⁷ Jesus answered and said to him, “What I am doing you do not understand now, but you will know after this.” ⁸ 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.”

John 13:7-8 NKJV

At the Feast of Passover, Jesus began to wash the disciples feet. This was a gesture of humility that Peter couldn’t quite understand. You see, there had been a dispute among the disciples as to which of them should be considered the greatest (Luke 22:24). Jesus was moments away from being betrayed and crucified and this was their concern. Sadly, this mindset is still a major problem in today’s church.

Those who focus on positions of power within the church are focused on the wrong thing. What should we be focused on? We should be focused on salvation. Peter’s pride led to Jesus teaching a very important lesson. To have part in Christ, one must allow Jesus to wash their feet. To be in this position requires for one to acknowledge their feet is dirty- humility is required.

There are going to be many that miss out on salvation because they don’t think their feet are dirty. There are some that don’t even think they need to seek forgiveness from the Lord. There are so many people who are filled with so much pride that they truly believe they’re perfect. This is why the humble will be saved before the self-righteous as their pride will keep them from salvation.

Peter wasn’t self-righteous, but didn’t want the only begotten Son to wash his feet because that was a job for someone else. However, another lesson we see here is that the Lord desires to wash you clean of your transgressions. Remember, Jesus came to call sinners to repentance, not the “righteous”.