Taking up the towel

Back to John 13 (see previous post)

And taking a towel, He girded Himself.

So yesterday He took off His garment, and today, He put on a towel. So there He is in His underwear, so to speak, and He clothed Himself with a towel. He was going to become the servant and wash. That was His new identity. He was going to touch dirty, smelly, calloused feet. He was going to wash them and make them clean. They weren't going anywhere, those feet. They were just going to lay there at the table. I supposed they washed feet when people came into houses to keep the smells down and not get the place dirty. Open sandals would lend toward dusty feet. The custom was to clean them, to have a servant there to wash and dry, and since no one took on the job, Jesus did.

There was no reason to do it at this point except to show them that they, too, were going to be servants if they were going to be great in the kingdom, and that fighting for position should be a fight for the bottom and not the top. They were to exalt one another as more important (Phil. 2), to serve the church through ministry in preaching and teaching, serving the orphan and widow (James 2), and serving fellow congregations-to-be throughout the world. They were not supposed to be the one being served like some king or ruler. They were to be the one to get dirty and help wash the daily dirt off their fellow believers.

He didn't wash their feet to make them better smelling.

He didn't do it to make them feel like the master of the house.

He didn't do it to send them out clean.

He didn't do it to shame them.

He didn't do it to teach them some legalistic ritual to follow.

He didn't do it so they could have foot-washings at church services to show how pious they were.

He didn't do it so that other churches would take it as a sign of Christ's being with them.

He didn't do it so that they would see Jesus as some sort of slave to their foolishness.

He did it so they would look at His example and then look at themselves and see what their heart attitude was. Were they full of pride? Were they willing to be no one in the eyes of the world? Were they understanding that they could only lead by serving?

He did it so they would look at each other in a new light...those they had snubbed hours earlier looking for their “rightful place” at Jesus's right hand...did they see them as more worthy of God's love because they saw the awfulness of their own sin? Did they esteem others better than themselves? Were they willing to lay their lives down for each other? Did they realize that blessing others brought more blessing into their own lives?

He took the towel, and he got dirty hands washing clean dirty feet. The towel would wash and dry and finish the job that Jesus started. The towel takes the clean thing and lets it dry so that dirt would stay off longer. It makes feet more comfortable.

We take the towel to dry ourselves so that the clothing can go on, so that the shoes can be worn, so that the hair can be combed. We take the towel so the dishes can be put away or at least be placed upon and left to air out and not pour their drips all over counters and floors. Towels absorb the clean water after washing and give that refreshing feel as the last of the moisture evaporates from our skin.

And if this towel was more of a wash-cloth, it helped as an abrasive factor to get the dirt and dead skin and oils off of the person to make them cleaner than water would have alone. We have the water of His Word that washes us, but we have iron to sharpen iron, each other, to help us purge the daily sins and get the earthly person more purified to worship and serve.

Are we willing to pick up the towel and get to work honoring those around us? Do we help use God's Word in the lives of others to make them clean? And do we kneel down in the most dirty places and get dirty ourselves for a time to do the work of the kingdom? Then are we like Jesus.