The Lessons of the Foot-washing

DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, OCTOBER 12, 1879,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Jesus knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and
that He was come from God, and went to God; He rose from supper, and
laid aside His garments; and took a towel, and girded Himself. After
that He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples
'feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded." John
13:3-5.

IT seems to me that the true text of this enacted sermon of the
foot-washing is to be found in the first verse of the chapter–"Having
loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end." Our
Lord washed the feet of His disciples to show that to the last moment
of His communion with them He was full of the deepest and truest love
to them and was willing to perform the most menial action for their
good. Nor was this all, for we may regard that one condescending act as
the pledge and type of His daily kindness towards all His own which are
in the world. Those deeds of love, which the foot-washing sets forth,
are continuous among us and are the sure tokens of His abiding love to
us.

Our Lord's affection for His people is not a transient passion. He
loved them before the earth was. He continues to love them and He
always will love them, even when these heavens and this earth shall
have passed away. In token of the continuance of His love, He has left
on record this washing of His disciples' feet, not because He only did
it once, but because it is a type of what He is always doing. Even in
His Glory He is caring for His saints with that same condescending love
which led Him to wash their feet. And He is acting towards them,
spiritually, in the same way.

The love of Christ will assuredly endure all the strain that can ever
be put upon it, for at the time when He acted as menial servant to His
disciples, His love was enduring and enduring right gloriously, three
great trials–any one of which might have broken it had it not been
altogether Omnipotent. For, first, He was about to go away from them.
Much of human love needs the presence of its object for its
maintenance. It is, alas, seldom true that "absence makes the heart
grow fonder." Jesus was about to depart out of this world to the Father
and, with the exception of one brief interval, He was to walk no more
in the midst of His chosen, or sit at table with them.

Out of sight, however, they would not be out of mind. Though He was
just about to take the last terrible journey of death, yet He forgot
them not, but graciously made them see that He would remember them
still. If you will remember the style of His going, His thoughtfulness
of His friends becomes the more remarkable. He was about to leave them
by a cruel and ignominious death and, according to the common conduct
of men, it would not have been amazing if He had sought pity and
comfort from them–instead of which He forgot Himself and all the pain,
grief and death which lay before Him and spent all His time and
strength upon the comfort and establishment of His followers!

When He knew that the hour was come when He must depart out of the
world with unutterable pangs, He still loved His own with an
all-absorbing love. There was much in the prospect of His grievous
departure which might, for a season, have diverted His thoughts from
them. But they lay so close to the center of His soul that even under
such circumstances He washed their feet!

Next, it is to be remembered that our Lord was well aware that one of
them had already entertained the idea of betraying Him. There sat one
at the table who had held a secret interview with the Pharisees and
chief priests–and had taken money as a bribe for his Master's blood.
You cannot so dissociate a leading disciple from the rest as not to
feel that the whole band was thereby disgraced and the Lord might very
well have said, "I will discard My Apostles, for they have betrayed
Me." And then you remember that those who did not sell Him or betray
Him, nevertheless all forsook Him and fled–forsook Him when they ought
to have rallied round Him and have spoken up for Him at the judgment
seat.

None of them appeared in answer to the question, "Who shall declare His
generation?" Like timid hares, they fled at the first bark of the dogs.
It would not have been amazing, had His been a human love, if He had
said, "They are unworthy of Me–their confidence dies out when they see
My sorrow–they betray Me–they forsake Me, therefore I will let them
go and care for them no more." No, but knowing what they were, our Lord
took a towel and girded Himself and washed their feet, yes, washed the
traitor's feet and gently handled that heel which had been lifted up
against Him–washing from it the dust gathered in its secret walk upon
the traitor's errand!–

"The sight might kings themselves convert, God only could so far
submit: Satan is in the traitor's heart, The Lord Most High is at his
feet." This act of tender, considerate affection, performed under such
circumstances to men who acted towards Him in such ungenerous style,
proves to us that His love will bear the strain of our ill behavior,
our lack of fidelity and our thousand grievous failures. Having loved
His own which are in the world, He loves them to the end.

