Full Question:
What is the real spiritual ' Foot washing' among us as believers in Christ? We see that there is a special function of the Word of God in the matter of foot washing in John 13:14. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one others feet.
After we spend time in the Word of God, and enjoy the foot washing from the Lord, do you have a desire in you to wash the feet of others?
How important it is to practice the spiritual foot washing among us as brothers and sisters in Christ?
How important is to be girded with humility when doing so?
What should be the result or goal when we wash our brothers and sisters feet?
Thank you so much for considering these sub questions and for taking the time to answer.
Answer:
This is a beautiful question with a beautiful commandment of Jesus Christ involved. I like this question very much and know that, people in these generation need answer for this question. This is also a best concept which we can see in the bible to serve others. This is also a best part in the bible in which we can see the real humbleness of Jesus Christ.
According to me, the practice of foot washing is a ministry or an act which Jesus Christ showed as a model to us. It purpose was not to clean our body to maintain hygiene. These will also come under the rare things which we can't see in the book of acts and in epistles, among the things which was practiced by the apostles or disciples of Jesus. For this very reason we do not know the importance or benefit of such a ministry in our churches today.
There are churches and people who perform this act as a ritual. I strongly disagree with that and was ashamed of the fact that, they consider it as a ritual without knowing its importance. According to me, all these amazing act done by Jesus Christ to wash the feet of His disciples contain a great meaning. Jesus Christ performed such an act to make them understand an amazing fact indirectly which is also mentioned in another part of the bible. It is in Matthew 20:28, which says, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I like to explain the act of foot washing so simply by mentioning its two opposite faces. I includes nothing, but the mentality of the person who washes the feet and the mentality of person who receives the wash. I think it is better to visualize it through the incidence in Bible where Jesus Christ is the foot washer and His disciples are the people who receives the wash. The same event can be considered to a situation in this 21st century like a head master or the head of department washing the feet of their fellow students or as a situation where a prime minister / president or chief minister washing the feet of fellow people.
I know, it is difficult to visualize such a situation, because here is it, we want to see the humbleness of Jesus Chrsit. Jesus Christ was the son of God, the very next to the heavenly father, master of all the mighty angels, creator of heavens and earth, the king of kings and the lord of lords. The whole universe was just nothing in front of Him and He is also God. Human beings are the least among the creatures of God and the whole human being is just nothing other than a small breath, which also was came from Him. Can we able to see the humbleness of Jesus Christ to came into this earth, which He created to make a way of salvation to deliver mankind from their sins. Can we able to see the humbleness of this Jesus Christ to wash the feet of these human beings, who are not holy to be touched by Him. And finally can we able to see the humbleness of Jesus Christ to receive the worst death, which is the death of crucifixion on the cross, from human beings, just to fulfill the wish of God. I have never seen and no one will ever see such a humbleness other than the humbleness of Jesus Christ.
Why can't we too follow the path of Jesus Christ in these case along with all other things, which we do in His name? I never want any people to misunderstand my advice, and to be humble by starting to wash others feet today onwards. As I told earlier, it was just a model, an example which was showed by Jesus Christ to show us the importance to serve others not only in foot washing, but in every way. In examples we usually show only one thing as a model and we know we can do many things like that. This is why Jesus specified this act as an example, in serving others. But the thing and the fact is that, we should serve others only with the same mentality of Jesus Christ, which is through pure humbleness from heart. This is also why Jesus told, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one others feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."
Without this mind of serving, a Christian life is a waste. Many people find it difficult to serve others whom they consider is evil. I strongly oppose that because Jesus Christ was never a man of that attitude. He know it and was cent percentage sure that Judas Iscariot was an evil man and was going to betray him. It was clear from His very words, "And you are clean, though not every one of you." But still Jesus Christ was ready to wash the feet of Judas Iscariot with the same attitude towards others. Why do we need to stay back, if Jesus Christ did that? We should also serve others without looking to their nature, behavior, wealth, color, ethnicity, religion and so on. This is what the God expect from us.
