How Can I Do So Little?
Gospel of John • Sermon • Submitted
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· 2 viewsJesus' washing the feet of the disciples gives us a guideline of serving in humility.
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Foot washing is a symbol of serving others. As Christians, we are to work to bring Jesus’ power to other people, as well as to our own lives. Only Jesus can make us whole and free us from sin.
In John’s Gospel we read nothing about the last supper, but we do learn about Jesus washing the disciples’ feet, which took place after the last summer (John 13:2).
Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. During supper, when the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, to betray him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, do you wash my feet?” Jesus answered him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You shall never wash my feet.” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “The one who has bathed does not need to wash, except for his feet, but is completely clean. And you are clean, but not every one of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, “Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you. 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. If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them. I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.’ I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”
We didn’t read about the cup being poured or the bread being broken, but we did learn about how Jesus washed His disciples’ feet after the meal was over. He said we should be willing to do the same sort of thing that He did. He also made it clear that we need to be willing to let Him make us clean.
At one time, when I was much younger than I am now, I worked as a carpenter in a maintenance department at a college. At one point the windows on some of the dormitories were leaking when it rained. The builder was contacted, and we were given a very super sticky, super strong caulking to put between the bricks and the aluminum window frames. This stuff was terrible if you got it on your hands. Of course, I did get it on my hands, and it took probably a month to get it off. Nothing would get it off, not lacquer thinner, not hand cleaner, not lava soap, nothing.
Our sin can’t be removed, except by Jesus. We can’t get rid of our sin by ourselves. And, we certainly can’t refuse to let Jesus do the work of cleansing us from our sins. Not only do we need Jesus to free us from our sins, we need to work alongside Him so that other people may also come to receive His salvation.
As we study this passage we will ask three questions:
Who will serve?
Who will be made clean?
Why do so little?
Who will serve?
Who will serve?
The end of Jesus’ life was coming soon. The disciples didn’t understand this, but Jesus did. Yet, even though He knew the horrors that were coming, He did not set aside His love for His disciples (vs 1).
It seems like no one wanted to take on the task of washing everyone’s feet. It was a very lowly task, usually performed by the person with the lowest social status. It might be a servant, a woman, or a child. In this ancient culture social rank was very important. So, most likely, the disciples were looking at each other, trying to decide which of them had the lowest social rank. I like to imagine that Peter was thinking, “Maybe John should do it. He’s the youngest. But maybe Jesus will be offended if we ask John to do it because Jesus seems to think very highly of John. Maybe I should do it. Jesus did say the first shall be last and the last shall be first. But, I’m not sure I want all the other disciples to think of me as the guy who washed their feet.” So, as they were gathered around the table in a very awkward moment something Jesus did surprised them.
rose from supper. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him.
Jesus washed their feet. No one else stepped forward to do it. Well, we’ve all heard this story before. We aren’t surprised at all. But, in that moment, the disciples were very surprised. Every one of them should have stepped forward to at least wash Jesus’ feet.
Jesus knew He was God in human flesh, the creator of the universe. If He was willing to wash His disciples’ feet, we should be willing to bend down and serve others. We shouldn’t be so proud of ourselves that we are unwilling to do the kind of thing Jesus was willing to do.
So how do we put this into action? First, we should never think any activity is beneath us. Second, during those times when our job seems to be to stay in the background, while others do all the work that gets noticed, we need to serve willingly, and even joyfully. We may feel unimportant, but we should always rejoice when God does His work in our midst, even if we can’t claim any part of the credit.
Like Peter (John 13:6-11) we can’t refuse to let Jesus do His work of making us pure. Peter got things wrong more than once here. At first, He didn’t want Jesus to wash him at all. Then, when Jesus explained to refuse to let Jesus wash his feet would mean rejecting Jesus entirely. So, Peter, then asked Jesus to wash his whole body. Jesus said that wasn’t necessary, just the feet was all that was needed.
The point isn’t just about getting Peter’s feet washed. Peter needed to receive whatever Jesus wanted to give Him, even if it went against normal social customs. Peter’s exchange with Jesus was a little like two people arguing: “You first.” “No, you first.” “No, I insist, you go first.” “Oh, please, I really would rather you go first.” And, so on. Peter did relent, and we should too, when Jesus wants to give us something we may not really want to receive at first.