There was a third strain, and a powerful one, too. Our Savior knew that
the Father had committed all things into His hands. He knew that there
was but a brief interval before He should die and then He would ascend
to the Father's right hand and sit there eternally as God Over All,
blessed forevermore! Yet He did not disdain to do a slave's work for
His beloved ones. Oftentimes circumstances alter affections. A man
grows rich and great and forgets his friends. This we would not suspect
of Jesus if His had not been a greater change than we mortals can
possibly experience. But His was a surpassing accession of glory–from
being plunged in ignominy and shame He was exalted to receive the
homage of angels and the adoration of the whole universe! One would
think that in the prospect of such honors, though He loved His own, He
would not so love them as to become their Servitor and, all in
disarray, stoop down before them, even to their feet, and do the
service of a bondsman!

No wonder that Peter raised an objection suggested by reverential awe.
Who could, without protest, receive such humble service from such
hands? Yet our Lord did this with Heaven's supernal Glory descending on
Him! He disrobed Himself, though angels longed to cast the imperial
purple about His shoulders! With all things in His hands, He yet took a
towel and wiped the disciples' feet! Beloved, if our Lord's love bore
these three strains, we may, like the Apostle, be persuaded that
neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor
things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any
other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which
is in Christ Jesus our Lord!

I invite you now, therefore, to see your Savior's enduring and
continuing love as set forth to us in this symbolic washing of His
disciples' feet and in similar acts of which it is a symbol. I shall
ask you to view it, first, as the type of His continuous love. And
secondly, as the example of that love as it should be reflected by His
people. May the Holy Spirit be our Interpreter and open to us this
choice cabinet of love tokens!

I. First we will look upon this washing of the disciples' feet as THE
TYPE OF OUR LORD'S CONTINUOUS LOVE TO US. We will view it in four
lights. First, Christ Jesus still acts as the Host of His people. Has
it never struck you how much the life of Christ with His people lay in
intense familiarity with them? How in common things He displayed His
brotherhood with them? He began His ministry at a feast at Cana of
Galilee, working His first miracle at a wedding. Again and again we
find Him eating with His disciples. The last thing He did was to sit at
supper with them and He still says to His Church, "Behold, I stand at
the door and knock: if any man open to Me I will enter in and sup with
Him and

he with Me."

His own figure for the opening of the new dispensation is a
supper–"Blessed is he that shall eat bread at the marriage supper of
the Lamb." We do not always view our communion with Christ in this
homely light and I fear we forget that the acquaintance of Christ with
His people was one of great intimacy and familiar communion, for they
did eat and drink with Him and He with them. At this time, also, Jesus
is the Host of His Church, providing the Gospel Supper and entertaining
us right royally. Instead of meat, He gives us His flesh to eat, rarest
of dainties and He cries, "My flesh is meat, indeed, and My blood is
drink, indeed."

He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies. He
satisfies our mouth with good things so that our youth is renewed like
the eagles! And, mark you, the Lord is a Host who goes through with His
Divine hospitalities and leaves nothing incomplete. In the East the
master of the house would wash his guests' feet if they were persons
whom he

sought to honor. You remember how Abraham bade the angels turn into his
tent and also said to them, "Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched
and wash your feet." Even so our Master entertains us at His table, not
as paupers, but as guests, yes, and not as guests of an ordinary kind,
but as friends of the highest class, dear to His soul, whose feet He
will wash! He can truly say of us, "Since you were precious in My
sight, you have been honorable and I have loved you." He treats us as
distinguished persons who shall not sit among mean men, but shall have
their portion among princes.

This foot-washing, once done, was a fair representation of that
honorable entertainment which the King extends to all believing souls
when He bids them come to His banqueting table and drink of the wine
which He has mingled. I like to think of the Lord as my Host and of
myself as no mere waif and stray, but as a welcome guest to whom He is
daily fulfilling all a host's part, granting me all I want, yes, all
that I wish for! He Himself gives us honors and comforts us more than
could be expected, even, from our most familiar friend. Look, He even
washes our feet! What better token need we of His abiding love? Since
He continues to entertain His whole Church and treats us all as
distinguished visitors, it is clear that He still loves us.

