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Today's Little Lift
by Jim Bullington
Jesus Was Humble (4/5)
Peter boasted, "You shall never wash my feet!" (John 13.8a). However, Jesus did wash Peter's feet a few minutes later – another about-face by the tempestuous apostle! What was it that changed Peter's mind? Hear Jesus' response to Peter's boast: "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." (John 13.8b). The threat of being cutoff from Messiah was enough to cause Peter to exclaim, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!" (John 13.9).
"Jesus… rose from supper and laid aside His garments, took a towel and girded Himself. After that, He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded." (John 13.3-5). These preliminaries sparked the exchange between Peter and Jesus. Remember from the message yesterday that it was Peter who wrote years after the events of John 13, "Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility…" (1 Peter 5.5). When Peter penned his first general epistle, his view of humility had significantly changed from the night he told Jesus, "You shall never wash my feet!
An important piece of this puzzle is contained in another of Jesus' statements to Peter on the night He washed the feet of the apostles. As Peter watched Jesus ready Himself for the task that was ordinarily performed by the lowliest of servants, Peter asked the obvious, "Lord are you washing my feet?" (John 13.6). However, consider closely Jesus' response. "Jesus answered and said to him, 'What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.'" (John 13.7). In effect, Jesus said, "No, Peter, I am not washing your feet; that is not the point! But whatever it is I am doing, you do not have the ability presently to perceive; that day will come, but it is not now."
From there Jesus went to Gethsemane and then to Calvary. Peter, proud and boastful, had stated he would die in defense of the Lord. However, just as Jesus had predicted, when the danger mounted that evening, Peter went so far as to deny that He even knew Jesus at all. On three distinct occasions, Peter denied his relationship with Jesus – and to what end? Just so Peter could avoid the penalty of being one of Jesus' fiends! The One who was truly willing to die for others was not Peter; it was Jesus. And to make that fact even more dramatic, Jesus was willing to die for those who were not willing to die for Him; He was truly the Son of man who had come to serve rather than be served.
After His resurrection Jesus met hapless fishermen, disciples, on the shore of the sea. Peter was anxious to be with the Lord and cast himself into the sea and swam to shore before the others arrived. Jesus had prepared a breakfast of fish and bread for them all. After eating the meal which Jesus prepared, Peter was asked three questions! "Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me more than these? Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me? Simon, son of Jonah, do you love me?" No man knows what Peter thought at the time, but I can't help but believe he must have remembered all the times in which he had allowed the flesh to drive a wedge between him and Jesus – times when his own lack of humility spelled personal failure! But now, at long last, the disciple knew what it meant to be a servant; he knew Jesus; he knew humility! (see John 21).
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