Jesus Revealed in Doctrine IT IS HARD TO BE WASHED
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. John 13:8.
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you....If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:14-17). Here are given three reasons why we should wash one another's feet. First, because Jesus commanded it. He told us that we should. Second, because He set the example for us. And third, because we will be happy if we do it.
Are you really happy to wash someone's feet? Are you happy to have someone else wash your feet? There are some who find real meaning in this service and have learned to see Jesus revealed in the communion ordinances. If they take part in the service one week at their home church, and visit another church the following week where there is another communion service scheduled, they are overjoyed. But there are others who partake in one church, and if they find another church having the communion service the following week, they say, "Forget it. We already did our duty for this quarter!" There are some who find the service so distasteful that they stay home on communion Sabbath, and don't even become involved once a quarter.
A student said to me during one Week of Prayer communion service, "I usually wash my feet myself!" And we began to talk about the significance of that. To let someone else do for you what you usually do for yourself carries a message. It can be humbling to let God do for us what we are accustomed to doing for ourselves or what we want to do for ourselves.
Do you find it harder to wash someone else's feet or to get your own feet washed? Usually the response is that it is harder to get your own feet washed. It's embarrassing. There is something deep inside that goes along with the idea expressed by the student. We don't want to admit that we need something done for us--that we can't do everything ourselves. Peter found it humiliating to have his feet washed, and objected to the necessity until Jesus showed him that it was only by his humbling himself to accept of Jesus' cleansing that he could have a part with Him. It is as we allow our pride to be humbled today, and accept of Jesus' ministry in our behalf, that we find cleansing.
If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. John 13:8.
"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you....If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them" (John 13:14-17). Here are given three reasons why we should wash one another's feet. First, because Jesus commanded it. He told us that we should. Second, because He set the example for us. And third, because we will be happy if we do it.
Are you really happy to wash someone's feet? Are you happy to have someone else wash your feet? There are some who find real meaning in this service and have learned to see Jesus revealed in the communion ordinances. If they take part in the service one week at their home church, and visit another church the following week where there is another communion service scheduled, they are overjoyed. But there are others who partake in one church, and if they find another church having the communion service the following week, they say, "Forget it. We already did our duty for this quarter!" There are some who find the service so distasteful that they stay home on communion Sabbath, and don't even become involved once a quarter.
A student said to me during one Week of Prayer communion service, "I usually wash my feet myself!" And we began to talk about the significance of that. To let someone else do for you what you usually do for yourself carries a message. It can be humbling to let God do for us what we are accustomed to doing for ourselves or what we want to do for ourselves.
Do you find it harder to wash someone else's feet or to get your own feet washed? Usually the response is that it is harder to get your own feet washed. It's embarrassing. There is something deep inside that goes along with the idea expressed by the student. We don't want to admit that we need something done for us--that we can't do everything ourselves. Peter found it humiliating to have his feet washed, and objected to the necessity until Jesus showed him that it was only by his humbling himself to accept of Jesus' cleansing that he could have a part with Him. It is as we allow our pride to be humbled today, and accept of Jesus' ministry in our behalf, that we find cleansing.
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