Bible verse of the day Friday May 6th 2022

John 13:13-15 13 “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am.  Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet.  I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.

Right before Jesus suffered and died on the Cross of Calvary, He gave his disciples a display of true humility. He took upon himself the position of an ordinary house servant and washed the feet of His followers. Jesus did this with full knowledge that some would disown Him while others deny and betray Him. In essence, Jesus was telling His followers that day and, in extension, telling us today that we can't say we love Him without loving all that he died for on the Cross (1 John 3:14-18; 1 John 4:7-12).

As believers in Christ Jesus, we have a mutual obligation. We cannot be servants to our fellow brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus and keep them at arm's length. Some love to quote theory but have difficulty with the application. The idea Jesus is putting forward is to maintain a humble relationship with each other. We will naturally want to be a servant to our fellow brothers and sisters from that humility.

Foot washing is an issue of humility; it is not a human rite. It is not some Church ordnance as some churches have upheld. Some churches teach that foot washing is an ordinance that should be practiced regularly. However, this is not in regular practice in the churches of this day and age.

In Paul's first letter to Timothy, we find that the windows washed the feet of the saints; however, they did this as a service, not a ritual or ceremony (1 Timothy 5:10). The humility of Jesus in this act of foot-washing is an example for all Christians, but most especially Christian leaders.

Charles Spurgeon once said: "If there be any deed of kindness or love that we can do for the very meanest and most obscure of God's people, we ought to be willing to do it — to be servants to God's servants."

I am sure there is not one of us as Christians that would refuse to wash the feet of Jesus. However, He has commanded us to wash each other's feet. The symbolism in the act gets lost in the physical misunderstanding. Anything that we do for another person that helps clean the world's filth from their heart, mind, body, and soul is foot washing. To make a formality from the teachings of Jesus concerning foot washing is to miss the point of the entire passage. The point of this golden message from Jesus is humility shown towards others.

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