Date: October 13, 1936, evening Place: AmoyScripture Reading: John 13:1-17
During the past few days, I have been considering foot-washing in John 13. Some time ago when Brother Luk was in Shanghai we read this portion of the Word together. We felt that the most difficult aspect to understand was the Lord's word concerning the necessity of foot-washing. Our familiarity with this passage has not made it easier for us to understand its real meaning. At the same time, since there are so many interpretations of this passage already, it is difficult to receive new light. For this reason, we felt that it was necessary to thoroughly study this passage once more. However, we still did not understand it well because we were too familiar with the interpretation of this passage. Later, I set aside the interpretation that I knew and came to the Word in a fresh way, as if I had never read it before. Thank the Lord that He granted me some light, and this chapter became a blessing to me. Last Lord's Day I spoke about it in Shanghai. Tonight I will speak some more about it.
This chapter speaks of the Lord's washing the disciples' feet and of His commandment for the disciples to wash each others' feet. First, we must ask: When did the Lord wash the disciples' feet and when did He charge the disciples to wash each others' feet? The Bible carefully records the history and the background of this incident. This information is very important. Let us consider this passage verse by verse.
Verse 1 says, "Now before the Feast of the Passover, Jesus, knowing that His hour had come for Him to depart out of this world unto the Father..." The Lord's washing of the disciples' feet happened before the Passover. The Lord said that the "hour had come for Him to depart out of this world unto the Father." If I were to depart out of this world unto the Father tonight, what would I do? I might have to clear my debt with my co-workers or to the sisters, or I might have other important things to take care of. I would have to settle all the unsettled matters. If I know that I will not depart from this world for five years, I may postpone these things until later. But if I know that I am about to depart from this world, I will surely settle and conclude all of my important business. I would surely not be concerned with insignificant matters, such as asking a child to go to the store and buy me some candy or going to a movie. Instead, I would do crucial and necessary things. This was true of the Lord. Before He departed from the world unto the Father, He washed the feet of His disciples, that is, His students, and charged them to wash one another's feet. There were many things in this world that He could have done at that time, but He chose to wash the disciples' feet. This shows that foot-washing is a very crucial matter.
The second part of verse 1 says, "Having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the uttermost." If you do not love anyone in this world, you can allow many things to go unattended. If you have no relatives, friends, or children, you can die peacefully. But there were many whom the Lord loved. If I were close to death and I had many loved ones, the final thing that I would do would be to give them my will. This is what man would do, but this was not what the Lord did. He washed the disciples' feet. The Lord loved His own who were in the world, and He washed their feet. He could do a thousand other things, but He did not. Instead, He chose to wash the disciples' feet. He did this because of His love. This makes the foot-washing a very wonderful matter. If the Lord had not loved His own who were in the world, foot-washing would not have been so wonderful. But foot-washing is very wonderful because the Lord did this to those whom He loved. The Lord, having loved His own who were in the world, loved them to the uttermost. Therefore, He washed their feet. This is an expression of the Lord's uttermost love.
Verse 2 says, "And while supper was taking place, the devil having already put into the heart of Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon, that he should betray Him." This was not a common occurrence. Here was a man who was going to betray the Lord, and the Lord knew this. He was facing a most difficult and critical situation. This is like a man who cannot leave his house even though he knows that it is going to collapse. Unlike many rich people in Shanghai, who give up their houses and move away when they collapse, he does not have any money and cannot move anywhere. What should he do? What would you do if there was a war in this place and the condition was critical? What would you do if you knew that danger was approaching in five minutes, that a bomb would fall or the enemy would arrive? Would you still be washing or shining your shoes? Of course not! We would not be doing insignificant things. Instead, we would be doing the most important things. During this critical juncture, the Lord washed the disciples' feet. What does this mean? Do you think that He was wrong to do this? Certainly not! Foot-washing must be a very important thing because it was done at the time when Judas was about to betray the Lord.
Verse 3 says, "Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all into His hands..." This refers to His exaltation, glory, power, honor, crown, and enthronement. The Lord knew that He was to receive all these things. If you knew that you were about to be exalted and would receive glory, power, and honor, what would you do? You would surely do something that prepared you for your exaltation. Perhaps you would refurnish your house to make room for guests and friends. You would do some crucial things that would match your new status. The Lord knew that He was about to depart from this world, and He knew that the Father had given all into His hands. Yet He washed the disciples' feet. This shows that foot-washing must be a very crucial thing in the eyes of the Lord. He Himself washed the disciples' feet, and He also charged the disciples to wash one another's feet. Hence, we must not pass by John 13 easily; we should not look at this chapter lightly.
