John 13:8b
"Unless I wash you, you will not belong to me." (NLT)
Have you ever thought about that statement Jesus put to Peter, there in the upper room during Passover? Jesus was about to go to His trials, then to the cross, and He was talking to His disciples about washing feet! Peter didn't know it, but He was about to learn a valuable lesson about intimacy.
Who washes others? Let's consider parents. Parents wash their small children, making sure they are clean all over before dressing. They wash their children's hands when they get grimy from playing in the dirt; they wipe noses, wash between toes, behind ears, and brush their teeth. Why?
Parents are in love with their little ones! They belong to them! And there seems to be nothing more adorable than a child fresh from the bath, running around the house with the delicious feeling of being clean all over. We've all seen it. Moms, Dads, Grandparents, and caregivers wash their little ones because they're loved, and they need it often. The little tikes need to learn how to keep themselves clean. Washing is a very loving and intimate act.
Jesus wanted Peter to understand intimacy. "Unless I wash you, you will not belong to me." Peter had previously protested, not wanting his Messiah to actually stoop and clean his grimy feet. "Lord," he said, "Are You going to wash my feet?" Jesus gently says, "You don't understand now what am doing, but someday you will." Peter protests more strongly, with the agonizing "No! You will never ever wash my feet!"
I can almost feel Peter's sorrow, his confusion, his shame as the King of creation kneels down in front of him and performs this act normally reserved for a household slave. Then, as Jesus looks up at him and says, "Unless I wash you, you will not belong to me", Peter is thunderstruck. He says a Peter thing: "Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!" We love Peter, don't we? He acts just like us lots of times! Peter longed to belong to His Lord lock, stock, and barrel-he yearned for intimacy; and the idea that it might not happen was too much for him. Yes, he's just like us!
As was said before, the point here is intimacy. Unless we allow Jesus to wash us, we don't belong to Him. But how do we allow Jesus to wash us?
First, we have to stand still long enough for Him to do it. Have you ever had to catch your child to put him or her into the bath? When it's time for Jesus to wash us, we shouldn't run away from Him.
Then, we must submit to His gentle hands. He knows exactly where we need to be cleaned up. Sometimes we can't even see the dirt; He always can.
How exactly does He wash us? The Scriptures say the Word washes us. "He gave up His life for her {the church} to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God's Word. He did this to present her to Himself as a glorious church without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish." (Ephesians 5:27b-28)
So, when we allow the Holy Spirit to teach us, to admonish us, to encourage us through God's Word as we apply it to our daily circumstances, obeying everything He gives us, we get a bath! And as we come away from those times of washing, we can have that delicious feeling of being clean all over.
Let's make sure we're bathing every day in God's Word, shall we?
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