By Muyiwa Falope ...
Have you taken a look at your feet lately? I mean a real close look. I have been doing that since last Sunday and I can say definitely, that even at their very best, my feet are not a part of my anatomy worth showing off!
As a youngster I played a lot of soccer with my friends. We usually played bare feet in the street. I vividly remember my mom’s face many times looking down in horror at my mud caked feet as I came home, and sending me straight to the bathroom for a thorough wash. Like magic, my fresh clean bath water would turn so dirty brown that even I, detested it. If you are like me then, you know what dirty and sometimes stinky feet are all about. Even my mom wouldn’t touch my feet in that condition. So I get it when Peter recoiled in horror as Jesus, the leader, teacher and Lord knelt down to wash his feet.
As Alan said in his introduction, the story of Jesus washing the disciples’ feet is very familiar. So familiar that it is possible to miss the deep message it bears.
The washing of the disciple’s feet demonstrated the very core of Jesus’ heart towards his disciples: “…having loved His own he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). If we believe in Jesus, then we are his own and he loves us deeply, each one of us, till the very, never-ending, end. His deep devotion and commitment to us is unchanging and everlasting. As Alan said, “Our culture wants a strong God but we are presented here with a crucified God.” You and I must own this incredible truth.
Which brings me to Peter’s resistance towards Jesus’ action of washing his feet. Peter was showing his respect for Jesus, but Jesus was demonstrating his soon to be ultimate sacrifice and love for Peter. Jesus knew that without his ultimate sacrifice, Peter’s respect and indeed all of mankind’s respect for God would be unacceptable. We must be cleansed from our sins for us to become acceptable to God. Only Jesus can do that.
This is the true message of the Gospel: That the world was alienated from God because of sin. That God sent his son Jesus to lay aside his life, to die for our sin and be raised up again, to reconcile the world back to God. This is amazing grace: The Just paying the penalty for us, the unjust.
“Do you know what I have done to you?” Jesus asked his disciples after washing their feet. Indeed we may not always understand the workings of God in our lives in the moment. Nevertheless, we are invited to trust our loving and faithful God whose promise is that we will ultimately know.
Jesus gave his disciples and us the commission to follow his example by washing each other’s feet: loving and serving each other. His promise is that when we do this, the world will recognize us truly as his disciples, as his love peace and joy abides in us through the power of the Holy Spirit. As Alan said, the church is not an organization but an organism.
So, I invite you to go on now, make the step and take those shoes off. Show Jesus your feet and let him wash them clean.
Listen to this sermon here!