Never Shall You Wash My Feet

Never shall You wash my feet! These are the words Simon Peter spoke (exclaimed) to Jesus, as Jesus knelt before him to wash his feet. I do not know what really prompted Peter’s reaction but I do know this: it was spontaneous and it was sincere. Peter, obviously, found himself in a very difficult place and he reacted in an effort to avoid confronting his fear—being loved (really loved, up close, and personal) by the One who loves without condition, the One who does not keep a record of wrongs suffered, the One who never even notices when others do it wrong, the One who came, not to be served but to serve.
     In the end, he changed his mind and eagerly submitted to Jesus’ leadership in his life but not without first hearing and embracing Jesus’ powerful, loving, and compassionate words—If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. Of course, per Peter’s usual modus operandi, he went overboard in the other direction with these words: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!
     I have the strong feeling that Peter never forgot these precious moments when the creator of the universe, the eternal, omnipotent, omniscient, Redeemer of the world gently splashed cool, clear water over his feet, carefully washing away the dust and dirt of the day’s journey and, finally, wiping them dry with a towel. But even more, I think he never forgot what happened within his heart as he experienced Jesus’ humility and compassion, expressed in His unconditional love, the love that gave him a foretaste of what it would mean to have a clean heart—forgiven and made righteous through the death, burial, and resurrection of his Beloved, foot-washing Messiah! What an incredible gift!
     Having said all of that, I wonder this: How often has Jesus come to you, kneeling before you (maybe in the form of one of your friends, maybe even a stranger, possibly even an enemy) and, thereby, moving you out of your comfort zone (way out of it), offering you the very gift that would forever change your life, only to hear your reacting with, “No! No!  I could never allow you to do that!” During these times, He has in all probability been offering you the gift that would draw you into an intimacy with Him that you could never imagine (a Song of Songs intimacy); the gift that would make you face your greatest fear and, thereby, release you from it; the gift that would eradicate the self-concept that has tortured you and controlled you all of your life and replace it with the exact representation (image) of the Son; the gift that would truly set you free to be the person He created you to be.
     Think twice before you reject Him again because He just might be trying to help you get a glimpse of what lies on the other side of the fence, the fence that has kept most (if not all) Christians corralled and, therefore, separated from the Promised Land—the land that flows with the milk and honey of freedom!
     Just thought I would share with you what I think He is telling me.