The occasion was the last supper Jesus had with his disciples before Judas betrayed him to the death, and before Jesus was taken away by his enemies to be crucified on a cross for our sins. The supper was now over, and Jesus took it upon himself to wash his disciples feet. But when he got to Peter:

John 13:8-11 NKJV

Peter said to Him, “You shall never wash my feet!”

Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

9Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!”

10Jesus said to him, “He who is bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” 11For He knew who would betray Him; therefore He said, “You are not all clean.”

Our Walks of Faith

Now, if we pay close attention to Jesus’ words here we will see that this was not just about Jesus washing his disciples feet in a physical sense. For when he spoke of who was clean and who was not clean, he was speaking in a spiritual, not in a physical sense. So, what do our feet represent on a spiritual level? They have to do with our walks of faith, or the lack thereof. They have to do with how we live and what we speak and the things that we do each day, either in honor of God or in dishonor of our Lord Jesus Christ.

And when Jesus spoke of someone being bathed needing only to wash his feet, he was speaking again in a spiritual, not in a physical sense. He was speaking of those who are of genuine faith in Jesus Christ as those who have bathed. They have been washed in the blood of Jesus Christ via dying with Christ to sin and living to him and to his righteousness, in the power of God, by God-gifted and God-persuaded faith in our Lord. He was speaking of those whose lives were surrendered to the Lord who were following him.

Not Lip Service Only

But a profession of faith in Jesus Christ alone is not enough to deliver us from all sins and to promise us eternal life with God in heaven. And that is where the feet come into play. For Jesus told Peter if Peter did not let him wash his feet that Peter had no part with Jesus. So, we can’t just “get saved” and now we get to go to heaven when we die. We have to walk the walk and not just talk it. We have to die daily to sin and deny self and follow our Lord in obedience to his commands if we want to have eternal life with God.

So, why was one of them not clean? Because, rather than submitting to Christ as Lord, Judas gave into the devil, and he decided to betray Jesus, instead. He was the one who was not clean morally and spiritually for, although he made a pretense outwardly of being a disciple of Christ, inwardly he was not one of Jesus’ true followers. So his commitment was outward only and in words only, but not in practice. He did not walk the walk but he just talked it, for a time, before his real intentions became clear.

We Must Live It!

So the Christian life is not one of words only. We must live what we say we believe. Daily we must surrender our all to our Lord and walk in his ways, in his righteousness and holiness, in submission to his will, and no longer as slaves to sin. We must seek him with our whole being to find out what all he has for us to do in this life, to know what gifts we have been given, and how we are to use them, and to know God’s calling on our lives, so that we do his will in serving him in ministry and in sharing the gospel with other people.

And we must no longer live as slaves to sin and to self just doing what pleases us each day. For faith in Jesus is not just spoken with words but it must be lived out in our daily lives in surrender of our wills to the will of God and in walks of obedience to his commands. Jesus is not to just be our Savior, but he is to be our life. He is not someone we spend time with for a few minutes each day, but we are to be walking with him where he leads us throughout the day every day, doing his will, surrendering all to him.

[Matthew 7:13-14,21-23; Luke 9:23-26; John 10:27-30; Acts 26:18; Romans 1:18-32; Romans 2:5-10; Romans 3:23; Romans 6:1-23; Romans 8:1-14; Romans 12:1-2; 1 Corinthians 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Corinthians 10:1-22; 2 Corinthians 5:10,15,21; Galatians 5:16-24; Ephesians 2:8-10; Ephesians 4:17-32; Ephesians 5:3-6; Titus 2:11-14; Hebrews 3:1-19; Hebrews 4:1-13; Hebrews 10:19-39; Hebrews 12:1-2; 1 Peter 2:24; 1 John 1:1-10; 1 John 2:1-6; 1 John 3:4-10; Revelation 2:1-29; Revelation 3:1-22]

Seek the Lord

Based off Isaiah 55
Musical Instrumentation by Mark Bradley
An Original Work / July 20, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

“Come to Me all you who thirst; come to waters.
Listen to Me, and eat what’s good today,
And your soul will delight in richest of fare.
Give ear to Me, and you will live.
I have made an eternal covenant with you.
Wash in the blood of the Lamb.”

Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him.
Let the wicked forsake his way, in truth.
Let him turn to the Lord, and he will receive mercy.
Freely, God pardons him.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,”
declares the Lord, our God.

“My word that goes out of My mouth is truthful.
It will not return to Me unfulfilled.
My word will accomplish all that I desire,
And achieve the goal I intend.
You will go in joy and be led forth in peace.
The mountains will burst into song… before you,
And all of the trees clap their hands.”

“If I Do Not Wash You”
An Original Work / May 19, 2026
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love