The Scandal of the Incarnation

There is more to the story of Jesus washing His disciples feet in John 13 then a one time lesson in servant leadership.

Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus knowing that His hour had come that He should depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end. And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him, Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper, and laid aside His garments; and taking a towel, He girded Himself about. 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. And so He came to Simon Peter. He said to Him, "Lord, do You wash my feet?" Jesus answered and said to him, "What I do you do not realize now, but you shall understand ahereafter." Peter said to Him, "Never shall You wash my feet!" Jesus answered him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me." Simon Peter said to Him, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." Jesus said to him, "He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and ayou are clean, but not all of you." For He knew the one who was betraying Him; for this reason He said, "Not all of you are clean." And so when He had washed their feet, and taken His garments, and reclined at the table again, He said to them, "Do you know what I have done to you? "You call Me Teacher and Lord; and you are right, for so I am. "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet. "For I gave you an example that you also should do as I did to you." (John 13:1-15)

It should come as no surprise that there is more to this scene then meets the eye. Only John, a gospel well known for its use of symbols and metaphors, recounts this event. Instead of recounting Jesus institution of communion as Matthew, Mark and Luke do, John tells the story of Jesus' bathing his disciples. Doesn't that seem odd? Thus the first question we should ask is why John would replace a story of the first communion, a story that signifies Jesus death on the cross, with a simple story of Christ washing his disciples feet?

There are a few details that I would like to call your attention to.

• First, Jesus action arises from His awarness that He is God. Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come forth from God, and was going back to God, rose from supper... While this passage dosn't explicitly claim that Jesus is God, it does bring to mind various places in John where it is claimed (John 1:1, 14). Jesus awarness that He is intimately connected to God the Father is the foundation of His action.
• Second, water is a symbol for the Spirit throughtout the Gospel of John; From John the Baptist first declaration that he baptizes in water but Christ will baptize in the Holy Spirit to John explanation in John 7:37-39 that water represents the Spirit.
• Third, the water represents Christ. When Jesus goes to wash Peter, Peter at first refuses. But Jesus says to him, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." By refusing the washing of water, Peter has inadvertantly rejected Christ.
• Fourth, The image of Jesus laying aside his garment and humbling himself in the form of a servant brings to mind another passage of scripture, Philippians 2:5-8. Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death--even death on a cross!

Together these details suggest that footwashing is a symbolic reinactment of THE INCARNATION. Its an illustration of what it means to say that God became man. Jesus laying aside his garments represents how he laid aside his glory. Pouring the water into the bowl represents the Word (water) becoming flesh (bowl). And the washing of the disciples feet represents Christ giving of Himself, of His Spirit, to His disciples.

In addition, the act itself signifies the scandal of the Incarnation. I think in our present society we have lost the shock and the horror that Peter experienced as His Lord sat down to wash his feet. I beleive it would parrallel in some sense the shock of watching Robert Schuller take off his clothes in the the middle of his sermon to walk among his congregation. Imagine the peoples horror as he takes off his robe, unbottons his shirt and then unzips his pants. Imagine the gasps from the crowd, the red faces the eyes closing and the heads turning away. Imagine the people standing up and walking out of the Crystal Cathedral. Imagine the pale skin, aged and overweight body of Robert Schuller standing naked before the world. That is the scandal of the Incarnation. That is the scandal of God washing men's feet. This is the scandal of the cross.