In the Same Basin as the Traitor

During the warm summer evenings of my childhood, my brother and I were allowed to play in the backyard after our post-Saturday-shower-but-pre-bedtime cleansing we were required to do. If my dad had mowed the lawn that day, playtime was even better; I can still remember the clean aromatic breaths of freshly-cut-grass scent that clung to my lungs in the warmth of the post-shower playtime. On those evenings, I'd help to rake the grass clippings from their long lines on the hill in our backyard. My dad would give my brother and me each a leaf rake, and we'd spend a while pulling the grass clippings into small piles to be gathered up and carried to the garden.

So much for a shower, right? Here's a fun fact about grass clippings: Not only do they stick to your fresh jammies, but they also dye your feet a vivid green if you tread on them too much. By the time our evening "helping" was completed, my feet looked like the Jolly Green Giant's. 

And since my mom didn't want my sheets to get grass-stained, she'd make me go wash them in the sink. It usually took four or five vigorous scrubbings with my washcloth and the soap to remove most of the backyard evidence, and by the time I was finished, the water itself had turned green.

But my feet were clean, and I was allowed to go to bed.

John 13:1-17 dives into the events leading up to Jesus' death. In fact, John gives us the most complete explanation and commentary about Jesus' words of any of the gospel writers. The disciples' dinner with Jesus lasts from chapter 13 all the way through chapter 17, before they get up and head out to the olive grove where Jesus is arrested.

Interestingly, though, John doesn't detail the institution of the Lord's Supper, the bread, the wine, the "Do this in remembrance of me." Maybe by the time he's writing this, he figures Matthew, Mark, and Luke have already taken care of it; why add a fourth account? The one thing he does describe that the others leave out is how Jesus washes His disciples' feet. This is important, Matthew, Mark, and Luke. No worries; I'll cover it. Y'all just relax.

A few chapters back, I had written about Mary, Lazarus and Martha's sister, who had "washed" Jesus' feet with expensive perfume and dried them with her hair, an act of worship from someone who held nothing back. This cleansing ritual was reserved for servants to be extended to the master of the household, and she turns it into an demonstration of worship for the Master of her heart.

Now Jesus turns around and extends this act to his own disciples. He peels off his outer layers of clothing, wraps a towel around His waist, grabs a basin of water, and moves from disciple to disciple, from friend to friend, washing each one of their feet.

He bends over Andrew and takes the man's feet in His hands, dips them into the cool water, and splashes the clear liquid around the ankles and over the calloused toes. He lifts Andrew's feet, wrapping the towel around them, and He pats them dry. Silently, he moves over to Philip, and does the same thing. Then Matthew. Then... then Judas Iscariot. 

Do you ever wonder what Jesus is thinking as He washes Judas Iscariot's feet? 

Jesus: Are you really going through with this, Judas? You know me, you know me well. 

He dips Judas' feet into the water and swirls it around the toes. 

We've spent three years together. You know my habits, my quirks, the things that give me heebie-jeebies, the smell of my sweat. I've counted you my close friend. 

He splashes water up over his ankles and watches the muddy rivulets track down the small hairs.

Your moment of decision is coming up in 3, 2, 1...

As He pats Judas' feet dry, the betrayal digs deep into His heart, even though Judas has not yet left Him. Jesus knows what will happen, He knows that Judas will be the instrument that will be used to accomplish the purpose for which He's come to earth... but I think it must have still hurt Him.

Do you ever wonder what Judas Iscariot thinks? 

Judas: Money or friendship? Friendship won't make me rich, but thirty pieces of silver will.

As his Teacher gently wraps one foot in a calloused hand and lifts it into the basin, shame pushes at his thoughts.

No, I've decided what I'm going to do. I've made plans for that money. I refuse to feel guilty.

The towel wraps his bare feet when Jesus is done, and Jesus' penetrating gaze catches his. The Teacher's eyebrows raise in a silent question.

I can't turn back now. I won't turn back now.

There's a whole unspoken conversation that happens here that I admit I've have never thought about before. What does happen during this incredibly significant action when Jesus washes Judas Iscariot's feet?

