Please turn to the Gospel according to John, Chapter 13. We are reading from John 13:1-17.
Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that His hour was come that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own that were in the world, He loved them unto the end.
And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray Him,
Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He came forth from God, and goeth unto God,
riseth from supper, and layeth aside His garments; and He took a towel, and girded Himself.
Then He poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith He was girded.
So He cometh to Simon Peter. He saith unto Him, Lord, dost Thou wash my feet?
Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter.
Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with Me.
Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
Jesus saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
For He knew him that should betray Him; therefore said He, Ye are not all clean.
So when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and sat down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?
Ye call Me, Teacher, and, Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you.
Verily, verily, I say unto you, A servant is not greater than his lord; neither one that is sent greater than He that sent him.
If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them.
The same chapter, John 13:34-35:
A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; even as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love one to another.
Please turn also to 1 John 3:16.
Hereby know we love, because He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we have just read Thy Word, Thy Word which is life and spirit. So we just turn to Thee and ask that Thy Holy Spirit will breathe again upon Thy written Word, and make it living and operative in each of our lives.
Lord, we are before Thee and before Thy Word. Speak to us, we ask in Thy precious name. Amen.
The Passover was coming. This would be the last Passover that our Lord would have with His own disciples. As a matter of fact, it was the first Passover feast that our Lord Himself prepared.
In the past, He never acted as the head of a family. But at this last Passover feast, He acted as the head of His own family. Of course, His family was composed of His twelve disciples.
So it was the Lord Himself who prepared this Passover feast. He not only prepared the place—you remember how He sent His two disciples out and found the place that was ready—He actually, for the first time, offered the lamb as a sacrifice. As a matter of fact, He Himself is the very Lamb.
When the disciples came to that upper room for that last supper, they entered into the room and, to their surprise, found no maid there to wash their feet.
You know, it was the custom of that time that whenever there was a feast, and when the guests came in, the first thing was that there would be a maid at the door washing the feet of the guests. At that time there were no paved roads; the roads were dusty, and they did not wear shoes as we do. They wore sandals.
So after they travelled, their feet were covered with dirt, and it was very uncomfortable. When they ate, they reclined. In other words, their feet were stretched out, and it would be very uncomfortable. The guests would not enjoy their feast as much.
So the first thing that the host would do was to have a maid there to wash their feet, so they could enjoy the feast that followed. But, to their surprise, they found there was no maid there.
Now remember, it was the Lord who prepared this meal. He prepared everything. The water was there, the basin was there, the towel was there, but there was no maid. It must have been a prearrangement by our Lord Jesus.
As they entered into the room, you know what they did? As usual, when people came to a feast, probably they would try to find the higher seat. Everybody wanted to sit in the highest place, and that was what was usually done among the Jewish people.
You remember once our Lord told them, when you come to a feast, do not try to get to the higher seat, because maybe there will be someone more honourable than you invited. The host will come and say, “Please give your seat to the more honourable person.” Then, with shame, you will go to the last seat.
But this was not only true with the Jews; it was true with the disciples. In Luke 22:24, we are told that there was strife among the disciples as to who was to hold the highest place.
So, in a sense, you find that as they came in—if you can picture them—they were trying to get to the higher seat, every one of them. With that kind of mood, of course, no one would think of washing anybody’s feet, because everyone wanted to get to the higher seat.
And evidently Judas got it. According to Edersheim, he felt that Judas sat at the left of our Lord Jesus, and that was the higher seat at the feast.
I believe our Lord just watched with amusement. After they were seated, most likely our Lord began to give them a lesson.
The Lord said that among the nations, kings rule over the people, and those who exercise authority are called benefactors. But this is not true with you. If you want to be the greatest, you have to be the youngest. If you want to be the highest, you have to be the lowest.
Who is greater: the one who sits at table, or the one who serves? The Lord said, “I am among you as One who serves.”
Then the feast began. Usually, according to their custom, the host would lift up the first cup, which was called the cup of thanksgiving, and he would give thanks to God. This cup would pass around.