Before coming to the subject, I wanted to first consider the background behind the foot-washing. We have seen that this act was done when the Lord was about to depart out of this world to the Father. The Lord loved His own who were in the world to the uttermost; He knew that there was danger before Him because Judas was about to betray Him. He also knew that the Father had given all into His hands. Against this background, the Lord washed the disciples' feet and charged them to wash one another's feet.
Now let us look at the meaning of foot-washing. We know that our feet touch the earth all the time. Our hands, head, and back do not have to touch the earth. But our feet come into contact with the earth all the time. We can say that as long as we are men, we have to touch the earth. As long as we live on this earth, we will come into contact with this earth. The head is for thinking, the hands are for working, the heart is for loving, the legs are for exercising, the back is for resting, and the feet are for contacting the earth. Here the Lord was not washing the hands. The Jews washed their hands before they ate. Yet the Lord washed the disciples' feet before they ate. He did not wash the head, the back, or the hands; He washed the feet. Why? This is a profound lesson, and I hope that I can express it adequately. Brothers, on this earth man is alienated from God because of sin. However, this problem is solved through the Lord's shed blood on the cross; the sins that we committed as a sinner have been washed away. After being saved and becoming a believer, the Lord's overcoming life enables us to overcome all sins. The judgment on sin was settled on the cross, and today the power of sin can be overcome through Him as the overcoming life within us. However, let me ask a question: Other than sin, is there anything else which separates us from God? Those who are honest will say that there are many things which separate us from God. These things may not be sin, but there may be worldly elements that are produced through our contact with the world.
Suppose this morning you had a quiet time before the Lord; you read the Word and prayed. The prayer time was sweet and the Lord's Word was precious. You felt that heaven was so close to earth that you could almost touch it with your hands. This was between five and seven o'clock in the morning. By eight o'clock, numerous affairs of the day began to occupy you. Some have to conduct their businesses; others have to teach at school or go to their offices. Some have to go to school, while others have to visit the sick, shop, clean the house, or do laundry. There are many things which are waiting to be done. When you read the Bible and prayed in the morning, you felt that heaven was very close. But as a businessman who spends three to six hours in your office doing many seemingly "proper" things (you may not have lied or sinned at all), are you still as close to God in the evening as you were in the morning? No, you are not.
Students busy themselves in schoolwork at the schools, and housewives engage themselves in their household chores at home. Once a person occupies himself in these affairs, he feels as if heaven has moved away. It is no longer as close as it was in the morning. He may still be able to set aside some time to pray, but he has nothing to say. He can only touch the superficial letter of the Word; he can no longer touch the inward reality. When the prayer meeting comes, he may want to pray, but he is short of words. Even when he does manage to think of some words to say, his conscience bothers him. He may still shout hallelujah, and the words and sounds may still be the same, but the meaning and taste are different. He feels that something has separated him from God, but he cannot pinpoint any sin. It seems as if confession does not help the situation either. If he was separated from God through sin, he should deal with it through the application of the blood shed on the cross. But this does not seem to be a question of sin. He only feels somewhat dimmed and has lost the former brightness. There is the need of something else to deal with this problem. This is different from ordinary sins. What is needed is the foot-washing. What is foot-washing? It is dealing with everything apart from sin that separates us from God.
This happens to us all the time. We do not sin, but neither do we touch God. It is understandable when a person is separated from God through sin. But we do not know what to do when we have not sinned, yet cannot touch God. Thank the Lord that He has not only washed us of our sins, but washed our feet as well. This is not the washing of our hands; the hands signify the things we do. Whether or not we do things is our responsibility. This is not the washing of our head; the head signifies our thoughts. Whether or not we think certain things is our responsibility. This is not the washing of our backs. Whether or not we lie down is our responsibility. If our head, hands, or backs have a problem, we have sinned because the activities associated with these parts are under our control. Our feet however have no choice but to stand on the ground; this is something that is not up to us. What do the feet signify? The feet signify our contact with our family, business, and schools. These are unavoidable contacts in our daily life. As long as we are human beings and live in this world, we have to stand on the ground and touch the earth. This will continue until the day the Lord comes back to rapture us away. When Jacob was about to die, the Bible says that he gathered up his feet into his bed (Gen. 49:33). This meant that from that day on, he would no longer need to use his feet; he could go to his fathers. Before we go to our fathers, our feet are still on the ground; they are not gathered up into our bed.
