Scripture Reading: John 13:1-17
Ⅰ
“Jesus knowing that His hour had come for Him to depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the uttermost...Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all into His hands and that He had come forth from God and was going to God, rose from supper and laid aside His outer garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself; then He poured water into the basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded”—John 13:1, 3-5:
A
The outer garments here signify the Lord's virtues and attributes in His expression; hence, the laying aside of His outer garments signifies the putting off of what He is in His expression.
B
To gird oneself signifies to be bound and restricted with humility—cf. 1 Pet. 5:5.
C
Water here signifies the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5), the word (Eph. 5:26; John 15:3), and life (19:34; 10:10; 1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:6; 1 John 5:16).
Ⅱ
Since John is a book of signs, what is recorded in John 13 concerning foot-washing should be considered a sign, having spiritual significance—vv. 1-17:
A
Foot-washing should not be taken merely in a physical sense but rather, and even more intrinsically, in a deeper, more important, and spiritual sense.
B
In John 1—12 life came and brought forth the church, composed of the regenerated ones; in their spirit the regenerated ones are in God and in the heavenlies, but in their body they are still living in the flesh and walking on the earth.
C
Through their contact with earthly things they often become dirty; this frustrates their fellowship with the Lord and with one another; hence, there is the need for the washing of the Holy Spirit, the word, and life.
D
This is the washing away of their dirtiness that their fellowship with the Lord and with one another may be maintained; it is not the washing away of their sins by the blood (1 John 1:9); this is why, after John 12, there is the need for such a sign in this chapter.
E
In ancient times the Jews wore sandals, and since their roads were dusty, their feet easily became dirty; if, when they came to a feast, they sat at the table and stretched out their feet, the dirt and smell would certainly frustrate the fellowship; hence, for the feast to be pleasant they needed foot-washing:
１
The Lord washed His disciples' feet to show them that He loved them to the utter- most (13:1), and He charged them to do the same to one another in love:
ａ
“If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet”—v. 14.
ｂ
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another”—v. 34.
２
Today the world is dirty, and we, the saints, are easily contaminated; for us to maintain pleasant fellowship with the Lord and with one another, we need spiritual foot-washing—with the washing Holy Spirit, the washing word, and the washing life—carried out both by the Lord in His love and by one another in love.
３
This is absolutely necessary for us to live in the fellowship of the divine life, which is revealed in John's first Epistle, a continuation of the Gospel of John.
Ⅲ
For us to experience the washing, we need to spend time in the Lord's presence and with the saints who are full of the Spirit, the word, and the divine life—cf. Matt. 6:6; 1 Cor. 16:17-18:
A
If we remain in the Lord's presence, the Lord will come to us and wash us, not with the blood but with the Spirit, the living word, and the inner life:
１
Whenever we are in need of such a washing, we can just open ourselves up to the Lord as we spend time in His presence and allow the inner life to flow within us.
２
Spontaneously, something living will water, flow, and wash us, and we will become clean again; our spirit will be uplifted, and our whole being will be so pleasant in the Lord's presence.
B
“You also ought to wash one another's feet”—John 13:14:
１
In our experience, the Lord Jesus Himself and the saints who have much life can afford us such a washing.
２
It is the spiritual foot-washing ministered to one another that keeps us clean from the earthly touch; while we are walking and working on the earth, we not only need the Lord's foot-washing ministered directly within our spirit but also the foot-washing from the brothers and sisters.
３
Whenever we are about to wash others' feet, we need to follow the Lord's pattern by “laying aside our garments”; this is to lay aside our attainments, virtues, and attri- butes:
ａ
We must humble ourselves and empty ourselves; many wear a garment of spiri- tuality and look down on others; they are proud of being spiritual.
ｂ
To lay aside our garments means to dethrone ourselves.
４
To be girded with a towel means that we are bound and are willing to lose our liberty; we give up our liberty for the purpose of ministering something to our dear brothers and sisters.