Then they would sing two Hallel songs of praise, most likely Psalm 113 and Psalm 114. After the singing of these two songs, then the meal would begin.
Usually, at the beginning of the meal, the host would rise up and wash his hands. But strangely, you find that when our Lord rose up, He went and poured the water into the basin, girded Himself with a towel, and began to wash His disciples’ feet.
Very probably Simon Peter was the first one to whom our Lord went to wash the feet. According to Edersheim, the way the table was set, our Lord was sitting in the middle of one side; on the left side was Judas, and on the right side was John. On the opposite side was Simon Peter.
So probably Simon Peter, at that time, took the last seat. That was the last seat, and our Lord Jesus began with the last seat. When He came to Simon Peter and tried to wash his feet, Simon saw that and was really frightened.
He said, “Lord, You can never do that,” because this was the work of a slave girl—the lowest work. How could the Lord wash his feet?
But the Lord said, “What I am doing now, you do not understand, but you will understand later.” Peter said, “No, You shall never wash my feet.” The Lord said, “If I do not wash your feet, then you have no part with Me.”
Then Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet—my hands and my head.” The Lord said, “You do not need it. You have been washed all over, and all you need is to wash your feet.” Our Lord began to wash the feet of every one of them, including Judas.
After He finished washing them, He put on His garments, sat down, and began to teach them. As a matter of fact, He had already taught them in the beginning. But teaching by words had to be supported by teaching by deed. He gave them an object lesson.
Then He began to say to them, “You call Me the Teacher and the Lord, and I am so. I am your Teacher. I am your Lord. But I washed your feet. I set you an example, and if you do it, you will be blessed.”
After that, during the meal, He gave them a new commandment. He said, “Love one another, as I have loved you. By this, you will be known as My disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”
Our brothers and sisters, this morning we are not going to talk about foot-washing. But we would like to use this to learn something which is so important to us as the disciples of our Lord Jesus.
You know, the Lord gives us a new commandment. The other day I was reading Spurgeon, and Spurgeon told a story. There was once Archbishop Ussher. We know Archbishop Ussher was a great man of God. As a matter of fact, much of our chronology is based upon his work.
He heard about Samuel Rutherford, a very saintly person, and about his family—how beautiful and orderly his family was. So he was trying to find out whether what he had heard was true.
Once he disguised himself as a traveller, as a poor man, and came to the door of Samuel Rutherford. That home was always open to strangers. He came to the door, and the door was opened by Mrs. Rutherford.
She said, “Come in. You are welcome.” So he was taken to the kitchen, and there he was served a hot meal. After the meal, they had a kind of family meeting with the servants and the family, and of course the stranger stayed there.
Samuel was not there, so Mrs. Rutherford was leading the meeting. They usually asked some questions of the servants about the basic faith. She turned to the stranger and said, “Do you know how many commandments there are in the Bible?”
This stranger said, “Eleven commandments.” Mrs. Rutherford said, “Eleven commandments? Even a little boy six years old in my family knows how many commandments there are. You are very ignorant.”
The stranger did not say a word, and then he went to bed. At midnight, Samuel Rutherford usually had his midnight prayer. The stranger got up and heard Samuel pray. After he heard Samuel praying, he disclosed himself to Samuel: he was Archbishop Ussher.
The next day Samuel asked Ussher to preach, and the topic of his teaching was the eleventh commandment. I think it was a pretty good story.
So here you find the Lord Jesus saying, “I give you a new commandment.”
Of course, we know that one day a scribe came to tempt our Lord Jesus. He asked our Lord Jesus which was the greatest of the commandments. Our Lord said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your understanding. This is the highest and greatest of all commandments.”
And second to it is, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. So we know there are ten commandments, and yet the Lord said, “I give you a new commandment.”
If you turn to 1 John 2:7-8, you will find the apostle John writing in that letter, “I am not giving you a new commandment. It is the old commandment, the word that you have heard from the beginning.” Yet he said, “I am writing to you a new commandment. This is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing, and the true light already shineth.”
