The Washing Of Friends Feet
Or
From Trusted Friend To Traitor
Sunday Jan. 15, 2023
Scripture To Consider:
“So when Jesus had washed their feet, taken His garments, and sat down again, He said to them, ‘Do you know what I have done to you? You call Me Teacher and Lord, and you say well, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you should do as I have done to you.’”
“Most assuredly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master; nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’”
“Now I tell you before it comes, that when it does come to pass, you may believe that I am He. Most assuredly, I say to you, he who receives whomever I send receives Me; and he who receives Me receives Him who sent Me.” John 13.12-20
Something To Consider:
The washing of feet in the culture of Jesus’ day was usually done by household servants. Jesus, as both Master and Teacher, taught the disciples that day, and was and is teaching all who will learn the lesson of love, that indeed the greatest must be willing to be servant of all, as was Jesus.
Paul spoke to this truth in Galatians 5.13, when he stated, “For you, brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” And having expressed His love and service by the washing of His friend’s feet, Jesus sat down.
Jesus explained in Luke 6.32, “But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them.” And a few verses later, Jesus announced, “But love your enemies, do good and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons [and daughters] of the Most High.”
Something Else To Consider:
Jesus then reminded His disciples that He had given them an example to follow. And with the agony of the cross within view, Jesus reminded them that a servant was not greater than his master. He added, “If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them.” For real victory in Jesus does not come to those who know, but to those who do what the Word of God declares to be done!
Overcoming and enduring to the end is hardly within reach of those who simply know the promises and power of God’s Word. An overcoming life is achieved in our acting on God’s Word in believing faith. Therefore, blessed are those who do as the Word of God declares, according to Jesus. Otherwise, we become as Judas Iscariot, a friend turned traitor!
Jesus professed in John 15.13; “Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.” Jesus followed up in verse 14, by declaring; “You are My friends if you do whatever I command you.” Are we, at this point in our lives, proven friends of Jesus, because we do whatever He in His written Word commands?
Will we be proven friends of Jesus in the end, because we continued doing whatever He has commanded in His Word? In other words, in the end of our lives or at the end of this age, will we be found obedient or disobedient to His commands? Now is the time to decide, not after the Antichrist has mandated that no one can buy or sell without their taking the mark of the beast. And that is indeed something else to consider!
Something More To Consider:
Jesus also said, “He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.” He said this was in fulfillment of Scripture. I wonder if the disciples’ thoughts sprang back to Psalm 41, verse 9, as David so prophetically wrote; “Even my own familiar friend in who I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”
David knew what it was like to have a trusted friend or family member turn traitor. What about us? What about you and me? Jesus was acquainted with grief. He was acquainted with adversarial opposition by those closest to Him. He had personally felt the pain and sorrow of the crushing heel of a friend.
According to Jesus, warning of end time events in Matthew 24.10, He declared, “And then many [one-time believers] will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.” If we are alive upon planet earth at the time of the coming son of perdition or Antichrist, the possibility of our being betrayed by friends or family members is great according to Jesus. We too will experience the adversarial opposition that Jesus and His early disciples experienced. Are we prepared to stand firm in our faith and our allegiance to Christ?
Even now Jesus desires to wash away all the stain and sting of past hurts, whether from friend or foe, or from a trusted friend turned traitor. What about us? What about you and me? Will we take advantage of His washing away past hurts? Or will we foolishly cling to revengeful thoughts and actions? Will we allow Christ and His Word to prepare us for the stain and sting of future betrayals?
If we refuse His cleansing us of the sin of our refusal to forgive others, it will lead us to becoming a traitor to Christ’s cause in the end. Paul admonished us in Ephesus 5.2, by stating; “Walk in love, as Christ also loved us.” Elsewhere Paul reminds us that Christ loved us while we were yet sinners. How can we do any less as we follow His example?
The stepbrother of Jesus wrote in James 2.8; “If you really fulfill the royal law according to Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well.” Are we fulfilling the royal law of Scripture by our loving our neighbors as ourselves? Is that even our desire? Would we at this time in our lives be seen as doing well? Can we honestly say that it is well with our soul at this moment in time?
A Few Final Words:
Jesus, in the washing of His disciples’ feet, revealed His humility, though He was their God and their creator. Have we joined forces with Jesus who loved us while we were yet sinners and greatly alienated from Him and His holiness? He proved His love and His loyalty to us by His dying a cruel death at Calvary. Are we willing to die to self, or are we fulfilling the lust of our flesh in grabbing for all the gusto we can?
Will we prove our love and loyalty to Him by our enduring to the end as true overcomers in and through His shed blood? Will we turn our eyes upon Jesus and His glorious example and look fully into His wonderful face as the old hymn so beautifully admonishes us to do? Or will we be found by Jesus looking unto the earthly endorsed Antichrist and his empty promises?
Judas Iscariot rejected the love of God that was offered in and through Jesus Christ of Nazareth. Thereby, Judas’ actions were that of a friend turned traitor, but loved by Jesus even unto the end. Therefore, according to Jesus, “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’”
Prayer:
Our Father in heaven, so much hurt has been caused by so many in every generation. Forgive us our personal sin, and the sin of others against us. Teach us to be willing to be obedient to the teaching of Jesus, and more so as we approach the end of this age. Teach us to follow the example set by Jesus. In Him Always, Amen!
According to Jesus 