JOHN 13:1-5 – Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, 3 Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

THEME OF THE DAY. THE “DIRTY WORK” OF LOVE. Today’s scripture is a familiar story. It is Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Countless sermons have been preached on this text with the themes of humility and Jesus’ example of service likely topping the list. We certainly do see those crystal clear in this act by Jesus. But unless we truly grasp the significance of the act, we might fail to grasp the greatest lesson. Bruce Milne describes foot-washing in the 1st century. He writes, “As the meal gets underway an astonishing scene is enacted. Proper etiquette, generally more important in the East than in the West, taught that guests, begrimed from journeying through the dusty streets, should, on arrival, have their feet washed by a slave. This was a particularly humble task, included in a list of works which a Jewish slave should not be required to perform. As they commence the meal with feet as yet unwashed, since apparently none of the disciples are prepared to fulfill the duty, Jesus himself rises with a towel, and proceeds to wash and dry His disciples’ feet.”

Washing feet was dirty work, if not, down right disgusting. Think about it. We are not talking about a gathering of Christians where a “foot-washing service” was advertised in advance. Those do happen by the way. I mean if we knew that such a service was happening and our feet were going to be washed by another Christian, we would be sure to “pretty” and “clean” feet prior to coming, but even then, we would be stung with the humility of the scene. Not so with the disciples. They wore sandals, if not going barefoot. The roads and paths they walked were dirty containing all kinds of grimy substances soiling their feet. When they entered this room, they didn’t walk in with “pretty feet.” Even a Jew wasn’t required to clean feet. It was lowly, humiliating, and dirty work. So dirty that the disciples themselves wouldn’t stoop down to do it. Yet, the Creator does. He grabs the towel. He isn’t ashamed or so full of Himself that such an act was beneath Him. Imagine being on the floor with the disciples and watching this unfold without a word from Jesus. He just goes from one disciple to another washing their feet. And then He comes to you. Without one word, He looks into your eyes, probably offers a loving affirmation by way of smile and then slowly, methodically, and thoroughly cleans your feet. Words cannot describe the emotions we would be experiencing as we watch our Creator do the dirty work of love.

One of the easiest things to do in reading this account of Jesus is to miss the opening verse and go right into the foot-washing scene. That is a big mistake and misses perhaps the most important aspect of this act of Jesus. The scene opens up, not with Jesus washing feet, but with Him declaring what motivated the washing of feet; love – “Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.”

Friends, the two most important things we do for a person is pray for and love them. Both, if acceptable to God, require personal sacrifice. To labor in prayer for another person demands forgetting oneself and doing spiritual warfare against the forces of evil wanting us to focus on ourselves. And such warfare isn’t easy. It is hard and sacrificial. As for loving someone, this too requires sacrifice. Biblical love is never convenient. It is always costly with a high price of self-denial to pay. It knows no ends or conditions. It will do the dirty work, even the dirty work of washing feet; even the dirty work of being taken for granted; even the dirty work of not being appreciated. Yet, it will do its work because in the foot-washing Christian, the love of Christ is controlling them and where His control is known, the dirty work of love flows.

PRAYER: “Father, help me embrace a life of ‘dirty love’ to the people in my spheres of influence.”

QUOTE: “To love as Christ loves demands sacrifice, self-denial, impartiality, and a willingness to know no limits”