My second rendering of the passage is that He cares for our minor
matters with a personal interest. Jesus washed their feet and this
showed a very tender and familiar consideration of their little needs.
That He should ease their weary hearts I can understand. That He should
enlighten their clouded brains I can understand. But that He should
wash their feet is amazing! A little soil on their feet–will He attend
to that? Yes, that He will, and personally, too. He will, Himself, take
the basin and the towel and wash their feet! Had they been diseased
with leprosy it would seem natural that He should touch them and say,
"Be clean." Or had they been blind or crippled, it would have been
probable that He would touch their eyes or heal their limbs.

But a mere defilement of their feet is so a small a matter! Would He
attend to that? He might have left them to wash one another's feet,
might He not? Surely He had but to suggest it and they would have
cheerfully waited on each other. Peter, at any rate, would have been
first to obey and to his Lord's command he would have replied, "Wash
them? That I will, with delight!" But no. The Lord laid aside His own
garments and took a towel and He performed the kindly deed for them!
Brothers and Sisters, take your little things to Christ! Those trials
of which your heart says, "They are too small. Though they prick me
like thorns in the flesh and give me pain, yet they are really too
trifling for me to mention in prayer."

Not so! The Lord loves us to trust Him thoroughly. This is a token of
His love, of His continued affection, that even to the little things He
will look–even to your smallest problems He will condescend and you
may ask Him! Oh, it is bold asking, but you may do it! You may ask Him
to wash your feet, for He will do even that! Do not, I pray you, cause
your own love to be put under suspicion through a deficiency in your
childlike confidence in your condescending Lord! I confess I have often
required more faith to pray about some tiny matter of my own than about
a thousand things which concern my Master's Kingdom. And yet when faith
is broad and large, love knows that all matters which grieve the minds
of His servants touch the heart of the Master and that all which works
our good works also His delight. We must believe in Him so much that we
can trust each day's cares with Him, believing that He still washes His
disciples' feet by attending to their minor needs and grief–

"He overrules all mortal things, And manages our mean affairs. On
humble souls the King of kings Bestows His counsels and His cares."

We will now take a third reading of it. This washing of the disciples'
feet means that He provides refreshment for His people. I do not
suppose that many here present know what an intense pleasure it is, in
extremely hot countries, to have the feet washed upon coming in after a
weary walk. The servant pours forth fresh cool water from a pitcher
upon the feet when they are aching with a long journey and hot with
burning heat and dust. The result is delightfully refreshing! Our Lord
washed His disciples' feet, not only because cleansing was desirable,
but also for their pleasure and solace. He takes great pleasure in
giving joy to His followers. He desires that His joy should be in us
that our joy may be full. He does not want us to be like paupers who
have to be content with bare necessaries, but to be gentlemen-commoners
upon His bounty who shall be served right royally, like princes of the
blood whom even the King, Himself, does not disdain to wait upon.

When does the Lord give us these refreshments? He often does this after
a journey–I mean after a severe trial. When, as pilgrims to Heaven, we
have been wearied by the greatness of the way, the Master comes and
manifests Himself to us and refreshes us. Sometimes, also, this good
cheer comes before the trial, for these disciples were now about to
enter upon a very rough road–they were doomed to travel through the
rest of their lives without the personal Presence of their Master and
He seems to say, "Before you set out I will wash your feet. A little
refreshment of this kind will strengthen you at the start. And when you
are further on your way, the very remembrance of it will come to you
like a cool stream of water fresh from the pitcher." So the Master was
pleased to refresh them after a journey and before a journey and the
refreshment was intended, as I have already said, for their souls'
delight. It was a feast at which they sat and He wished them to enjoy
everything that could make them happy at His table.

