Last Supper 2 - John 13:1-17

I’ve thought more about the Savior washing the feet of his disciples and I noticed an interesting pattern in my own life. At work I’ll examine a patient and then I asked everyone “can I give you a hand up?” and I hold my hand out for them to take it. What I’ve noticed though is that even if I can tell that the patient doesn’t like me or is uncomfortable or something like that, once I offer them my hand, their whole demeanor changes. I don’t scrub a dirty part of their body, there is no invasion or privacy or personal space or anything but that simple gesture of offering a helping hand completely transforms our encounter and their perception of it. Maybe it’s the physical contact, my willingness to allow them to touch my hand in order to assist them that makes the difference, I don’t know what it is, but I thought that if a two second touch of hands transforms my patient interactions, then what would a several minutes long washing of feet do to people who already knew and loved each other.

A rough night was looming over the small group, but I don’t think that anyone but Jesus and possibly Judas knew it was coming. What is interesting is that Jesus knew what he was going to have to do with the atonement, and honestly, the prospect of being crucified is horrific enough, but then to know that you are going to have to experience all the pain and suffering of the whole of human existence, both before and during the crucifixion, I can’t even imagine the mental anguish that Jesus was experiencing at this point. But I think that He illustrates an excellent point here in that the best way to alleiviate your own pain and sorrow is to serve someone else. That’s not to say that grief and mourning aren’t allowed, because of course they are, but sometimes the best way to get out of a slump is to do something nice for someone else. It doesn’t have to be as detailed as washing of feet and it doesn’t have to take that long either, but it’s the focus on someone else and the effort expended in their service that can help us heal.
The Savior put the welfare of the disciples above his own, he had every right to spend the few hours he had left doing something that HE enjoyed, maybe having his own feet washed, or praying or spending time with his family. But He didn’t do that, he took that time and engaged in the tasks of a slave to teach an eternal principle to his disciples, what an incredible example for us to follow. If I was going to die soon, I would want my children to know that they have each other, to be friends and help each other, and with His death being imminent, He knew that his disciples were going to need each other more than ever. The IM quotes President David O. McKay as teaching, “What an example of service to those great servants, followers of the Christ! He that is greatest among you, let him be least. So we sense the obligation to be of greater service to the membership of the Church, to devote our lives to the advancement of the kingdom of God on earth.”
Speaking about the curative powers of service, the IM quotes President Thomas S. Monson as teaching, “To find real happiness, we must seek for it in a focus outside ourselves. No one has learned the meaning of living until he has surrendered his ego to the service of his fellow man. Service to others is akin to duty- the fulfillment of which brings true joy.” I love this because popular philosophy is that happiness is achieved by finding activities that you enjoy and doing them, and then there is the torrential under current of materialism, things make you happy, buy them with money you don’t have then spend the rest of your life working to pay for them. Hardly anyone is saying, “if you want to be happy, then help someone else,” and yet that’s what I’ve found to be the most effective advise, and so have numerous other people who applied it to themselves in times of sorrow.
Going one by one, the Savior washed the feet of his disciples, but only one objected to Jesus doing the washing, Peter. John says, “Peter saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.” Peter recognized that he didn’t deserve to have Jesus was his feet, but why did Jesus speak so harshly to him in response? Surely He knew that of the two, Peter should be washing His feet. But would Jesus really throw away three years of discipleship simply because of a disagreement over feet washing? Probably not, so that means to me that Jesus had an additional message for them. He was about to atone for the sins of the world, no one else could do it, and the people that He was going to do it for did not deserve the chance at forgiveness. But He did it anyway, because He loves us. We’ve heard the message about washing our garments in His blood to become clean, and it seems like an additional metaphor that Jesus would wash their feet clean, even though they didn’t deserve it.
Peter’s protestation was probably just about the washing of feet, but Jesus’ response might have been about more eternal principles. If Peter had refused to allow Jesus to wash his feet, that wouldn’t have affected his salvation at all, but it’s the “my way or the highway” attitude that could prevent him from washing himself clean through Jesus’ blood. As people, we have to accept that we must allow a man who’s far greater than us to save us, it’s the only way. We can wallow in “I’m not worthy” all day long, but the only person who suffers for that is ourselves. Here Jesus taught Peter humility and obedience, and it’s one of the lessons that we must learn in order to progress spiritually and be saved.
After Peter realized that Jesus wasn’t going to relent, he asks, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. Jesus saith unto him, He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.” I mean, if Jesus is handing out holy anointings, then why stop at the feet, let’s clean everything. If Peter’s feet were dirty, then surely the rest of his body was dirty too, and we know that Jesus wants us to take care of our bodies, so I don’t think that Jesus was talking about physical cleanliness here. How are we “washed?” The way the Lord uses it, it sounds like a one time even, because if it was an on going process he would have used the word “clean,” but he didn’t. Once someone is “washed” they only need to have their feet washed regularly to maintain the same level of cleanliness.
So what is a one time event that that is followed by subsequent smaller events that keep us clean? Baptism followed by partaking of the sacrament at church each Sunday. It makes sense that Jesus would use this to tie in what he was about to do, which was introduce the ordinance of the sacrament. Maybe the symbolism was that He was washing their feet signifying baptism, then instituting the sacrament, which is how they kept themselves clean spiritually, assuming that they were always worthy to partake of it.
Symbolism and everything aside, Jesus finishes with the last disciple’s feet and Jesus sums up this lesson comparing the fact that He is their Lord and Master, and if he is doing this for them, then they should do it for each other, “for I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, Verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.” I imagine that there was also going to be a lot of temptation to grab power over people as they presided over the gospel in Jesus’ absence. Maybe He wanted to illustrate to them the importance of remembering why they were really with Him and what He really wanted them to do when it comes to spreading the gospel. The saying “you catch more flies with honey than vinegar” would be very apt here, people will respond to Christ-like love and service way more than they would to a judgmental, selfish preacher of Christ’s word only.