1468 You Got the Nasty Feet

If you had only 1 year left to live, what would you do? You would take that vacation, right? You would spend all the time with the people you love. You would make the memories and capture the moments. What if you only had 1 month to live? You would leave for that vacation tomorrow, right? You would waste no time. You would make amends. You would say everything you need to say. But what if you only had 1 day. One day left to live. If you knew this were your final day of life ever on this earth, what would you do? I’ll tell you this much for darn sure, I wouldn’t eat my ground chicken and green beans! I wouldn’t be worried about emails. And I wouldn’t spend any money on Amazon because even Prime couldn’t get it here in time. And for heaven’s sake, I wouldn’t be trying to sleep away the day! What would you do if you knew, this is it? One last shot at living. Who would you most want to be with and what would you want to do? What things would no longer be of any importance at all, and what would become the single most important thing to you? Jesus knew he had one more day. He knew the next day he would go to the cross to suffer and die. And what did he do on his final night of life? He washed feet. Woah … doesn’t that hit you hard? Knowing this was his last night of his human existence, he chose to wash feet. Jesus says in Matthew 11: 29, “Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace.” This is the ultimate unforced rhythm of grace. This is knowing time is short and choosing to slow down and do what is most important. Watch how Jesus does this. And remember, Jesus is washing the feet of 2 people who were about to do really stupid things. One would deny him, and one would betray him. I watched a short video clip yesterday of a man explaining the difference between Peter and Judas, and it showed me something I had never thought of before. Both sinned. Both failed, but Jesus says something very different about the two of them. On that final night of Jesus’ life, the disciples are gathered with Jesus in the Upper Room for the Last Supper together. For those of you not from the South, supper is dinner. Where I grew up, you ate 3 meals: Breakfast, Dinner and Supper. This was Supper, the evening meal. This meal was eaten together reclining at a low table. Sitting on the ground at a low table meant their feet were very close to their food. Because the shoes of those days were sandals, you know Jesus sandals like Berkenstocks, their feet would be very dirty from the dusty roads. It was customary for the lowest servant present to wash the feet of everyone at the table. And Jesus is here on his final night of his earthly life and sees dirty feet from dusty journeys. While Jesus is humbly washing their feet, he explains the difference between Peter who denies Jesus, and Judas who betrays Jesus. Now listen closely because this is important for you today. Get ready to have guilt and shame and burden lifted right off your shoulders! John 13: 1-11, “It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.
The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas to betray Jesus. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
He came to Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash yo