As we continue our study of the Gospel of John, we pick up at verse 6 of chapter 13. Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, the Apostle wrote:
“He came to Simon Peter, who said to Him, ‘Lord, are you going to wash my feet?’ Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize what I am doing, but later you will understand.’
‘No’, said Peter, ‘You shall never wash my feet,’ Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me.’ ‘Then, Lord,’ Simon Peter replied, ‘not just my feet, but my hands and my head as well.’ Jesus answered, ‘Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet, their whole body is clean.’ (John 13: 6-10)
Jesus, and His Disciples were celebrating the Pass Over, and were at what would later be called ‘The Last Supper’. The Lord had taken off His outer garment, and had wrapped a towel around His waist, and was washing the feet of His Disciples. When He got to Peter, He was told “No”. This could have been because Peter did not want to see Jesus as a Servant, because he saw Him as a King, we do not know. But when the Lord told him what he did, Peter said ‘Take all of me.”
Jesus explained two things. One, “You sometimes do not realize what I am doing, but later you will understand.”, and two, “When you allow Me to have all of you, you are clean, you need only to wash your feet.”
No doubt, each of us have encountered things, or have had things to happen in our lives that we did not understand, but later saw the purpose and beauty of it. One of the largest in my life is when I fell and broke my back while on a business trip. I fell backwards over the edge of my tub as I was bathing. The incidents around all of it are amazing to me to this day. But after several months, and some tough going for a while, the Lord took it from a near death experience to a life literally transformed in health, and vitality. As He said to Peter, He said to me, “You do not realize what I am doing, but later you will understand.” He taught me to trust Him when I could not understand what was going on. He taught me to believe that when I stay with Him in trust and faith, that I will come to understand there is always a purpose. Point two, we shall cover next week.
Have a wonderful week as you walk with our Lord in faith and trust, God’s Beloveds. As we trust, and walk in expectation of good, we see that He is beautiful and exciting in all that He does; that life is never boring, and His unearned Love is amazing.