Unless

Thursday, April 6, 2023

Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”  John 13:3-9

Peter’s refusal (at first) wasn’t a matter of control; it was just the opposite.  Peter knew himself to be unworthy to be served by Jesus.  Jesus was holy; Peter was a leather-faced fisherman who knew the fickleness within himself.  He couldn’t fit in anyone’s description of pure.  He wasn’t good enough.  And he was right.

Peter wasn’t just right about himself; he was right about all of us.  He knew what the prophet had said about all humans: 

We are all infected and impure with sin.  When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags.  Like autumn leaves, we wither and fall, and our sins sweep us away like the wind.  

Isaiah 64:6

Hence, Jesus’ answer…Simon, buddy…if you won’t take my washing, you won’t have anything from me.  This is the whole issue of salvation God offers.  There is nothing any human being can do to be cleansed from our sin:

For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are.  Romans 3:20

God specifically said no human being still practicing evil, or having refused Christ will be allowed entrance to the New Jerusalem, Heaven:

Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.  Revelation 21:27

The Lamb’s Book of Life is the account of everyone who accepts the cleansing from sin which Jesus offered by virtue of His death on the cross.  What Jesus taught his disciples in that upper room, particularly Peter, was a metaphor.  He washed their feet, and it represented the washing of their hearts that he would do the next day.  What looked like the greatest failure in history, a “would-be” Messiah, hanging naked, bloodied, beaten, and stone-cold-dead on a criminal’s cross, would be His offer of eternal, internal cleansing each of us needs to be right with our Creator.  Jesus told Peter (and He tells us) UNLESS I give you this cleansing, you’ll never be mine…you’ll NOT be in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

For You Today 

I have known many people who hesitated to accept Christ as Savior, because, like Peter, they knew how unworthy they were, uncertain they could live-into God’s ways.  And that is the very first step in the process of inking your name in His book.  You must repent of your sins. 

UNLESS you know how bad you are, you’ll never understand how marvelous grace is…and how much God wants to forgive you, and draw you close to Him.

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

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There are about 2,500 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper explore some of these:  So...Then... and  His Way    

Title Image:  Pixabay.com   Images without citation are in public domain.

Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

His Way

[i][ii]

Maundy Thursday, April 18, 2019

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that his hour had come to leave this world and return to his Father.  He had loved his disciples during his ministry on earth, and now he loved them to the very end.  It was time for supper, and the devil had already prompted Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had given him authority over everything and that he had come from God and would return to God.  So he got up from the table, took off his robe, wrapped a towel around his waist,  and poured water into a basin.  Then he began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he had around him.  When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”  Jesus replied, “You don’t understand now what I am doing, but someday you will.”  “No,” Peter protested, “you will never ever wash my feet!”  Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me.”  Simon Peter exclaimed, “Then wash my hands and head as well, Lord, not just my feet!”  Jesus replied, “A person who has bathed all over does not need to wash, except for the feet, to be entirely clean.  And you disciples are clean, but not all of you.”  For Jesus knew who would betray him.  That is what he meant when he said, “Not all of you are clean.”  After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing?  You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am.  And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet.  I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you.  I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master.  Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message.  Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.  John 13:1-17

If you count the disciples in the picture you’ll see there are twelve.  The question is:  If Jesus is washing his beloved disciples’ feet, why in the world is Judas there?  In the normal course of the world’s power structure, CEO’s do not serve janitors, and powerful people do not do the getting your hands dirty stuff!  And even if the leader of the band would tune the violin for his first chair, you don’t coddle and include the one who is trying to sabotage the concert.  Judas is the enemy.  Nobody likes Judas; have you ever heard of a new Mom or Dad joyfully naming their child Judas?  And on top of it all, Jesus said to those disciples that he was doing this to teach them (and us) to follow in his footsteps, wash the feet of friends and enemies alike; when you get clobbered on one cheek, offer the other. 

In the words of great theological thinkers like Pogo or Snoopy – what’s up with this?  It doesn’t make sense.  And while that is true on so many levels, when it comes to this world’s view of the way things ought to be, and the way Jesus says they must be, you have a case of oil and water; sooner or later those ingredients will separate.  You cannot mix darkness and light for long.  You cannot have short and tall, skinny and portly…and when it comes to pleasing God, you’re not going to please worldly-minded people at all.  To turn another phrase in this cacophony of mixed metaphors, it’s either His way, or Hell’s way.  And, for good measure, we throw in a little Bob Dylan: 

Well it may be the devil, or it may be the Lord,

but you’re gonna have to serve somebody.[iii]

Sooner or later it dawns on most people who want to follow Jesus that the focus of Jesus’ way is counter-clockwise, or counter to this world’s cultural expectations and preferences.  Bob Dylan had a brush with Christianity, and he got it, that everyone is hard-wired to serve somebody.  Even the person who sits in the oval office answers to someone higher…sooner or later.  And, when you lay your head down on the pillow for the last time in this world, it makes sense that it will have been a wise choice to surrender your life to His way, much as it will make the world uncomfortable.

For You Today

Jesus loved Judas enough to wash his dusty feet; how are you doing with that annoying neighbor of yours?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[i] Title Image:   Pixabay.com

[ii] Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture quotations are from The New Living Translation©

[iii] Bob Dylan, Gotta Serve Somebody