He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus replied, “You do not realize now 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!” (John 13:6-9)

When I was growing up, the family dog was a golden retriever named Barkley.

Barkley was a great dog – a typical golden – happy go lucky, friendly as all get-out, and in love with being outside. 

Because of Barkley’s love for digging holes and rummaging through the creek behind our house, there usually came a time each month when my mom would offer me an ultimatum: “if you want him back in the house, you have to give him a bath; he stinks!”

For me, my mother’s reason for wanting the dog bathed was obvious: smelly dogs don’t belong inside.

For Peter, the reason Jesus wanted to wash his feet was less apparent, as seen by his first reaction: You are the Son of God, there’s no way I’m letting you wash my feet.

But you see, Jesus’ foot-washing exercise was more than a friendly gesture. It was a teaching tool, and one with layers of meaning. 

The obvious one is that Jesus wanted to show his disciples what it means to serve others. If the Son of God can wash the feet of sinners, we ought to be more than willing to offer our lives in service to others. 

The second, while less obvious, can be seen in Jesus’ response to Peter: “Unless I wash you, you have no part in me” (v.8).

Wait, is Jesus saying that after three years together, Peter is “out” as a disciple if he skips the foot-washing shindig? Not quite.

When Jesus speaks of washing Peter, He speaks of more than just a foot-washing. He speaks of the day when through His sacrificial work on the cross, Peter would be permanently “made clean” through the Holy Spirit.

“You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand” (v.7).

While Jesus’ work on the cross allows for sinful people to be forgiven, it also does more than that; it causes us to be made clean. 

If you belong to Jesus, you have also received an everlasting, internal cleansing. And the result is that you are now fit to abide in the King’s house. 

You see, like Barkley, our stench – that caused by our sin – used to keep us out, away from God’s presence and separated from the family. But now, through Jesus’ purifying work on the cross, we have been invited to abide forever in the house – in the very presence – of the King.

In a world that is currently obsessed with keeping things clean, the Gospel promises that those who belong to Jesus have been made clean in a whole new way. Do you struggle with feeling “clean” before God? Are there ways in which practicing good hygiene can offer us a daily reminder of God’s permanent cleansing work?