Do You Understand?

After washing their feet, he put on his robe again and sat down and asked, “Do you understand what I was doing? You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and you are right, because that’s what I am. And since I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you ought to wash each other’s feet. I have given you an example to follow. Do as I have done to you. I tell you the truth, slaves are not greater than their master. Nor is the messenger more important than the one who sends the message. Now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them. [John 13.12-17]

Do you understand?

How many times have we been asked that question? Do you understand?

"Do you understand" is another way of saying, "Something important is taking place here that I want you to confirm you are paying attention to and respond properly!"

What followed Jesus' question, "Do you understand?" is that "something important" that He wanted His followers to "respond properly" to.

Here is what Jesus wanted His men to understand (and therefore do): Place the needs of others above their own. More specifically, Jesus wanted His men to understand that He too was simply a servant - as He was only doing the will of the Father.

Never is a human more like God than when he genuinely serves the needs of another human.

In contrast, never is a human more like Satan than when he serves his own needs.

Satan is incapable of serving the needs of others. He is a murderer, a thief, destroyer, and a liar all to the end of serving his own self-exaltation, "I will be like God!"

Here is a good place to insert that when Judas asked Jesus if he was the betrayer Jesus spoke of at the Last Supper (Matthew 26.25), Jesus responded with this: "You have said it." Why did Jesus say that? Because not long before this meal, Judas had said, "I will betray Jesus to you" to the religious leaders plotting Jesus' death. Notice the "I will..." sounds very much like what is attributed as Satan's fall in Isaiah's writing:

For you said to yourself, ‘I will ascend to heaven and set my throne above God’s stars. I will preside on the mountain of the gods far away in the north. I will climb to the highest heavens and be like the Most High.’ [Isaiah 14.13-14]

Judas was ultimately serving himself (for the money) and not the needs of others. He did not understand.

Jesus told His men, "Do as I have done to you," in the context of washing their feet. As gross as that sounds to us in modern times, we must understand that foot cleanliness has only improved with paved walking surfaces, flooring, and shoes. In other words, the twenty-four feet Jesus washed were likely a nasty, gross mess and certainly in great need of being cleaned! It should not be overlooked in this discussion that both people and incontinent animals shared the same walkways! Suffice it to say, Jesus chose to provide a service that only a lowest-ranking servant would perform.

Do you understand?

Washing people's feet may not actually serve them today like perhaps washing their car or mowing their lawn. In fact, "foot washing" today really only serves as a symbol. While the symbolism may be useful and spiritually charged, it must be remembered that to wash someone's feet today, without having a servant's heart in every other area toward them, is hypocritical.

Do you understand?

Do I understand?

Father, please help me to quit looking at life and those around me for "what's in it for me" and instead to see how I might serve others.