Brethren, I have told you that this foot-washing is a type of our
Lord's continuous love to us, a type which is followed by action like
itself and so it is, in this respect, for He is often refreshing us.
Have you not tasted of His cordials? We speak far less of our spiritual
delights than we might do, but if we would open our mouths, we could
tell of rapturous times, when, though weary and cast down, we have been
graciously revived! Sweet promises have been applied to us by our
Lord's own hands–like cold water poured upon hot and weary feet–and
by this means we have been bathed in rest. A sense of His love has come
over us like a dream and yet we were never more awake in our lives! We
have been entranced and yet most sober and calm.

Our Lord's love is a dear delight and, when we realize it, the bells of
Heaven seem to be ringing close against our ears and choirs of angels
to have come down from Glory to make music in our chambers! At such
times we often wonder why we were so gladdened, but when, the next day,
an extraordinary trouble sets in, we discover the reason and perceive
that we have been well nourished that we may go a forty days' journey
in the strength of this meat! Yes, we have had those refreshments in
this house when the Word has been preached, or when some joyful hymn
has borne us on its wings to Heaven! Or, best of all, at the Communion
Table! Nor here alone, for in our own quiet chambers and in the night
watches the Lord has refreshed our hearts, for He gives songs in the
night. These sweet renewals and lifting up are the tokens that, having
loved His own, He loves them to the end.

This is the foot-washing all over again, for Christ is still busy at
His works of love. Though He lays not aside His garment today, nor
comes among us like a Servant, yet even from the highest Throne in
Glory He has ways of executing the same purposes of kindness. Still He
gives us inward delight and this joy becomes our strength, making us
swift as a young roe to run upon His gracious errands! The weariness
which makes the feet heavier is removed by joyful fellowship and so we
are washed and refreshed. We who are His ministers need much of this,
that we may be as gazelles let loose, giving goodly words.

Our fourth view of the text is more full and accurate, namely, that
Christ continues to guard the purity of His Church, for though it was
not all His meaning, yet by washing their feet He certainly intended
their cleansing, for after He had done it He said, "You are clean: he
that is washed is clean every whit." Our Lord watches over the
purification of all those who are His own and this is a great joy to us
who love His Church and are concerned for her honor. To see professors
defile themselves is heart-breaking work to loving pastors and our only
comfort is that Jesus is quite as jealous of the holiness of His people
as ever we can be.

Beloved, I live while I see your pure and holy conversation! But when I
see impurity, worldliness and evil among you, it cuts me to the heart!
And were it not that I know my Lord is watching over the purity of His
people, I would gladly lay down and die. From the occasion which our
Lord selected for the foot-washing, it is clear that He would have us
seek the special purifying power of His Presence during religious
ordinances. I really cannot tell at what point of the evening's
proceedings our Lord washed His disciples' feet and, if you read the
chapter, you will be somewhat puzzled. It is "before the Passover," yet
it is said, "supper being ended," which, I suppose, would be better
rendered, "supper being in progress," for after the washing our Lord
took a sop, dipped it and gave it to Judas and, therefore, the supper
was not over.

Or if one supper may have come to an end, another was just commencing.
Was this feast the Passover? Was it the Lord's Supper? Was it the first
of the agape, or love feasts, in which the early Church delighted?
Which was it? I do not know and I am not much concerned to know. The
Lord Jesus Christ made the Passover melt into the Lord's Supper so that
you cannot tell where one ends and the other begins! No violent jerk
occurred in leaving the lines of the Jewish

dispensation for the Christian–for our Lord's disciples went up to the
Temple to pray after the veil was torn in two and the legal ceremonies
had lost their meaning.

There was a gradual sliding of the one economy into the other and, on
the memorable night of the washing of the feet, I suspect that our
Master ate and drank with His disciples at a common meal just as the
early Christians did when they met together at their love feasts–then
probably followed the actual Passover celebration, a night before its
time– and this gradually dissolved into the Lord's Supper of which the
cup was "the cup after supper." Anyway, it does not matter much, but it
is clear that we need our feet washed before we come to His Table, "Let
a man examine Himself and so let Him eat of this bread."

