THE FEETWASHING FORM WAS
NOT A MERE CUSTOM OF THE DAY
John 13:7
"Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter."
1.
There was such a custom of that day. It existed in the days of Abraham
(Gen 18:4 (1-3). Travelers at home or from afar experienced the dust of the
road in that area. Since their shoes were mere sandals attached to the feet,
and open to all the dust, it was a relaxing experience to bathe the feet at the
entrance to the dwelling. Water was supplied by the head of the home for this
washing, and the traveler performed the task upon his own feet. Abraham
supplied the water for his guests.
2. At a gathering in the days of Christ, Simon the host failed to make provision of water for his guests (Luke 7: 44). But a woman deeply appreciative of Christ's ministry in her behalf washed His feet with her tears and wiped His feet with her hair. Christ used this action of the woman as a rebuke to Simon for failure to supply the amenities of the day.
3. It was also true that after folk had used the public facilities for taking a full bath, on their walk home their feet collected dust, so they bathed their feet at the entrance to the home. But upon this occasion, the disciples had already washed their feet when they entered the upper room. It was this background that utterly mystified the disciples when Christ took water and washed the disciple’s feet at the opening of the meal. That explains why Christ said to them "What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter" (John 13:7).
4. Though this action of Christ had many of the details of the custom of the day, it was not the custom, for that had already taken place. This was something different. At this moment they could not know its meaning. Not till Christ had gone back to glory and entered upon His High Priestly ministry could they possibly apprehend and appreciate the meaning of this form. Any oversight of this statement of Christ about what He was then doing is certain to mislead the reader of this account. Not even the argument that Christ was giving an example of humility will explain the statement of Christ. An example of humility would have been known by those disciples at that very moment. So to understand this form we must look elsewhere for the answer. Again, this was not a display of humility.
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