So, dear brothers and sisters, this new commandment is both old and new. In a sense, it is old because it is the commandment, the Word of God, given to us from the very beginning. What God desires from us is love: to love Him with all our hearts and to love our neighbours as ourselves.
Yet the Lord says, “I give you a new commandment.” In what sense is it new?
When the old commandment was given, it was given under the law. The law says, “Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your understanding.” The Lord demands that because our God is worthy to be loved, and we ought to love Him. It is our human duty to love Him with all our hearts.
But unfortunately, because of the weakness of our flesh, we are not able to obey that law. Who is able to love God with all his heart, all his soul, and all his understanding? We have all broken that law.
The law is holy and spiritual, but we are carnal and fleshly. So here you find the Lord saying, “I give you a new commandment.” The new commandment is also love, but there is a difference: it is given in grace.
In other words, the Lord Himself will fulfil that commandment. He gave us His life, and His life is a life of love. He has shown us what kind of a life it is. He loved us and gave Himself for us.
After we receive His life in us, by His life we are able to love God with all our hearts, with all our souls, and with all our understanding. That makes it new.
Secondly, it is new because, in the old commandment, it says, “Love your neighbour.” Now, who is your neighbour?
Again, that story: the scribe, that lawyer, wanted to prove how well he knew. So he asked the Lord, “Now, who is my neighbour? Is this the one on my left hand or on my right side? How far does my neighbour include?”
Probably, with a Jew, the neighbours included all the Jews. But even so, it was restricted and selective. In the new commandment, the Lord says, “Love the brethren,” and that is universal.
Not just the one next to you, not just one of your own race, but in the big family of God all over this world. So you find the scope is different. We are to love the brethren—love them because they belong to the same family of God.
Thirdly, it is new because, in the old commandment, He said, “Love your neighbour as yourself.” In other words, you are the standard. You love them as yourself. Of course, that is a very high standard, because we usually love ourselves much more than we love anybody else.
But here you find our Lord Jesus raised the standard. He said, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” It is no longer natural love. It is no longer love limited to the extent of ourselves. It is the love of God, the love of our Lord Jesus. It is unlimited.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find a new commandment. The new commandment is, “Love one another, as I have loved you.” This is the word of our Lord to His own disciples, and this is the word that the Lord speaks to each one of us.
The Lord used the washing of feet to teach us the lesson of loving one another. Why? First of all, you find that washing feet is the lowest possible work. Usually a slave girl would do that work.
But here our Lord Jesus comes, and He says, “I am your Lord. I am your Teacher.” The Lord knows who He is, and yet He humbled Himself to wash His disciples’ feet.
You know, in order to wash anybody’s feet, you have to be lower than that person. You have to be lower, at his feet. It is a very humbling place. You cannot get lower than that.
Yet you find the humbleness, the humility, of our Lord Jesus. He who was equal with God, and counted it not a thing to be grasped, emptied Himself to take the form of a slave.
He was in the form of God, with all the character, nature, and essence of God, because He was God. Yet He took the form of a slave. In other words, in His heart, He humbled Himself to take the place of a slave.
Having taken that place, being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, becoming obedient to the Father even unto death—yea, the death of the cross. There is no more cruel death than the death of the cross, and our Lord took it.
So, dear brothers and sisters, as you think of our Lord Jesus, the one thing that stands out most in His life is His humility. His very character, that which reveals Him to us, is His humbleness.
Here He demonstrated to His own disciples that He who was the highest yet condescended Himself to be lower than His disciples in order to serve them and wash their feet.
Our brothers and sisters, naturally this is not in us. Naturally, every one of us is proud and arrogant. Do not think that you are humble, meek, gentle, or lowly.
It is true that among the children of Adam, some inherit more of his pride and some may inherit a little bit less. But anyway, pride is the very character of Adam, of the Adamic race. Naturally, we are all proud. Do not say you are humble.
You deceive yourself if you think you are humble. No son of Adam is humble. It is natural for us to seek the highest place. We want to be the greatest. That is natural in every one of us.
We want to be served rather than to serve, because to serve is to take a lower place, and to be served is to rise higher. It is natural in every one of us.
