April 13, 2006
Thursday of Holy Week
”Clean Feet?”
Daily confession of sin.
Key Verse: John 13:10 (NASB)
Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”
Bible Passage: John 13:1-17 (NASB)
Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, girded Himself about. Then He poured water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with a towel with which he was girded. And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, “Lord, do You wash my feet?” Jesus answered and said to him, “What I do you do not realize now; but you shall understand hereafter.” Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.” Jesus said to him, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, “Not all of you are clean.”
Lesson Thought
It is now Thursday evening of Holy Week. Jesus and His twelve disciples are in the upper room, a guest room on the second floor, where they are celebrating the Jewish Passover. During this meal, Jesus removes His outer garment. With a basin and towel, he begins to wash each of the disciples’ feet. When He comes to Simon Peter, we can imagine Peter pulling his feet away as he asked Jesus, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet? No way!! You’ll never wash my feet!!” Jesus responded - “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet and he is completely clean.” In Jesus’ day, people didn’t have a bath tub or shower in their house. They had to go to a public bath place to take a bath. On the way home, their feet got dirty, because they wore sandals and the roads were dusty. When they arrived home, a servant would meet them at the door with a basin and towel to wash their feet. They did not need to have a whole bath again - only their feet were dirty. In today’s story, Jesus taught that when we ask Him to be our Savior, it is like taking a “once for all time” bath. When we ask Jesus to be our Savior, he makes us clean from all our sin, but as we walk through each day, we fail and sin. After our “once for all” bath, we just need to get our feet washed when we sin. We do this by asking God’s forgiveness for our failures and disobediences. We do not need another bath. Once we are God’s child, we are forever God’s child, but we do need to confess to Him each day our sins. God has promised to forgive us - to wash our feet.
Application: what does this lesson say to us today?
1) Do you think Peter was surprised by what Jesus was doing? Do you think Peter’s response was pretty normal? Why do you think Peter didn’t want Jesus to wash his feet?
2) How does Jesus “wash our feet” today? What happens when we deny that our feet our dirty - that we have not sinned?
Family Activities: putting the lesson into action
Have one family member volunteer to pretend to be “Jesus” and have that person actually wash the feet of all the other family members to see how humbling it is have someone else wash your feet. If more than one person wants to volunteer, take turns being Jesus. Talk about how it felt to be “Jesus.” Talk about how it felt to have your feet washed.
Suggestions for further study
John 5:24, 10:28-30; 20:31
1 John 1:6-10; 5:10-13
Titus 3:5, 6
1 John 1:9
Jim Bates