We also need our feet washed while we are at His Table, for there is
sin in our holiest things and even when we come most near to our Lord,
we need that He wash us according to that text, "If we walk in the
light as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another and
the blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin." Even when
we walk in the light and have clearest fellowship with God, the Lord
Jesus continues to cleanse us from all sin! And I am sure we need
washing after supper. When we come away from worship we have need to
get alone and cry, "Cleanse me from secret faults. Let my lack of
devotion or my coldness in it be forgiven! Let my lack of zeal, my
scantiness of faith and the wandering of my heart be all washed away by
You, my Lord and Master, for I much need it."

Our Lord is so anxious for the purification of His people that He is
frequently giving them a sweet sense that their transgressions in holy
things are put away and thus He seems to say to them, "I have accepted
your sacrifice. I have received your prayers and tears and presented
them unto My Father. I have washed you and you are clean. Go in peace."
This is one of the acts of His continuous love, this daily washing of
our feet! We must all have this frequent washing by our Lord–it is
absolutely necessary. There is a "must" in the case–as we must be born
again, so we must be made holy. It would be to our Lord's dishonor to
be followed by disciples who do not walk in integrity and uprightness.
As He is, Himself, perfectly holy, He desires to have around Him a holy
people purged from all defilement. He is so anxious that He should have
such a people that, sooner than they shall not be washed, He will act
the part of a Servant and wash their feet Himself.

"Be you clean that bear the vessels of the Lord." You that follow in
His footsteps, walk with clean feet. Come not up with the miry clay
still sticking to you, but wash, wash daily and follow your pure Master
with pure and cleansed hearts, with careful and obedient feet, so that
all may see that you are the disciples of the Undefiled! His ministers,
especially, need this or the people will never cry," How beautiful upon
the mountains are the feet of him that brings good tidings." Brothers
and Sisters, pray for us that we may experience this to the highest
degree! These constant washings which are the testimony of Christ's
continued love we must all receive. Did He not say to Peter, "If I wash
you not, you have no part with Me"? If Jesus does not make you holy,
you are not His.

Brother, if you live in sin and love it, you cannot love God! Unless He
truly purges your life and makes you to walk in a clean path, you are
not His, for He purges His own–such as riot in iniquity prove that
they are of their father, the devil, for they do his works. Whom Jesus
loves He purifies. He loved His Church and gave Himself for it that He
might sanctify and cleanse it. If, then, you are unholy, ungracious,
dishonest, unrighteous–how can you say that you belong to His Church?
He washes the feet of all who are His disciples and if your feet are
filthy, you belong not to the faithful band.

This washing must be spiritual–no external form will suffice. Christ
washed the feet of Judas with water, but inasmuch as Judas had never
been bathed in the laver of regeneration and had never been purged in
the fountain of forgiving love, that washing which Christ gave to his
feet did him no spiritual good! And you, my Friend, may use what
external ablutions you will and perform whatever religious ceremonies
you please, but unless your spirit has been renewed by the Holy Spirit
and your heart purged in the sight of God, you still have no part nor
lot with Christ's disciples! The mercy is that this purification, which
is so necessary and which must be of a spiritual kind, is very readily
given!

I admire the beauty of the figure in its simple ease. The Scripture
does not say that our Master was nailed to the Cross and poured forth a
stream from His heart in order to wash His disciples' feet. No,
although the act by which He cleansed them was very condescending, yet
it was not painful or laborious. He laid aside His garments, girded on
the towel and

5

took the pitcher and straightway proceeded to wash the disciples' feet.
It was easily done and whatever there was upon the feet was soon
removed–it needed no suffering, no dire grief on Jesus' part!

For our first washing from the guilt and condemnation of sin it needed
that Jesus should lay down His life and fill the cleansing fountain
with atoning blood. But for the later removal of sin, the Lord uses an
easy process of love. He does, by His Spirit, speedily cleanse us from
iniquity, even as our feet are soon washed. How, readily, therefore, we
ought to go to Christ about the purging of our consciences from dead
works! I have heard it said that the sinner finds great difficulty in
going to Christ at first–that is sadly true–but I have also noticed
that sometimes there is a difficulty in continuing to go to Him every
day of our lives.

