As Jesus wrapped a towel around His waist, bent down on His knees, and began the humble duty of washing the dirt from the feet of Judas, His heart must have ached deeply knowing that the very same feet He was bowing to wash belonged to the same man that would betray Him and disown Him for mere pocket change. He knew that it was this man that would soon bring forth the most excrutiating time in His life, yet He does what the world would claim as unthinkeable… He serves… He bends His back and He serves him. He gently and compassionately held in His hands the dirty feet of one that was guilty and He loved him with a great love.
How many of us can honestly say we would bend our back and our pride to wash the feet of someone we knew was guilty of causing us great pain? I would like to say that I have reached that point in my walk with Jesus but I haven’t gotten there completely. It is my goal though to keep pressing until I have reached that mark. To serve, to love, to overlook, to be unrelentlessly merciful. On that evening the Master laid down His place of being right because He knew something that Judas did not know. He already knew every deceitful move, every act of betrayal, every ounce of pain this man would cause Him yet chose in a great act of servitude and kindness to overlook it and forgive. He not only served His betrayer when He wasn’t required to, but did so tenderly and lovingly.
We must understand the heart of Jesus in this matter. He knew that not only was He washing the dirt from the feet of Judas, He was at the same time washing the dirt from his heart and the disciple’s hearts in ways they could never know and in doing that it was a life lesson taught to everyone else in the room of the magnitude and lengths we should all be willing to go to in efforts to release our enemies and ourselves from the prison of guilt, condemnation, suffering, and unforgiveness. Seeing as how the washing of feet in those days was a ritual practice when a person came into your house, it may not have seemed so grand to anyone on a practical level, but oh if they could have only recognized how great it was on a spiritual one. Jesus, the son of God, the King of all Kings, laid down His royal robes and replaced them with a mere towel and He got dirty. A King willing to cleanse the feet and heart of His accuser. Not only was He fulfilling prophecy, He was committing a complete act of mercy. He was already forgiving Judas for an act he had yet to commit, just as He did for us when He gave up His life on the cross.
He never made Judas suffer for the pain he caused Him because He knew Judas would suffer enough over what He would do, but oh how quick we are to do the opposite to those who have hurt us in so many lesser ways than what Jesus endured. We are so quick to take the knife that has stabbed us in the back and turn it on those who have placed it there. It is my honest thoughts that had the enemy not taken the opportunity to so greatly encompass the mind of Judas after his unfaithful deed with guilt and shame, it is possible that he could have been restored and made whole in Him. Why? Because Jesus had already forgiven Him. Still chose to call him friend. Still was willing to love him back to life in the same way He is willing to do for us even when we turn our backs on Him, grieve Him with our times of disobedience, and forget all His goodness.
The enemy won because Judas was in such a deep despair of hopelessness. Let’s not hold anyone in a cell of no hope, back breaking guilt, or painful shame for hurting us. Let’s not allow pride or the idea of our need to be right keep us from bowing our knee and getting dirty. When we wash the feet of someone who knows they have done us wrong, we are not only washing them clean and freeing them from suffering, we are also at the same time doing the same for our own heart and life. Let’s strive to become the beautiful and intimate example that Jesus was and extend grace, mercy, and unconditional love. Hurting people will always hurt other people. May we keep that in mind when we reach to take the knife from our backs and instead of turning to take a stab, let’s turn our accuser to the only One who can heal both of our wounds…the greatest example of love of all…Jesus. Then we will both be free…