Recently there was an ad during the Super Bowl with this title, “He Gets Us.” It was an ad by well-meaning people about “washing other people’s feet.” The ad included a policeman washing a black man’s feet, a white man washing a Native American’s feet, the feet of an immigrant being washed and a priest washing a gay man’s feet. The connection is made that Jesus washed the disciple’s feet so we should wash the feet of the downtrodden. The claim is to “reintroduce the Jesus of the Bible to the world” according to their own website. Pay close attention to the words they use “…the Jesus of the Bible.” Their reconstruction of Jesus is most times a social justice warrior type most likely with qualities that makes people wonder about the masculinity of the Lord. The acts of Jesus are used to try and justify their construct. I want us to look at the act of Jesus that this Super Bowl ad is based on. John 13 is the passage.

The first seventeen verses are about Jesus washing the feet of the disciples. He is teaching his disciples about serving one another humbly. “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.” (John 13:14-15). We need to ask ourselves some questions about the passage. Who is Jesus teaching at this moment? Where is the teaching taking place? Why is this discourse important? What group does Jesus perform this kindness to? All those things are important if we are to see “the Jesus of the Bible.” Let me give you three observations about the passage that I see.

  1. This foot washing was done among the disciples not the world at large. “…having loved his own (my emphasis) which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (13:1). It was his disciples not random strangers from the downcast of society. Humility among God’s people ought to be a strong characteristic in our lives. Pride is an awful thing and ultimately it goes before a fall. We are told in the epistle of James that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be humble but there’s not a single instance in the Bible of Jesus ever washing feet during his public ministry that I am aware of. We are told to preach the gospel to the whole world, we are to make disciples, we are to be ambassadors, we are to be kind to everyone, but the servant example used in this passage isn’t for the world, it is among the people of God.
  2. One of the twelve was “of the world.” His name was Judas. The only one that knew about Judas the traitor was the Lord Jesus himself (13:2, 11). All the others thought he was great. These men trusted him with the money used for ministry (John 12:6). There are no doubt unsaved people that hang out with God’s people in various venues just like Judas did with the other eleven disciples. That doesn’t change the dynamic that this occurrence was happening behind closed doors among the followers of Jesus.
  3. Peter doesn’t plan to have Jesus wash his feet. “Thou shalt never wash my feet” (13:8). The idea that his Lord would stoop to bow like a slave was abhorrent to Peter’s thinking. But once rebuked by Christ, Peter said add my “hands and head” to the washing (13:9). Again, the group receiving the foot washing is identified. Notice verse 10. “He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” Christians are washed in the blood of Christ. Their sins have been forgiven yet daily they walk in the world. They don’t need a whole bath, a re-cleansing or another salvation, they just need to knock the dirt off their feet. Old Peter learned this lesson of humility well. I Peter 5:5 tells us “Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble.” Again, notice who he is addressing and to whom they are to be submitted. Submit to the elder (older Christians, most likely leaders in the congregation) not to some aggrieved group in society. They are told to subject themselves “one to another”. The people of the congregation are again in his mind, not the world.

There is a form of Christianity today that is just that, a form. It makes the claim to be Christian but denies the power thereof. The modern evangelical’s construction of Jesus is most often a figment caused by them being influenced by their culture instead of them being salt, that stings, and influencing their culture. Sin is seldom mentioned, judgment is to be hidden because they never wish to be negative. Being like the world to reach the world is 180 degrees from biblical. “When I got saved, I got such a jerk that I’ve been out of step with the world ever since.” That is a quote from the great preacher from the 70’s and 80’s Dr. Jack Hudson. John 8 is a classic example of Jesus loving a sinner. This is the story of Jesus and the woman who was taken in the very act of adultery. He offered forgiveness. Beautiful. I love that she got saved, but one thing we seldom hear is the last words of Jesus in this story. “Go and sin no more.” The acceptance of sin is front and center in most of these modern evangelical movements. You don’t get to continue in your sin. Christians come from all walks of life and have all types of backgrounds, yet they all have something in common, their sins aren’t celebrated. They are in the past not to be practiced in their new life. I Corinthians 6:11 screams this for anyone with wisdom. “And such were some of you: …” Immorality isn’t to be celebrated and it most assuredly isn’t to be accepted by Christians by some virtue signaling act such as washing the feet of the godless. Let’s just be kind to all people and lovingly take the gospel to them offering them what true Christians have always received, a changed life for all eternity. If you wish to wash another’s feet, great, just remember the example set for us was among and for the people of God not the unsaved, sinful world.