What kind of King is he? | A Maundy Thursday Reflection

John 13:1-17

“Do you wash my feet?!” 

Can you hear Peter’s frustration and disbelief as Jesus kneels to wash caked-on street grime from his feet? Peter was convinced that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, the promised Rescuer. Jesus had entered Jerusalem in triumph only a few days before. The fulfillment of all Peter had waited for—Jesus the Messiah taking his rightful throne as King and finally redeeming Israel—was at hand.  

Yet here was Jesus, crouching on the floor, performing a disgusting task reserved for the lowliest servant: washing his disciples’ dirty feet. Once again, just as when Peter rebuked Jesus for foretelling his death and resurrection (Matt. 16), Peter felt compelled to correct Jesus’s behavior. This was no way for a King on the cusp on claiming his throne to act! This situation was inappropriate, uncomfortable, and downright embarrassing.

Jesus answered, “What I am doing, you do not understand now, but afterward you will understand,” referring again to his coming crucifixion and resurrection.  “You shall never wash my feet!” Peter insists, more forcefully this time. In the kind of kingdom Peter had in mind, there was no place for a crucified servant-king.

I picture Jesus looking up from the basin of water, looking right into Peter’s eyes, when he says, “If I do not wash you, you have no share with me.” 

By washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus demonstrated to his disciples the kind of King he would be.

One who emptied himself, taking the form of a servant (Phil. 2).

One who is not driven away by our grimy feet and misshapen hearts, but is instead compelled by his steadfast love to come near, to touch, to clean, to heal.

One who washes us by the blood of his Cross, gives us life by his resurrection, welcomes us to his table, and give us a “share with him” (v. 8) in the work of his kingdom—the restoration of all things.

Today on Maundy Thursday, I pray our eyes will be opened to the kind of King that Jesus is, and the kind of kingdom he is ushering in—one where those who have been made clean by their King and are being formed into his likeness, kneel to wash each other’s feet (v. 14-15). 

I pray we’ll experience Jesus’s tender touch in the places in our hearts that are still in need of healing, responding to his invitation like Peter did: “Then, Lord, not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!” (v.9).