To go as a sinner and get washed from sin needs faith, but it also
requires a steady confidence to resort to Jesus under a thousand
conscious failures and backsliding year after year. I sit down in my
chamber and I feel I am a forgiven man– about that I am quite sure
and, therefore, I shall never be cast into Hell. But this day I spoke
unadvisedly with my lips, or I grew angry, or I am conscious that I was
proud, or I have been frivolous and worldly, or I have been
selfish–and at the remembrance of those sins I lose my peace and feel
I cannot pray. Communion with God seems gone while these faults stare
me in the face! The arch-enemy whispers, "You cannot get back into your
former happy state."

At such times let us say to him, "O you enemy, I can and will return
into fellowship, for my dear Lord and Master has only to take the basin
and wash my feet and this He can do right speedily." O my Brothers and
Sisters, when a sense of sin revives upon the conscience, do not be
persuaded by unbelief that there is an impossibility of escaping it! Go
straight to your Master and say, "Wash me, and I shall be whiter than
snow," and He will cleanse you and once again you shall joy and rejoice
in Him! Remember the words of our hymn concerning the fountain of
Divine Grace–

"This fountain from guilt not only makes pure, And gives, soon as felt,
an Infallible cure. But if guilt removed returns and remains, Its power
may be proved again and again."

Mark, however, that this washing must be given us by our Lord Himself.
He must first wash our feet before we can wash one another's feet. I
think I see the Well-Beloved, now, as He pours the pure water on their
ankles! Mark how He takes their feet into His kind and tender hands and
washes them clean. And then He wipes them with the towel! He continues
to do this to us, even now, in a spiritual sense! It is His own dear
love that takes away sin from the conscience so that it does not linger
there to foul and mar it. Often I think He seems to kiss those feet and
say, "Dear child, you are now clean. Watch your footsteps and keep your
garments that they be not defiled again. Yet even if they are, I will
wash them again, for I still live to cleanse you and put away your
transgressions. I mean, before long, to make you as perfect as Myself,
without spot or wrinkle or any such thing."

Nor may I leave this point till I bid you mark the condescension of
this personal washing, for Abraham did not, himself, wash the angels'
feet, but said, "Let a little water be fetched and wash your feet." And
Joseph did not personally wash his brother's feet, but the steward of
his house brought them in and gave them water and they washed their
feet! But Jesus does it all Himself. O my Soul, bow down before Him and
adore His unparalleled love!

Thus I have shown you that this foot-washing is a symbol of our
Redeemer's continuous acts of love. Jesus is always our Host and,
therefore, He washes our feet. He always cares for our little matters
and in this sense washes our feet. He is always providing refreshments
for His people in their pilgrimage to Heaven and thus He washes their
feet. He is always guarding the purity of His Church and people–and
so, in the fullest sense–He washes their feet.

II. Secondly, we come to practical matters as to ourselves. As THE
MODEL OF HIS OWN LOVE FOR HIS PEOPLE, our Lord washed their feet. The
love of the saints is their Lord's love in them, which has filled their
vessels to the brim and is now running over. Christ's love is the Sun
and our love is the moonlight which we are able to give forth because
the Sun has looked upon us. Love is first freely imparted and then
plenteously diffused. Jesus says, "The water that I shall give him
shall be in him a well of water." And then again, "Out of his belly
shall flow rivers of living water."

What we receive, we impart and the Grace which works in us at the
first, before long works by us. Let us look at this foot-washing in
reference to ourselves and our duty and office in the midst of our
Brethren. We learn, first, that there will always be need of service in
the Church and always need of service in the particular direction of
promoting purity. The Apostles were 12 strong men–surely they did not
require a servant! Yes, they did–they must have a servant! They

could not do without a servant and, therefore, their Lord supplied the
vacant place. And now that the Lord is gone, His Church still needs
servants and servants to wash feet, or else all will go amiss.

