John 13:7 “Jesus replied, ‘You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.’”
Jesus knew what was ahead of Him. It was time for Him to leave this world and return to the Father. He wanted to teach His disciples about being a servant to others. He rose from His meal, took off His garments and wrapped a towel around His waist. He poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dried them with the towel wrapped around Him. Peter refused at first, demanding that he should be the one washing Jesus’ feet. That is when Jesus explained that Peter did not understand why He needed to wash his feet but one day Peter would understand. Peter eventually gave in and even asked that the Lord wash his hands and his head. I am sure having your feet washed by the Son of God had to have been the best pedicure ever given. When I hear this story, I can’t help but remember a time when I was given a pedicure, given with love and compassion. My two sisters, the day after Katie died, took me outside and surprised me with a pedicure. They did not pay someone to do it. They painstakingly filled a pan with water and took care of me with such care and concern. They soaked and rubbed my feet and cried tears of sadness right along with me. They saw the pain I was in and knew I had many hard steps to take on this new painful journey I was on.
As I read this story again, I now see the Lord was teaching them about being a servant, but I also see He was showing them too compassion for the hard road that lay ahead of them. Peter would deny his Lord, and then have to face Him after the rooster crowed. He would weep and grieve for denying he was a disciple of Christ and then he would be persecuted and eventually die upside down on a cross. Peter and the other apostles could not have known what their future held, but the Lord did. The Lord could have washed any part of their body, but He chose the apostles’ feet, maybe because He understood the painful journey they would soon undertake.
