of it, not less.
In that respect, does he sound like the person in the mirror who stares
back at you every day? Are you so
comfortable with “who” you are, that you believe you need no transformation
into something else, something more humble, something resembling more of
servant and less of a king?
Christ had a knowledge of the thoughts and desires of His
disciples. He knew that what Judas
wanted was not so different than any of the others, though only Judas was
willing to betray His Lord to acquire it.
John continues in verse 3 by revealing what Jesus knew … “Jesus knowing
that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he was come from
God, and went to God;” His death is
nearly upon Him. His mission is nearly
complete. So does He finally accept the
glory and praise He is due? Does He seek
out the people to praise Him, for the act of sacrifice He is about to perform
for them? Wouldn’t we? We seek praise for our accomplishments. We seek adoration when we do something good
for others, if only to remind us of how good we are. Yet Christ makes no such moves. Instead John continues with what He does with
time so short, and burden so high.
John relays in verse 4 … “He riseth from supper, and laid
aside his garments; and took a towel, and girded himself. [verse 5] After that
he poureth water into a bason, and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to
wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded.” He served.
He took upon Himself the most humiliating duty of a servant and
performed this act of humility on those who SHOULD have done it for Him. Their feet were dirty. Their feet were smelly. They had no Dr. Scholls to reduce the smell,
or orthodic shoes to protect their feet from the dirt, mud, and animal waste
they must walk upon. They had only
sandals of rough leather to protect them from dusty, rocky roads. They had no chance to bath regularly, or rub
oils on their feet, or keep themselves well maintained. Yet Christ who considered Himself willing,
was willing to wash and dry the feet of these men. All of them.
Judas included as well as Peter.
Jesus stooped to serve the one who would choose to be His enemy. He did not restrict His love from Judas, nor
did He refrain from serving one who would choose to do evil. Every opportunity would be offered to all who
were there, regardless of what they would choose to do with the opportunity and
love He offered.
It was a stark contrast in the minds of those who were only
moments before thinking to themselves what greatness would be theirs in the
kingdom He was sure to establish. Here
was their King, serving them in the most debasing of ways, the most
humiliating. A King who served? Who had ever heard of such a thing? This was too much for Peter to accept. Peter says in verse 6 … “Then cometh he to
Simon Peter: and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? [verse 7] Jesus
answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know
hereafter.” Peter had to question
this. Peter thought it his place to
remind the Lord that servants do this kind of work, not Kings. If he accepted Jesus performing this act of
humility upon him, it was like admitting that his own pride had kept him from
even considering doing this kind of work.
Not an easy pill to swallow.
Jesus however, tells Peter that while he may not understand this act
right now, it will become clear to him later as to why He would do it. Peter responds in verse 8 … “Peter saith unto
him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. …”
Peter response is “forget it” Lord.
I am not going to allow you to humiliate yourself or me in doing this
kind of work. In effect, Peter was too
proud to accept that.
But the words of Christ in response were overwhelming as
Jesus responds continuing in verse 8 … “… Jesus answered him, If I wash thee
not, thou hast no part with me.” Peter
was blown away. They were all just
thinking about the establishment of the kingdom of Christ. For him to have no part in it would be
devastating. Peter still does not
understand why Christ would do this, but he will not risk becoming a power
broker in the new anti-Roman kingdom Christ is surely about to setup. So he quickly answers in verse 9 … “Simon
Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” If this is about cleanliness perhaps, then go
ahead and give me a full bath. Whatever
it takes to be the number one general, or number one secretary of state, or
number one chief council, just go ahead and do it Lord. Ironically Peter was really asking to be the
number one servant, but he just could not comprehend that yet, as Christ had
just told him.
Jesus responds to Peter’s overdoing-it by saying in verse 10
… “Jesus saith to him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but
is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. [verse 11] For he knew who
should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.” Obviously none of them had recently bathed,
nor was Christ trying to say that a literal clean-up of our feet can take the
place of proper bath when it comes to cleanliness. However, being served in humility, is by
definition humiliating. We are cleansed
by a power outside of ourselves. That
fact is humiliating. To admit we are
unable to cleanse ourselves is not something most Christians are comfortable
with, let alone non-believers.
Christians like to think they can remove the sins from themselves by
their power, or determination, or abundance of good works. They like to think that at the worst case,
they are in a partnership with God, where the Christian does his best work first,
and only THEN does God do “His part”.
