Refusing to have your feet washed?

Last week before I preached on John 13, I asked my family to come onto the stage and to let me wash their feet.  It was an emotional time that I trust will be remembered by them forever.  Yet, before I started, it crossed my mind that one of them might refuse to do this.  They might feel too awkward or embarrassed to allow me to do this in front of the church.  I'm glad that this didn't happen, but if it did they would not have been able to share in this stirring moment.  The opportunity would have been lost.  This was what Jesus faced with Peter as he washed his disciples' feet.

In John 13, Jesus denigrates himself in order to serve his disciples and to make a point.  His future reign as King would come about not through politics, threats, alliances, conflict, coercion and military power.  His Kingdom would be established and then expanded through acts of service.  His reign began with His service of sacrifice on Golgotha and his kingdom grew through the service of his disciples who followed the example of servant leadership they had witnessed in the upper room.

However, at that moment before the meal was served, a new revolution of servanthood was not on the minds of a single disciple in the upper room.  For this reason Jesus said something very interesting as he attempted to wash Peter's feet.  He said, "unless I wash you, you have no part with me."  It was at this moment that Jesus was crystalizing his strategy for world domination and it happened to be 180 degrees opposite of what Peter and the others expected.  Jesus was saying, "I'm doing this with or without you and I'm doing it through servanthood... so decide now if you're with me or not and whether you you want to be part of what I'm doing in the world."

For those who have studied their Bibles, you already understand this, but here's the part that many people miss...Jesus could not serve without an object to receive his service.  Jesus couldn't serve Peter without his permission.  In other words, there can be no server if there is no "servee."  Salvation is only available to a person willing to be served by Jesus.  Every false religion in the world has one thing in common...they all teach that you must do something to reach God (or to be saved.)  This belief contradicts the Bible which tells us here and in numerous places, that we must receive Jesus' forgiveness as a gift (we must let Him wash us.)

The person who fails to receive His gift but instead attempts to earn God's forgiveness or to atone for their own sins, is refusing to allow Jesus to wash him/her.  Have you let Jesus wash you?  Tell him that you believe that his death on the cross was enough to wash away your sins and that you give him permission to serve you by washing you.  Now, read John 13:1-15 and imagine that you are at the table and Jesus has just washed your feet!