There are also people who serve others only after certain preparations and on special time, which is also wrong and was not the model showed by Jesus Christ. We should be in an attitude to serve others in any type of situations, that may be in office, while we preach or teach, eat and so on. We should also take the first step in such situations without assuming that, someone will take care of that. We can see that Jesus Christ got up from the meal, in John 13:4, which means between the meal, to serve others by washing their feet. He never gave that task to anyone else or never thought his meal was important knowing very well that it was His last supper. If Jesus Christ is ready and willing to do it by himself and at any occasion, we should have the same mentality of Jesus Christ while we serve others.
We can see Jesus Christ wash their feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him in verse 7. This clearly says about a completeness of the task according to me. Many times we are people who were only energetic to begin a task, without completing it. We were also people with a mentality to complete the task somehow than to complete it in the way, it need to be. This was due to our attitude in serving others and we consider serving as a duty than an act of kindness from heart. This is also the reason for us to quit serving, when someone will come forward to perform the task or with an interruption. This was not the attitude of Jesus and we should try to develop the attitude of Jesus in our life.
There were also persons for sure like Simon Peter who tries to quit us serving them, among the people we serve as I mentioned above. First we should realize that it was because for they love us. Realizing this fact, the best reply to give them was the same reply which Jesus Christ told Peter which is to tell them, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." I always asked myself, 'why Peter not allowed Jesus to wash his feet?' When I got the answer, the answer was interesting and was presented in the reply of Jesus. It was because Simon Peter was not aware of the importance of serving in a Christian life. But we know that, as Jesus Christ told him, later he came to understand the fact about the importance of serving. So when they oppose to serve them, we should also reply them like, 'friend, you do not realize the importance of serving. It is very blessing and happy to serve others than to be served. You will understand it later for sure.
What is the real spiritual ' Foot washing' among us as believers in Christ? We see that there is a special function of the Word of God in the matter of foot washing in John 13:14. If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one others feet.
After we spend time in the Word of God, and enjoy the foot washing from the Lord, do you have a desire in you to wash the feet of others?
How important it is to practice the spiritual foot washing among us as brothers and sisters in Christ?
How important is to be girded with humility when doing so?
What should be the result or goal when we wash our brothers and sisters feet?
Thank you so much for considering these sub questions and for taking the time to answer.
Answer:
This is a beautiful question with a beautiful commandment of Jesus Christ involved. I like this question very much and know that, people in these generation need answer for this question. This is also a best concept which we can see in the bible to serve others. This is also a best part in the bible in which we can see the real humbleness of Jesus Christ.
According to me, the practice of foot washing is a ministry or an act which Jesus Christ showed as a model to us. It purpose was not to clean our body to maintain hygiene. These will also come under the rare things which we can't see in the book of acts and in epistles, among the things which was practiced by the apostles or disciples of Jesus. For this very reason we do not know the importance or benefit of such a ministry in our churches today.
There are churches and people who perform this act as a ritual. I strongly disagree with that and was ashamed of the fact that, they consider it as a ritual without knowing its importance. According to me, all these amazing act done by Jesus Christ to wash the feet of His disciples contain a great meaning. Jesus Christ performed such an act to make them understand an amazing fact indirectly which is also mentioned in another part of the bible. It is in Matthew 20:28, which says, "For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many."
I like to explain the act of foot washing so simply by mentioning its two opposite faces. I includes nothing, but the mentality of the person who washes the feet and the mentality of person who receives the wash. I think it is better to visualize it through the incidence in Bible where Jesus Christ is the foot washer and His disciples are the people who receives the wash. The same event can be considered to a situation in this 21st century like a head master or the head of department washing the feet of their fellow students or as a situation where a prime minister / president or chief minister washing the feet of fellow people.