Jesus moves on to the next disciple, Peter. In contrast to the silent conversation with Judas, Peter lays it all out there on the table. I love Peter; he is me so often. Peter has been watching this process with growing horror.

Jesus, the Master, the Teacher, the Son of God, the One Who spoke with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, the One Who walked across the waters of the Sea of Galilee, the One Who healed the sick and raised Lazarus from the dead... is washing feet. He's doing the work of a servant!

When Jesus places the basin in front of Peter, he pulls back his feet, tucks them beneath himself. "No, Lord, you shall never wash my feet!"

Peter doesn't realize what Jesus is doing. He doesn't understand that Jesus is showing him so much more than splashing a little water over some toes. He hasn't figured out the huge symbolic gesture Jesus is demonstrating in real time right in front of him. All he sees is a Man he reveres doing something menial, dirty... and he is horrified.

Jesus sticks it to Peter in a single sentence. He says: "Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me."

Bullseye. The arrow flies straight and true into center target. Peter loves Jesus. He loves Him unreservedly, boldly, heart-on-his-sleevedly. No one can doubt Peter's sincerity; He shows it again and again and again over the course of Jesus' ministry. 

So once again, in true Peter-fashion, Peter sticks his feet back out in front of him and nearly dives for the basin in his overreaction. "Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!"

I think Jesus must have laughed, or at least have gotten a good chuckle out of it. Peter's heart, always the first thing Jesus sees, is laid out on the table for all to witness. Eagerness and passion. Use me, Lord!

Jesus says, "A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you." Perhaps Jesus glances over Peter's shoulder at Judas Iscariot, whose fingers fidget in his lap and who refuses to make eye contact.

I thought my footnotes in my Bible might have made mention of this, but they don't, so I hope I'm not too off-base here. To me, this statement that Jesus makes right here seems to say: "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. You're justified freely by My grace through the redemption I'm getting ready to give you through My imminent death on the cross" (Romans 3:23-25). 

But He's got to clarify, even though that redemption is there, even though His disciples are already justified and called, dust and mud have still gathered on their feet, and cleansing those feet still needs to happen. In a righteous person, sin still occurs, and forgiveness must be asked for. It's a lie if we tell the world we're saved, sanctified, and blood-bought and because of this, we never sin. 1 John 1:8 says: "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us."

We = John and the rest of Jesus' followers (us). Sin still stains our feet, even after we've gotten out of the purifying shower.

1 John 1:9 says: "If we confess our sins (if we put our feet in the basin after we've stained them), He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins, and purify us from all unrighteousness (He'll splash the water over our toes and scrub off the stains)."

Us = John and the rest of Jesus' followers. Sin is atoned for, forgiven. We are cleansed, clean, made whole.

I admit, I don't like feet. I think they're pretty gross, really... which drives home even more poignantly what Jesus does in this upper room with His disciples' feet -- twelve pairs of gross, dirty feet.

By Jesus' act, while most agree that He's demonstrating true humility (the Master becomes the Servant King), He's also illustrating this important concept: He forgives sin. Always, no matter what it is. In the same basin that He washes over-eager Peter's feet, He also washes Traitor Judas' feet.

He offers forgiveness to anyone who wants to claim it.

Note the action denoted in the infinitive: "to claim." In other words, Jesus doesn't force forgiveness on us. It's there, it's free, it's ready. But we have to accept it. We have to dive for the basin like Peter, place our feet in it. "Here, Lord, wash me!"

In that act, Jesus opens up an entire world of love and grace; He opens up a call to holy living. He opens up mercy; He opens up purpose and calling. 

Forgiveness is just the door to that new world.

You know, grass-stains aren't the easiest things to remove, even from skin. They coat the callouses, especially, and intense scrubbing is needed, sometimes even peeling the layers of dead skin where those callouses have built up. 

Once the stains are removed, though, you can't track green footprints through the house. You can't wipe green feet on your sheets. You can't leave behind evidence of dirt that you've picked up. Not only is the rest of you clean from your shower, your feet are clean, too, and you're ready to rest in that cleanliness.

"How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, 'Your God reigns!'" (Isaiah 52:7)