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Our Feet in His Basin"Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus
knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father.
Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot
to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given
all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going
to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel
around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash
the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around
him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, "Lord, are you going
to wash my feet?" Jesus answered, "You do not know now what I am
doing, but later you will understand." Peter said to him, "You will
never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no share
with me." Simon Peter said to him, "Lord, not my feet only but also
my hands and my head!"
--John 13:1-9, NRSV
Jesus did not say, "If you
don't wash your feet." Why not? Because we cannot. We
cannot cleanse our own filth. We cannot remove our own sin.
Our feet must be in his hands.
Don't miss the meaning here.
To place our feet in the basin of Jesus is to place the filthiest parts
of our lives into his hands. In the ancient East, people's feet were
caked with mud and dirt. The servant of the feast saw to it that
the feet were cleaned. Jesus is assuming the role of the servant.
He will wash the grimiest part of your life.
If you let him. The water
of the Servant comes only when we confess that we are dirty. Only
when we confess that we are caked with filth, that we have walked forbidden
trails and followed the wrong paths.
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