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a
portrait of jesus |
A PORTRAIT OF JESUS -
WASHING THE FEET OF HIS BETRAYER
“Having loved his own who were in the world, He now showed them the full
extent of His love.”
John 13:1
The
evening meal was being served, the Passover feast they
had all been anticipating and preparing for was before them. Something had been missed in all the frantic
preparation. No one had met the Master
at the door and washed his tired, aching, dirty feet. Someone had neglected to hire a servant to do
that. What Jesus does next was perplexing to his disciples. He got up, look off
his outer clothing and wrapped a towel around his waist and began to wash their
feet. Jesus did what he did best, he
taught his disciples by example. He had
talked to them about servanthood, He spoke to them of
love, He had told them parables, he had explained those parables, but they just
didn’t get it. In order to be first in
His kingdom, you needed to be a servant, you needed to love your enemies, and
if they didn’t get this right how could he leave them? So he took on a servant’s role one more
time, he humbled himself to teach one last lesson by getting down on his knees
and washing their feet. Two of those feet belonged to Judas. Jesus knew that
Judas would betray him. He didn’t wait
until Judas had left the room to wash his disciples’ feet. He included Judas in this ritual of love,
knowing what he would do. Jesus lovingly
lifted up those calloused heels and tenderly washed them as he had done the
other eleven. How his heart must have
ached as he held those feet in his hands.
As he washed Judas’ feet, He showed his disciples (though they didn’t
know it at the time) what it meant to “love your enemies;” what it meant to “do
good to those who hate you;” what it meant to “bless
those who curse you.” (Luke 6:27, 28)
These were words he had spoken to his disciples, but now he had put his
words into action, washing the feet of the man who would sell him for thirty
pieces of silver. He became a servant
for the man who would betray him with a kiss.
Jesus knew what was coming, he knew what Judas would do, yet he washed
the “heel that was set against him” anyway (John