I know, it is difficult to visualize such a situation, because here is it, we want to see the humbleness of Jesus Chrsit. Jesus Christ was the son of God, the very next to the heavenly father, master of all the mighty angels, creator of heavens and earth, the king of kings and the lord of lords. The whole universe was just nothing in front of Him and He is also God. Human beings are the least among the creatures of God and the whole human being is just nothing other than a small breath, which also was came from Him. Can we able to see the humbleness of Jesus Christ to came into this earth, which He created to make a way of salvation to deliver mankind from their sins. Can we able to see the humbleness of this Jesus Christ to wash the feet of these human beings, who are not holy to be touched by Him. And finally can we able to see the humbleness of Jesus Christ to receive the worst death, which is the death of crucifixion on the cross, from human beings, just to fulfill the wish of God. I have never seen and no one will ever see such a humbleness other than the humbleness of Jesus Christ.
Why can't we too follow the path of Jesus Christ in these case along with all other things, which we do in His name? I never want any people to misunderstand my advice, and to be humble by starting to wash others feet today onwards. As I told earlier, it was just a model, an example which was showed by Jesus Christ to show us the importance to serve others not only in foot washing, but in every way. In examples we usually show only one thing as a model and we know we can do many things like that. This is why Jesus specified this act as an example, in serving others. But the thing and the fact is that, we should serve others only with the same mentality of Jesus Christ, which is through pure humbleness from heart. This is also why Jesus told, "Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one others feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you."
Without this mind of serving, a Christian life is a waste. Many people find it difficult to serve others whom they consider is evil. I strongly oppose that because Jesus Christ was never a man of that attitude. He know it and was cent percentage sure that Judas Iscariot was an evil man and was going to betray him. It was clear from His very words, "And you are clean, though not every one of you." But still Jesus Christ was ready to wash the feet of Judas Iscariot with the same attitude towards others. Why do we need to stay back, if Jesus Christ did that? We should also serve others without looking to their nature, behavior, wealth, color, ethnicity, religion and so on. This is what the God expect from us.
There are also people who serve others only after certain preparations and on special time, which is also wrong and was not the model showed by Jesus Christ. We should be in an attitude to serve others in any type of situations, that may be in office, while we preach or teach, eat and so on. We should also take the first step in such situations without assuming that, someone will take care of that. We can see that Jesus Christ got up from the meal, in John 13:4, which means between the meal, to serve others by washing their feet. He never gave that task to anyone else or never thought his meal was important knowing very well that it was His last supper. If Jesus Christ is ready and willing to do it by himself and at any occasion, we should have the same mentality of Jesus Christ while we serve others.
We can see Jesus Christ wash their feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him in verse 7. This clearly says about a completeness of the task according to me. Many times we are people who were only energetic to begin a task, without completing it. We were also people with a mentality to complete the task somehow than to complete it in the way, it need to be. This was due to our attitude in serving others and we consider serving as a duty than an act of kindness from heart. This is also the reason for us to quit serving, when someone will come forward to perform the task or with an interruption. This was not the attitude of Jesus and we should try to develop the attitude of Jesus in our life.
There were also persons for sure like Simon Peter who tries to quit us serving them, among the people we serve as I mentioned above. First we should realize that it was because for they love us. Realizing this fact, the best reply to give them was the same reply which Jesus Christ told Peter which is to tell them, "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." I always asked myself, 'why Peter not allowed Jesus to wash his feet?' When I got the answer, the answer was interesting and was presented in the reply of Jesus. It was because Simon Peter was not aware of the importance of serving in a Christian life. But we know that, as Jesus Christ told him, later he came to understand the fact about the importance of serving. So when they oppose to serve them, we should also reply them like, 'friend, you do not realize the importance of serving. It is very blessing and happy to serve others than to be served. You will understand it later for sure.
Once again, I thank you for asking this great question and thanking God to provide me such an answer. I decide myself by this answer to serve others with the mentality and attitude of Jesus. May God bless all of its readers to realize the importance of serving and to start serving. Let this also help us to be more closer to be in the character and behavior of Jesus Christ.
A beautiful composition Alfred... showing us the very heart of God in our King, Jesus Christ. Thank you for delivering an inspired message from the very Holy Spirit of our Lord, Jesus Christ. So true, his servant heart, left his last meal too being the servant willingly to all. With Love, your sis.. Kar...loves.
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