And what did Peter receive, besides two clean feet? A lesson that no one should think he is too important to do the humblest task, and that no matter what, we should always accept as a gift whatever Jesus wants to give us.
So, we might prefer that Jesus didn’t have to suffer for our sins, but we must accept that He did, or we refuse His salvation. On the other hand, some people do refuse His salvation.
Who will be made clean?
Who will be made clean?
Jesus said not everyone would be made clean. Jesus knew all about Judas. I wonder if Jesus might have really wanted to ask the other eleven disciples to beat up Judas, so that Judas wouldn’t be able to betray Him. Judas was certainly outnumbered. Some of the men, like Peter, were fishermen, who would daily pull up heavy nets of fish. I don’t think Judas would have had much of a chance if eleven angry disciples had tried to put him on the sidelines. Yet, even though Jesus knew that Judas was about to betray Him, He never asked His disciples to lift a finger to stop Judas.
Jesus pointed out that the one who ate with him would betray Him (John 13:18). A few verses after that Jesus identified this person as Judas (John 13:26).
Jesus said that Judas’ betrayal, especially eating bread with Jesus, was a fulfillment of Psalm 41:9, which says:
Even my close friend in whom I trusted,
who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.
Jesus knew all about Judas. It was all part of His plan. When Jesus washed the disciples’ feet Judas’ feet were among those he washed. Think of it! Jesus washed the heel that would soon be raised against Him. For His love of Judas, Jesus was repaid with betrayal and hatred.
Jesus says that all this mistreatment and betrayal will prove who He is (John 13:19-20). It was only due to Judas’ betrayal that Jesus died and suffered for us all. The foot washing was an vivid example of Jesus’ humility. But, the cross carried the demonstration of Jesus’ humility to a much greater extreme. He suffered for us. We could not make ourselves right before God, because of our sin, but Jesus did. His death on the cross paid for our sin.
If the disciples had prevented Judas from betraying Jesus, then Jesus wouldn’t have died on the cross. So, it was when the disciples later saw Jesus die and rise again, that they remembered these words of Jesus, and they knew beyond the shadow of any doubt that Jesus is the Savior of the world.
Not only must we accept Jesus’ salvation, like Peter. And, not only must we make sure that we do not refuse Jesus’ salvation, like Judas, but If we going to follow Jesus, we must be willing to serve Him in ways that require us to swallow our pride, and humble our hearts.
Why do so little?
Why do so little?
If I then, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet.
How can we put this principle of being willing to be a servant to others into practice? Let me tell you about a young man I knew when I first started out as a pastor. I first started in ministry I served as the pastor of two very small churches. At one of the churches was a young man who taught a Bible Study for new Christians before I had come to the church. He decided to stop teaching the Bible Study just about the time I started as the pastor. I asked if he could start the Bible Study up again, and he said he didn’t feel it was the right time. Then, within a year he stopped coming to church altogether. So, I went to see him, and encouraged him to come to church and begin his Bible Study again. I will never forget what he said. He told me that he had expected that God was going to do something really big in his life. I mentioned the Bible Study, which I knew had been well received, and a genuine blessing to several people who had come to Christ. He said he had expected God to do something bigger than a Bible Study with only a few people attending.
Now consider Jesus, who was willing to wash the feet of his disciples, including Judas who would betray Him. We shouldn’t look for only for the biggest, greatest things that we can do for Jesus. We should also seek out the smallest, and least like to be noticed things that we can do for Jesus. If we see other people doing bigger, more important things than we are doing, we should remember this passage. Maybe the smaller, humbler things, are exactly what Jesus wants us to do. We should be more concerned about what He thinks than what anybody else thinks. It may not seem important to us, but it may be very important to Jesus that we do what He wants us to do. If other people are getting more attention for the things they do for God, then we shouldn’t be jealous. We should praise God that His work is successful. I know, from experience, that isn’t always very easy to do, but remember Jesus washing the feet of His disciples helps me to realize that doing little things is sometimes the best way to follow Jesus.
No task is too small, not even washing someone's feet. No one is too important to wash someone’s feet, not even Jesus Christ the Creator of the universe and Savior of the world. Let Jesus make you pure and do everything you can spread His desire to make everyone the kind of people who want to do what is right. And remember, no task is too small to bring glory to the name of Jesus Christ.