But none of this is true. The
disciples feet did not clean themselves, they were not allowed to participate
in the cleansing. They did not even necessarily
want to be clean or at least want it enough to do it to themselves, let alone
for others. The act of cleansing their
most exposed and dirty part was done solely by Christ. They were clean only as they allowed Him to
clean them. They had NO partnership. They did NONE of the work. Christ did it all. All they did, was let Him.
With time for Christ as short as it was, He takes time out
to eat and socialize and commune with His closest followers. And now with time growing even shorter, He
serves them all in the most humble of ways, taking the part of the lowest slave
to do work, none of them would even consider.
This is the heart of our God.
This is the level of service He will do for us if we but let Him. He will cleanse us from the filth we have
embraced like a patient parent who cleans up his baby from an accident in going
to the bathroom all over themselves. Sin
is that distasteful to God, but He cleans us up from it because He loves us
that much. And in this act of humility,
Judas participates. He allows Christ to
wash his own feet as well. But his heart
is unmoved by it. We may allow Christ to
clean us, but we do not remain clean if we do not choose to do so. Judas was only growing more indignant that
this purported King would so humiliate Himself and them. And Jesus recognizes Judas resistance to
being made clean by a force outside of himself.
Thus He offers out loud to all of them, the idea, that one has not
accepted the cleaning He is offering.
Now because it was still a mystery in the minds of those He
had just served, Christ must explain to them why He did what He did. Jesus asks in verse 12 … “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?”
Notice that it took Christ a minute to get his own clothing back on, and
to sit back down at the table. Notice
too that no-one took the initiative to clean the feet of Christ with basin and
towel. Jesus continues in verse 13 … “Ye
call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. [verse 14] If I then,
your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one
another's feet. [verse 15] For I have given you an example, that ye should do
as I have done to you. [verse 16] Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant
is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent
him. [verse 17] If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”
First Jesus acknowledges that He is indeed their Lord and
ours, the title is not lost on Him, or inaccurate in any way. He is God after all. For God to be willing to stoop to serve man,
in the most humble of ways, should show us that we should not be reluctant to
serve each other in equal humility.
Christ was not setting up a feet cleaning business, or stating the clean
feet are the mark of His followers. He
was however plainly stating that no act of humble service from one to another
is something we should think ourselves “above” doing. Often we continue the tradition of feet
washing in our churches in times of performing an ordinance of communion. We follow the literal words of Christ, but
lose the deeper meaning. Washing another
member of our churches feet, is a much different proposition today, when
everyone is sure to have bathed and worn appropriate footwear for just such an
event. But to bring a member in need
groceries without being asked, or even desired, is something we are more
reluctant to do, as it might embarrass him or us in the process. To take the initiative to serve another in
tasks we consider unpleasant do not spring to mind. We reserve our service for more convenient
actions that require less of our time, and perhaps only more of our
resources. Digging a latrine in a
mission is not considered “glory” work … by anyone other than God. The message of Christ to us, is that when we
love each other as He loved us, no act of service is beneath us. No need should go un met if we can meet
it. And there is no room for pride in
any part of the equation of love and service.
To wash each other’s feet in our day, can hardly breach the
gulf of an entrenched pride that refuses to be made humble. And there is ancestor who felt that same
way. One who had the benefit of the
literal company of Christ, but would leave that very night to betray Him to His
death. Is it the path of Judas we
follow? Or is the path of our King, who
put aside his garments, took basin and towel, and washed each of the feet of
his disciples in the condition they were in?
There is nothing wrong with following the traditions and ordinance of
humility our communion services offer.
But the heart of the transformed by Christ can hardly stop serving
before or after such an event. When the
heart is transformed, it values love above all else, and must express that love
in humble service meeting every need it can, in any way that it can. We can choose to express our love to our
parents, our siblings, our spouses, or our children. Or we can love greater, by loving those we
know less, and associate with more. Or
we can love greater still, by investing our time and energy on those who seek
to call themselves our enemies, and desire nothing but our destruction. To love those who would do us nothing but
harm, is to love as Christ loved. For He
showed that same tender love to the eleven as He did to the twelfth (Judas). Nothing was ever held back by Christ despite
what we would choose to do with it. The
same is true today. But communion was
not over yet …
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