The Lord Jesus washes the disciples’ feet to show the way that He must die. By taking on the form of the servant, performing the task below the expectations for the Son of God to endure, Christ teaches that the death He will soon die is for the sheep. As this brought scandal upon Peter and the others, they did not deem it a reason for Jesus to stoop so low. By only seeing the folly, the necessity is soon forgotten. Yet, Christ’s desire for our salvation is not overcome by man’s disdain.
The act of humility done by our Lord initiates His coming hour. The Lord’s hour to depart from this world to the Father. His death by crucifixion, for His dying, He alone does not go to the Father, but those who have died with Him in the waters of baptism and faith departed this world also. It is for this single purpose that Christ has come. To be one of us, a man that we might be one with Him. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Sin has separated man from God so severely that God Himself must take on the punishment. And He gives Himself to us completely.
The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified, for Christ must go to and suffer many things from the elders and the priests and the scribes, and be killed and be raised on the third day. The Lord predicted His own death and resurrection many times, and yet the disciples did not believe or understand. Now, by becoming their servant, He shows them that everything the prophets and the Lord have spoken of will come to fulfillment by His own death. That Christ Jesus is the man of sorrow who has come into the world to be wounded for our transgressions and crushed for our iniquities.
The Lord Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hand, and that He had come from God and was going back to God, rose from supper and laid aside His outer garments. This servant of mankind willingly enters a state of shame in order to save. He, being the Word of the Father, strips Himself of His rightful glory. He steps down lower than the angels to take on human flesh and blood. Jesus, who shone like the rays of the Sun, had robes as white as the snow as He stood in the company of Moses and Elijah. It was at the transfiguration that the Father said, “This is my beloved son, listen to Him,” and soon at the cross, Jesus will say to the Father, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”
Christ Jesus does not avoid the shame of the cross, but it is His rightful possession. Naked, He has come into the world, and naked now, he leaves. God Himself endures nakedness and shame for us. To be the king of glory, while others see despair. To be stripped of His ropes that we may be given a rope of righteousness. To be mocked and scorned so we may receive His honor and glory in the kingdom of Heaven. For all things are taken away from Him, His clothing and even His life, that we may live.
Then the Lord poured water into a basin and began to wash His disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped around him. Christ, being the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world, was manifest to John the Baptist at the Jordan River. For Christ Jesus was washed in our sins so that He may wash us with His righteousness. The water poured into the basin foreshadows the blood and water that will be poured out of His side. By His crimson innocent blood, we are cleansed not as a washing away of dirt but for the forgiveness of sins.
The Lord of all glory becomes empty of His blood and Spirit on the cross. Jesus, being the well of eternal life, is poured out, and He begins to cry out in thirst. For the Son does not spare anything for our salvation. As the Lord’s blood, life, and breath together pay for the cost of our sins.
The washing of the feet is not only a foretelling of His death, but also a preparation to receive the marvelous sacrament of the remembrance of the passion. First, He showed them his death, and now He brings them into His death by eating and drinking His body and blood for the forgiveness of their sins. This night is as much about our salvation as it is about Christ coming into His passion. If Jesus, stripping down and pouring water, was not enough of a sign for them, now, in the institution of His body and blood, Christ gives them something to cling to forever. This is not a one-time event, but as often as we eat and drink of it in remembrance of Him.
Christ says, “This is My body, which is for you…” The Lord, the good Shepherd, has laid down His life for the sheep, washed them of all of our sins, and gives of His own body for their food and nutrients. The Son of God in flesh and blood, who has fed 5000 men with two fish and five loaves, now takes bread into His hands once again that it may be His body. This new bread now satisfies eternally as it is Christ Himself, who says, “I am the bread of life. He who believes in me shall never hunger.”
Then our Lord says, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood.” In the old covenant, blood was forbidden. For the life of the beast was in the blood. And that life was given by God. But now Christ desires us to drink of His blood. The blood that flows from the veins of the Messiah. The promised bloodline of David is now given to drink. The wine in the first sign of Christ at the wedding at Cana is now fulfilled in His death, as this wine takes on our sorrow and gives us His gladness, His salvation, and His freedom from sin.
Jesus washes their feet to give the marvelous remembrance of His passion. The meal does not take away from the preparation. As the supper of the Lord does not take away from our washing in Holy Baptism. For by the sacrament, Jesus has prepared you for the things that are to come, for Christ’s final hour on the tree of the cross and for our final hour.
You have been brought into Christ by the water, the word, and the sacrament. Remember His passion daily. For Christ has been stripped and poured out for our forgiveness. As you are washed in His blood, you are the fruits of His passion. So, come and be nourished by the Lord.
St. John's and Grace Evangelical Lutheran Parish 