５
Each of us must learn how to love the brothers and sisters by ministering the spiri- tual foot-washing to them to cleanse them from the earthly touch; this keeps us new, fresh, and living.
６
We can summarize defiled feet as staleness in fellowship with the Lord; clean feet, however, denote fresh fellowship with the Lord:
ａ
Not many can say today that they treasure and love the Lord as much as they did five or ten years ago; many people have to say that they do not have the same feeling that they had a year ago.
ｂ
Their feet are defiled, and they have become weary; this is spiritual weariness; it is the loss of spiritual freshness and vitality.
７
There must be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us that will drive others to seek after God by our presence; others should desire to seek after God, and their spiritual energy should be revived as a result of meeting us and speaking to us—cf. Acts 20:20, 31.
８
We need the renewing of the Holy Spirit day by day so that we can always be fresh and invigorated—Titus 3:5; 2 Cor. 4:16-18.
９
To love the Lord with the first love, the best love, is to give the Lord the preeminence, the first place, in all things, being constrained by His love to regard and take Him as everything in our life—Rev. 2:4-5; Col. 1:18b; 2 Cor. 5:14-15; Mark 12:30; Psa. 73:25-26; 80:17-19.
10
Foot-washing means recovering our former feelings, bringing us back to the fresh- ness of life, and giving us fresh strength to recover what we previously treasured.
11
We have to realize that the Lord wants us to be fresh all the time, not spiritually enervated; this is why He says that He makes us lie down in green pastures and leads us beside waters of rest—23:2.
12
We cannot wash others' feet unless we have an overcoming life and the Spirit's help to live out such a life; the Spirit within us is our Comforter, the One who takes care of our case, our cause, and our affairs—Phil. 1:19-21a.
13
Every one of us needs our feet washed, and every one of us needs to be prepared to wash others' feet.
14
Among all the services that Christians minister to one another, nothing is more crucial or precious than foot-washing; “if you know these things, blessed are you if you do them”—John 13:17.
15
Foot-washing maintains an intimate fellowship between us and the Lord.
16
May we have fresh, spiritual experiences every day; Romans 15:32 says, “I may refresh myself and rest with you”; this is the result of foot-washing.
17
“How can we wash one another's feet? Suppose you have completed your day's work and feel tired. You cannot utter any praises from your mouth. In the evening when you come to the meeting, someone asks you to pray. Halfway through your prayer, you cannot go on, and you stop. You feel as if your prayer is nothing more than a composition. However, perhaps one brother in the meeting has a fresh spirit, and his prayer refreshes your spirit. Your spiritual energy is renewed. This is washing one another's feet. Many times when we come to the meeting, we find the saints' spirit weak and downtrodden. We pray and read the Word, but nothing seems to work. The reason for this is that everyone's feet are defiled, and there is no basin to wash the feet. It is as if something is quenching our spirits. If someone would stand up at this point and wash everyone's feet by offering a prayer or saying a few words, the whole meeting will be refreshed. Without the basin and without the foot-washing, every- one's spirit is bound. The same is true in our family life. A brother or sister may unexpectedly drop by your home and fellowship a short while or give a testimony, and everyone in the family is brought into the presence of God. Before that time there was a separation between them and God, but after such a simple conversation, all the separation is gone. This is washing one another's feet. Those who do this are precious in the Lord's eyes. We should have an ambition before the Lord to wash others' feet. In order to wash others' feet, we must have the water, that is, we must be filled with the Holy Spirit and be in constant fellowship with the Lord. For this cause we must live in the Holy Spirit daily. Only then will we have the living water to wash others' feet. Every time we come to the meeting, we must have the living water to wash others' feet” (CWWN, vol. 42, pp. 281-282).
Ⅳ
Without the spiritual foot-washing, the church life cannot be realized, and the reality of the church life would be gone:
A
Therefore, the daily foot-washing definitely needs to be exercised by the Lord Himself on the one hand and by all the saints on the other hand.
B
Then we shall be able to maintain an excellent fellowship with which we shall have the real church life.