Not Understanding Everything

  

“Jesus answered and said to him, ‘What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” John 13:7.

 

What does Jesus mean? What does His washing of the disciples’ feet mean? What is the message Jesus is portraying?

 

Could it be that our familiarity with this passage blinds us to the possibilities of its meaning? Could it be that its meaning is not as straightforward as we may think?

 

When we ask, “What is the meaning behind Jesus washing the disciples’ feet?” it is well and good to begin our answer with what Jesus says in John 13:13 – 17:

 

“You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you. Truly, truly, I say to you, a slave is not greater than his master, nor is one who is sent greater than the one who sent him. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.”

 

Does Jesus tell us the meaning of what He is doing in verses 13 – 17? He tells us that we ought to follow His example by washing one another’s feet, He tells us that we should do so because He is our Lord and Teacher and Master and that we should therefore do as He does – but is Jesus telling us the meaning of what He is doing?

 

Consider what Jesus says to Peter, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will realize hereafter.” Now then, what about the idea “hereafter”? Does this mean “After I’ve washed your feet you will understand”? Does it mean after the Resurrection? After Pentecost? Might it mean “after a while”? If it means “after a while” does it mean a short while or a good long while?

 

Also, when we look at Jesus and feet washing, do we limit our vision to John 13:5 – 20? Is this a standalone scene that contains its own interpretation within it? That is, do we need context for this passage? Do we need the interplay of other Scripture to begin to “see” this passage? Do we need the unfolding of John chapters 13 – 17? Do we need the entire Gospel of John? Do we need the entire Bible to plumb the depths of Jesus and feet washing?

 

And, if we do indeed need expanding context for seeing this passage, then can we not say that Jesus washing the disciples’ feet contains more than meets the natural eye? Perhaps feet washing contains more than we think it does? After all, Jesus does say to Peter, “What I do you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.”

 

We know from Luke 22:24 – 27 that the apostles (sensitive and perceptive boys that they were!) got into a dispute in the Upper Room about which of them was the greatest, and that Jesus once again spoke to them about greatness and leadership in the Kingdom.

 

“For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as the one who serves.” (Luke 22:27; see also Matthew 20:20 – 28).

 

Jesus has just served the Bread and the Cup, or as some friends would point out in Luke’s account, He has just served two cups and bread. Jesus is pointing to what He has just done, serving the bread and wine, as an example of leadership in the Kingdom. Jesus is not saying, “What I have just done you do not realize now, but you will understand hereafter.” Far from it, Jesus is, in effect, saying, “Do you see how I have just served you? Well then, serve one another in the same way.”

 

(Now I want to point out that there is still more than meets the natural eye in Luke 22:24 – 27, and there are elements in it that the disciples cannot possibly see until later – nor can we unless we grow in Him together. For as Jesus gave Himself for us, we are to give ourselves for one another (1 John 3:16). As Chambers said, we are to be broken bread and poured out wine for others. Our life with one another, in Christ, is sacred and sacramental.)

 

One of the things I am saying is that Jesus’ washing of feet is more than an example of servant leadership, that it has more meaning than as a demonstration of what Jesus is saying in Luke 22:24 – 27. After all, Jesus says, “…you will understand hereafter.”

 

And then we have John 13:10, “He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”

 

If we read the washing of feet simply as an example of servant leadership, we gloss over John 13:10. (We also gloss over “you will understand hereafter.”) What is the bathing that Jesus speaks of? What does Jesus mean, “….and you are clean…”? What does “clean” mean? And whatever “clean” means, it means that we ought to be participating in not only receiving cleansing, but also in providing cleansing – for does not Jesus say, “You also ought to wash one another’s feet”?

 

Certainly Jesus is speaking of more than natural water and physical feet – just as there is more in Luke 22 than natural bread and wine.

 

And consider the similarity between the Bread and the Cup and the Feet Washing, we receive both from Jesus Christ and we serve both to others in Jesus Christ. That is, we sacramentally receive Christ, and we sacramentally give Christ.

 

Sometimes we just don’t understand everything, perhaps most times we don’t understand everything…but perhaps that’s a good and liberating realization…for then we can get excited about more of Jesus Christ – our Bread from Heaven.

 

To be continued…