The feet signify our inevitable and non-sinful contact with the world. This contact is not sinful, yet it can separate us from God and make heaven less near to us and our prayers less sweet. While living on this earth, our feet are easily defiled. We have to use our feet whether we are standing up or sitting down. Of all the members of our body, the feet tire us out the most easily. I am not saying that the other parts of the body will not tire us out; but the feet tire us out most easily. In the same way, it is very easy for a spiritual man to become defiled. How many spiritual men sitting here tonight have feet that are defiled? I know that many of our feet have been defiled.
Now that you are clear about the significance of the feet, we have to go on to consider the meaning of defiled feet. Defiled feet are feet that have to be washed. It is not wrong for the feet to be defiled; this is something that is inevitable. This defilement has nothing to do with sin; sinning is something else. We are not talking about sin, we are talking about the things that separate us from God, the things that tire us out spiritually. This is having defiled feet. Suppose we come to the meeting and say something in an old and habitual way. Although we have opened up our mouth, nothing is touching us inwardly. Or we may be reading the Bible and know what we are reading, yet we may have no feeling about what we have read. This is having defiled feet. We can summarize defiled feet with a few words — staleness in fellowship with the Lord. Clean feet, however, denote fresh fellowship with the Lord.
One day someone said to me, "Mr. Nee, when I was in Chuenchow, I had a wonderful time. I felt that the Lord was very precious to me. But today all those feelings are gone. I still believe in the Lord, I still pray to the Lord, I still love Him, and I am still consecrated to Him. I have not lost any of these things. Yet I must admit that something within me is not the same as it was before." This is having defiled feet. A man defiles his feet through contact and communication with the world, and through working and conducting business in that realm. If you ask such a one if he has sinned, he may answer, "No." Outwardly he is the same as he was before, but inwardly he is different. He can still say that the Lord is precious and that he loves the Lord very much. However, this only describes his condition last year, the year before last, or five or ten years ago. How many can say today that they treasure the Lord and love the Lord as much as they did five or ten years ago? Many people have to say that they do not have the same feeling that they had a year ago. Their feet are defiled, and they have become weary. This is spiritual weariness; it is the loss of spiritual freshness and vitality. This is why the Lord says that we need foot-washing. What does foot-washing mean? It means recovering our former feelings, bringing us back to the freshness of life, and giving us fresh strength to treasure what we previously treasured. This is the meaning of foot-washing. Thank the Lord that He washes our feet all the time.
Many times when we speak, our words do not match our inward feelings. Today many believers in Christ have become stagnant in their spiritual growth. They sing, praise, and pray reluctantly. Sometimes this is the result of sin, but many times this is not the result of any sin. They simply have defiled feet, and they have become spiritually enervated. We have to realize that the Lord wants us to be fresh all the time. This is why He says that He leads us to the green pastures (Psa. 23:2). We have a brother in Shanghai who is a manual laborer. He lost his job a few months ago but recently found another job. His work involves cutting grass. For every thousand catties [a Chinese unit of weight] of grass he cuts, he gets a dollar. After the grass is dried, it is bundled up into bundles of six hundred catties and sent to the dairy farms. He gets fifty cents a day for this. He cuts, dries, and delivers all day long. Last month I met him while he was drying the grass and asked him about his job. He said, "I have to dry the grass and deliver it to the dairy farms. The farms store it in their barns and feed the cows with it in winter." I then said, "The dairy farmers feed the cows with yellow grass, but the Lord feeds us with green grass." The Lord wants us to be fresh; He wants us to be fresh every day. We may have been yellow yesterday, but we can be green again today. We may have been yellow this morning, but we can be green this afternoon. The Lord is fresh running water; He does not flow for five minutes and then stop. He flows continuously, daily, monthly, and yearly. There is not a minute in which He is short. He is always fresh, and He is constantly refreshing us. This is the life that the Lord is leading us to live. Here is power, joy, peace, and holiness. Only by living this way can we express the Lord's life. After the victory at Jericho, there is still the victory at Ai. After great victories, there are still small, daily victories. This should be our daily experience before the Lord.
