"13 You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. 14 If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. 15 For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 16 Truly, truly, I say to you, a servant is not greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. 17 If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them."
John 13:13-17
Peter's protest at Jesus' action was perhaps typical of his impulsive and generous nature, but on the deeper level it was due to the fact that he saw in what Jesus did only an act of humility, and not its relationship to the cross. 'Let this mind be in you...', Jesus was in effect saying, and it was this that Peter was really refusing, hence the sharp rebuke Jesus administered to him. Peter did not understand then, just as the disciples did not understand at the time what Jesus was really doing when He cleansed the temple. The challenge and the blessing are pointed in 17 - 'If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them'. Our Lord's words in 13ff are significant. He speaks of His being their Lord and Master; but the whole implication of the story is that it was precisely by doing what He did - humbling Himself - that He became their rightful Lord and Master. His Lordship, His authority, derived from His humiliation, as Paul's words in Philippians 5ff, already quoted, make clear. It was because He became obedient unto death that God highly exalted Him and gave Him a name above every name. So that, in symbol, He rose from His feet to become their Master and Lord. This is the lesson He wished to convey to His disciples - the secret of spiritual power and authority. This must be the subject of tomorrow's Note but, in the meanwhile, it will be good to think of the following: Someone has said, 'No Christian need go far to find feet that need washing.' There are feet stained with the ways of sin; it may be ours to cleanse them, and let our loving action be a sacrament that will heal their souls. There are feet bleeding with the path of suffering; it may be ours to minister compassion and love to them in their time of need. There are feet weary with the path of sorrow or loneliness, and it may be ours to minister comfort and grace to help in time of need.