Here the Lord is teaching us a very important lesson. He shows us His own character, which is the very opposite of Adam’s character. We who have His life, the first thing we need to learn is His humility.
We need to learn how His life works in us. As His life really works in us, brothers and sisters, the first lesson is that we learn to humble ourselves—not only before God.
It is strange that people can be proud and arrogant even before God. But here you find that we need to be humble before our brothers and sisters. It is the teaching of the Word of God that we shall esteem others as more honourable than we are.
It is not a false humility. If the life of Christ really rules in us, then this becomes supernaturally natural to us. We will look upon our brothers and sisters as more honourable than we are.
With that spirit of humility, we will love to serve instead of being served. We will not look upon any service as too low for us, as if we would lose our dignity if we did that.
Brothers and sisters, are we characterised by the life of Christ? How do we show the life of Christ if it is not in humility? I believe this is something basic that every one of us must bring before the Lord, asking the Lord to examine us and show us where we are in this matter of humility.
Then you find that this matter of humility is very practical. It is not a theory. It is expressed in deed, in practical ways, and that is in the washing of feet.
Now, brothers and sisters, we know that in Old Testament times, in the tabernacle, after the brazen altar there was the laver, the brass laver.
In other words, after you had passed the altar, receiving the atoning death of our Lord Jesus and having your sins forgiven, we are all made priests unto God and are supposed to begin to serve. But before you can serve, you have to wash your hands and your feet at the brazen laver.
Why? Because even if we are baptised, washed, and clean, yet in our walk on this earth, in our daily life and in our contact with the world, we may not commit anything, but somehow you find that the dust and dirt of the world begin to pile upon us.
So we are not as fresh before the Lord, as living before the Lord, as we should be. You know, the problem is that when you get up in the morning and have a good time with the Lord, you feel very close to the Lord. You are really living in His presence, and you feel your spirit lifted.
Then you go out into your work. In the work, of course, by the grace of God, you are kept from sinning. Yet somehow, in your contact with the world, there is a cloud, some dirt, or some dust that gathers upon your conscience and upon your heart.
After the day is over, you feel as if your communion with the Lord is not as fresh and living. There is a kind of dirt covering you, and it may take a little time to get over it.
When you come to a meeting, it is the same thing. After a day’s work, you find that you are loaded, and somehow your spirit is not as fresh and living. But if any brother or sister says a prayer or sings a hymn, somehow you find that you are lifted up. You are refreshed. You have your feet washed.
How we need that! Brothers and sisters, our Lord is still washing our feet today.
This was not just done two thousand years ago with the twelve. Our Lord is still washing our feet.
You remember in Ephesians 5, it says that He loved the church and gave Himself for it, that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.
So, dear brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus, even today, is still washing our feet. In your daily walk, somehow the world comes and puts a kind of distance between you and the Lord. You do not feel living and fresh as you should.
It is at that time that our Lord Jesus washes you by the Word and the water.
Now, what is the water in Ephesians 5? The water there is not the Word. Sometimes we say the Word is like water: when the Word of God comes to us, it washes us clean. But here you find “the washing of water with the Word,” so the water there cannot be the Word.
What is the water, then? If you go back to John 19, you find that when our Lord Jesus was pierced by the soldier, out of His side came blood and water. John witnessed that, and he emphatically said that what he witnessed was true.
Why is this so important? Because in 1 John, he says there is the water, the blood, and the Spirit that bear witness. So, brothers and sisters, the blood is for the forgiveness of our sins. Then what is the water? It is life.
The life of our Lord Jesus. He poured out His soul like water. So, dear brothers and sisters, even today, daily, our Lord humbles Himself and washes our feet. He is using His life to wash our feet.
His life will cleanse us. His life will tell us what is defiling, what is unclean, and His Word will remind us what is clean. By the working of His life and His Word, brothers and sisters, we are cleansed every day, that we may be fit to be priests to serve Him and to serve our brothers and sisters.
How I thank the Lord for that. If He were not washing my feet, the dirt would accumulate. I would become so dull spiritually. I would be so far from Him. My communion with Him probably would be interrupted and suffer.