The Bible says that Saul was taller than any of the people from his shoulders and upward (1 Sam. 10:23). Yet God was not pleased with his reign. Eventually, God did not choose him. Instead, He chose David to be the king. The Bible does not indicate David's height; it merely says that he was ruddy and of a beautiful countenance (16:12). This implies freshness, like the freshness of a newborn baby whose face does not have any wrinkles; there is freshness and vitality. God wants our life to be fresh. Psalm 1 says that the blessed man is one who is like a tree planted beside streams of water, yielding fruit in its season, and whose foliage does not wither (v. 3). We have leaves, which are our outward conduct. We may be patient, meek, humble, and perfect in our conduct and virtues. But the question is whether this conduct and virtues are green or whether they are wilting and yellow. Are they fresh, or are they old? Leaves denote our conduct. If we are not under the fresh operation of the Holy Spirit, we will be doing the same things that we have done in the past. The result will surely not be green and fresh, but dry and old. A person may have risen at five o'clock in the morning yesterday. He may do the same thing today. But yesterday he felt God's presence very near to him, yet today he does not touch Him at all. Outwardly, he is doing the same thing, but inwardly the feeling is gone. The inward freshness is gone because the leaves have dried up like the things in Noah's ark that belonged to the old creation. They are not like the fresh olive branch that appeared after the flood receded. Such people are of little use to the Lord.
Tonight I have a word specifically for the co-workers. We have to know why God has put us in the world. He has put us in the world so that our presence would create a hunger and thirst for righteousness in sinners, believers, and the world. In our work, we have to create a hunger within others. There must be an enigmatic freshness, power, nourishment, and supply within us that will drive others to seek after God by our presence. Others should have a desire to seek after God as a result of meeting us and speaking to us. If we always see others and communicate with them without creating a desire within them for God, it means that we have failed. If our reading of the Bible, prayer, service, and gospel preaching do not produce such a powerful hunger within man, our work has failed.
Many who know Miss Barber can testify that she was very different from others. Whenever someone went to her and sat in front of her, spontaneously he would realize how much he was off. He would realize that he did not have what she had and would aspire for what she had. Fifteen years ago (1921) when I first became a Christian, I was very proud. I thought highly of myself because I was able to read one or two chapters of the Bible a day with some understanding. (Very few people are proud outwardly; most people are proud inwardly.) I went to her to tell her about this. After I prayed a few words with her, I saw my pride before she even opened her mouth to rebuke me. I knew that I did not have what she had. This is foot-washing. My feet were washed by her presence. I met God. Prior to that I was living outside of God, and I was old and dark. But once I came to her, I was refreshed and enlightened. I often felt that I was washed by her presence. We often have the same sensation — we feel that we are washed after talking to certain brothers. Our spiritual energy is revived; we can touch and feel God once more. This is foot-washing.
A few days ago, I felt that my feet were defiled. At first I thought that I had sinned, and I proceeded to deal with my sins. But God was still very far from me. I felt that there was a separation between myself and God. I could do nothing about it. While I was praying I was secretly saying to myself, "You are just composing your prayer. This is not something from your heart." Later, I saw a sister who had been saved for only two or three months. She told me of her salvation experience and told me how she was persecuted by her family. She hoped that I would give her some help. When I heard this, I said, "Thank the Lord. When I came, my feet were defiled. But when I leave, my feet will be clean because your testimony has washed away the oldness in my experiences." The book of Titus mentions the renewing of the Spirit (3:5). This is a very precious expression. We need the renewing of the Spirit so that we can always be spiritually fresh and invigorated.
A bronze flower vase needs constant polishing to make it shine. If there is no polishing, there may not be any rust, but there will be a coating of dust and the vase will not shine. The same is true with us. We may not be sinful, but we may have a coating of dust that prevents us from shining. The Lord said to Peter, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me" (John 13:8). What does this mean? Having no part with the Lord does not mean perdition; it means having no part in the fresh fellowship of the Lord's life. If our feet are not washed, there will be a separation between us and the Lord, and we will not be able to enjoy the freshness of His life and the freshness of His supply. This is the meaning of having no part in the Lord. The Lord wants to wash our feet. Therefore we must be willing to be washed and renewed.
At the same time, we have to aspire to wash others' feet. However, we cannot wash others' feet unless we have the overcoming life and the Spirit's help to live out such a life. Some can wash others' feet, while others cannot. You may live with some for over a year and yet still not have your feet washed once. Washing requires that we live an overcoming life before the Lord. We have to be fresh all the time before we can wash others' feet.
Who are the ones who need washing, and who are the ones who have to wash others' feet? The Lord said, "You also ought to wash one another's feet" (John 13:14). This tells us that we all need the washing. Those who were spiritually fresh but who have lost their freshness need the washing. Every one of us needs our feet washed, and every one of us needs to be prepared to wash others' feet. The Lord said, "If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another's feet." Among all the services that Christians minister to one another, nothing is more crucial or more precious than foot-washing. "If you know these things, blessed are you if you do them" (v. 17). I love what Brother Yu has said many times: "The Bible today is more precious than the Bible yesterday." May we have fresh spiritual experiences every day. Romans 15:32 says, "I may refresh myself and rest with you." This is the result of foot-washing.