On earth the Church will never be so clean that it will have no need of
foot-washing. The Church will never be able to dispense with purifying
service till the Lord shall come. You, my Brother and Sister Christian,
may never expect to join a Church where there will be nothing for you
to do–do not even desire such a position of idleness! We shall never
get among a community so pure that we shall see no faults in our
Brethren and never shall we, ourselves, be so good that they will see
no faults in us! Therefore let us render and receive a happy, mutual
service in the Church by which the sanctification of one and all will
be promoted. In those words, "If I then, your Lord and Master, have
washed your feet; you also ought to wash one another's feet," our Lord
speaks as though He would have us reckon upon acting as servants for
the benefit of each other. Let us cheerfully accept the position!

We see, next, that we are not to advocate the abrogation of such
service, or pretend that we have reached a point at which we can
dispense with it. The stoic would say, "Washing feet? What is the good
of it? What need of washing a man's feet? If he needs it, let him wash
them himself. The first law of Nature is self-love–let every man see
to it himself. What have I to do with my Brother's feet? Let him wash
his own. What has he to do with my feet? Let him mind his own
business." That is anti-Christianity! Christianity says, "I am willing
that others should help me to be holy and I am also willing to help
others to the same end. I am so imperfect that I am willing that
anybody should point out my faults and rebuke me for them. And I am so
anxious that my Brother should be holy that I will lovingly help him to
conquer sin."

Sometimes it is more humbling to have your own feet washed than to wash
other people's and, therefore, sometimes our pride says, "You shall
never wash my feet." Yet it must be so and pride must sit still like a
child and be both washed and wiped. Again, I perceive that to many it
is easy to stoop to the poor, but hard to yield to their equals in
estate or in ability. I know those who will do a thousand things for a
poor man, but they would not do the same service to those of their own
rank. You say, "As for that poor soul, I do not mind conceding many
points to him, but this other man will crow over me if I yield to his
weakness and he will expect me to do it again! And so I may be thought
to be a person of no spirit who can easily be put upon and made a
general hack."

That also is the speech of anti-Christianity. True Christianity impels
us to render and to accept that service which is mutual among true
saints. He who kindly reminds me of my faults helps me to be
better–let me not be angry with him, but value him for his
faithfulness. On the other hand, I must never hint at a failing in a
Brother unless I believe that he will be the better for it and even
then I must do it gently, for I am not to scald my Brethren's feet, but
to use cool, sparkling, living water in the washing of them. Refining
by fire is God's work–refreshing with water is ours. We are to rebuke
in love, not in wrath! We are to wipe as well as wet, to comfort as
well as correct.

In the world they criticize–that is the business of the public press
and it is very much the business of private circles. Hear how gossips
say, "Do you see that spot? What a terrible walk that man must have had
this morning–look at his feet! He has been very much in the mire, as
you can see, for there are the traces upon him." That is the world's
way. Christ's way is very different. He says nothing but takes the
basin and begins to wash away the stain. Do not judge and condemn, but
seek the restoration and the improvement of the erring. Say to your
faulty Brother, "I am very anxious if I may take away your spots. I
would not wish to point them out if I did not feel that I should
thereby help you to get rid of

them."

I fear that many professors follow the world's way and indulge in what
we call gossip, which is usually slander and misrepresentation, or, in
other words, lying! The best of men may have to endure this, but it is
a great pity it should be so. Why will people find pleasure in throwing
dirty water over their neighbors? Do you make yourself any better by
blackening others? Do you expect to rise by pulling others down? Scorn
such attempts! An ambition which suggests such evil means is only
worthy of a fiend. O you who truly love your Lord, cease from cruel
witticisms and spend your strength in humble and loving washings of
your Brothers and Sisters feet and so shall we all become happier,
because more like our Lord.

This foot-washing among disciples should be done very cheerfully.
Nobody asked the Master to bring the basin–no one would have thought
of such a thing! It was His own heart of love that made Him do it, out
of spontaneous affection for those whom He had chosen. Let us also be
ready to perform any office for our Brethren, however lowly. If there
is a position in the Church where the worker will have to toil hard and
get no thanks for it, take it and be pleased with it! If

you can perform a service which few will ever seek to do, themselves,
or appreciate when performed by others, yet occupy it with holy
delight! Covet humble work and when you get it, be content to continue
in it. There is no great rush after the lowest places–you will rob no
one by seeking them!