Where would I be after a month, after a year? Brothers and sisters, our Lord, even at the right hand of His Father on the throne as our great High Priest, still humbles Himself and washes our feet.
He washes your feet every day. You need it. If you refuse to have Him wash your feet, you will have no part with Him. But today you are still having part with Him because you allow Him to wash your feet.
So, dear brothers and sisters, do not refuse our Lord in washing your feet. In a sense, welcome it. Ask the Lord, “Wash my feet every day, every moment of the day, that I may walk before You in holiness and righteousness.”
We need it very much.
As our Lord continues in washing our feet, He sets us an example, and He says, “Wash one another’s feet.” What does He mean?
It means that if you have your feet washed, then in turn you should wash the feet of your brothers and sisters. First of all, of course, we have to have our own feet washed. If our feet are not washed, how can we wash others’ feet? In other words, we will not even notice it.
But if we keep ourselves fresh and living in life before the Lord, then, brothers and sisters, you will notice in the lives of your brothers and sisters who are in need of washing.
Outwardly, a brother or sister may appear all right. But when you contact him and touch him, you sense in your spirit that there is no livingness, no freshness there.
He may not have left the Lord, but somehow you know he is not in that living, fresh relationship with the Lord. There is something that has clouded his life. That is the point where you need to wash his feet with love.
It is a humble job, but it is a very necessary work.
You know, this matter of washing one another’s feet is family. We often talk about fellowship. Now, what do you mean by fellowship? Fellowship is sharing the same life. It is sharing the life of Christ.
The best fellowship is not social intercourse. Fellowship is imparting Christ, giving Christ, receiving Christ. That is fellowship.
The apostle John says, “Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son.” Based upon that fellowship, we fellowship with you. In other words, we pass on to you the Father and the Son whom we have known and whom we have experienced. That is fellowship.
Fellowship is more than a matter of words. Of course, we fellowship with words. As you find in 1 Corinthians 14, when the church gathers, each one may have a psalm, a teaching, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. By these words, we share Christ with one another. That is fellowship.
But sometimes fellowship need not be in word; it can be in deed. If you love your brother, if you wash your brother’s feet, you are imparting Christ to that brother, and that is fellowship.
I believe this is something we need to learn more: learn to share Christ with one another by deeds of love. You may not need to say any word, but by the very deed, the brother or sister is refreshed.
“Love one another, as I have loved you.”
You know, the extent of that love is unlimited. “As I have loved you.” Think of the love of our Lord Jesus to us. He gave Himself for us—everything. He does not withhold anything from us.
That is the way the Lord says we ought to love one another. Of course, we cannot do that. It is not in us. But it is in Him, and He is in us. Because His life is in us, if we cultivate our life with the Lord, then His life will be expressed towards all brothers and sisters.
So in this matter of washing feet, our Lord gave the disciples a lesson that they could never forget. Brothers and sisters, we need to learn the lesson.
The Lord said, “If you love one another as I have loved you, then the world will know you are My disciples.” They will know when there is love.
Dear brothers and sisters, how will the world know that we are the disciples of our Lord Jesus? By our teaching? By the truth that we know?
Thank God for teaching. Thank God for the truth that He has given to us. But, brothers and sisters, you know, wherever there is truth, it separates. It repels. It will cause opposition. That is the very character and nature of truth.
How should we be known as disciples of our Lord? Not by claiming that we have the teaching, that we have the truth. No. By love.
If we love, the people will know. That is the testimony of the early church. When the world looked at the early church, they said, “See, see these people, how they love one another.”
This is what we need. May the Lord have mercy upon us, that by His grace we may learn to love as He has loved us.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, Thou dost love, and love us to the uttermost. How we praise and thank Thee. Thou dost not only teach us love; Thou dost demonstrate it by washing our feet.
Lord, may Thy love fill our hearts, that we may love Thee and love one another as Thou hast loved us.
Lord, our desire is that we may be known, by Thy grace, as a people who love—not as a people who know a lot and yet do not have love.
Have mercy upon us. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.