The first place we must have an election for and poll the whole
community–but for the very lowest there is no great
ambition–therefore select such a place and while you will escape envy,
you will also gain a quiet conscience. If we were more thoroughly
Christ's, we should cheerfully and voluntarily push ourselves into the
places of self-sacrifice, counting it our chief honor to serve God and
the Church in ways which are obscure and despised, because in so doing
we shall be saved from the Pharisaic spirit which desires the praise of
man. When we do anything for Christ's people, not only should we do it
cheerfully, but thoroughly. How well our Lord took up the Servant's
place! He disrobed Himself until He stood prepared for His task in much
the same undress as an attendant at the Turkish baths who takes off all
his upper garments.

Our Lord was ready to do His work. He put off all that would hinder
Him, for He meant real washing and not a mere form. When you are going
to serve your Brethren, do it heartily! Give your Lord zealous and
earnest service! Strip to your shirt sleeves, if need be, to serve
Christ and His people. Do not attempt to play the fine gentleman–is it
not far nobler to be a real Christian? Observe how each point of our
Lord's procedure is marked by the Evangelist. "He rose from supper and
laid aside His garments; and took a towel and girded Himself. After
that He poured water into a basin, and began to wash the disciples'
feet, and to wipe them with the towel with which He was girded."

He might have left them to wipe themselves, but, no, He must finish His
love work! "He wiped them with the towel with which He was girded."
Whenever you serve a Brother or Sister for Christ's sake, do it
thoroughly. Begin it heartily, go on with it steadfastly and do not
leave off till the deed is done! If anything is to be done slovenly,
let it be something which is done for you! But Jesus and His people
must have the best which our ability can render. Give the saints of God
the pick and choice of your productions–if you wash their feet, wash
them well! The foot of the meanest servant of Christ is more honorable
than the head of the greatest emperor that ever wore a diadem! It will
be seen in eternity to be a greater honor to have performed the most
menial service for a true child of God than to have been honored and
decorated with stars and garters in the service of the mightiest
monarch. Lay yourselves out for thorough service of your Lord in His
people and try to be always doing this.

I feel quite sure of my ground in having said that this foot-washing
was meant to be a type of what our Lord is always doing, because He
puts it thus–"If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet;
you also ought to wash one another's feet." Evidently the inference
would be, "If I did this but once, you ought to wash one another's feet
once." But since the moral is, "You ought always to wash one another's
feet," the doctrine is that, in effect, our Lord is always washing the
feet of His people. Let us carry out the lesson and be always in a
servant's attitude among our fellow disciples. Let us always be on
bended knee, with the basin and the towel near at hand! Let us always
be willing to relieve those who are in need, to restore those who
stumble, to reclaim those who wander and to edify and perfect all the
body of Christ as far as our ability will permit. Be it ours to promote
the holiness of our entire fellow Christians at all times!

You say it is the pastor's business to look after the Church. I know it
is, but the true pastor's wisdom is to set the members of the Church
looking after one another! "Bear you one another's burdens and so
fulfill the Law of Christ." In my own case, the pastorate of one person
over 5,000 members is ridiculous unless it is exercised by impressing
all the members with the necessity, the duty, the privilege of mutual
oversight–each one seeking to do good to the other according as he has
opportunity.

Let this mind be in you, which is also in Christ Jesus who washed His
disciples' feet. Love one another, I implore you and in honor prefer
one another. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also
on the things of others. Let brotherly love continue and always so live
that when your Master looks down upon you He may joy and rejoice in
you, as I trust He does this day. May this, our beloved Church, be for
many a year a pattern of unity and peace within and of strength and
activity without, so that a witness may be borne for pure and undefiled
religion and a model set up in which shall be seen the handiwork of the
Spirit who creates love in the hearts of the saints!

Little children, love one another. Amen.

[This sermon was originally titled, "The Teaching of the Foot-Washing.]
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Number 1500, Or Lifting Up the Bronze Serpent