Friday 14 August 2026

Psalm 102:18-28

Background
When the time had come for Jesus to leave his disciples in human terms, there was a time of dedication and commissioning for those who have been loyal to him since they had met. They sat at table together eating a meal. At the end Jesus rose and putting the towel round him moved to each of his friends in turn and began to ceremonially wash their feet despite protests from Peter and I am sure some of the others because having Jesus take on a servant's role and wash their feet involved a radical overturning of notions of leadership and authority. However, it was the time of commissioning. Jesus was sending them on to continue the work he had begun amongst them, and still Peter found it hard to understand what was happening. However, Jesus made it plain that he was wanting them to be clean to do his work.

The story of Jesus washing his disciples’ feet only appears in John’s Gospel and does not feature in the other three. The writer presents it as an act of love: Jesus, "having loved his own who were in the world…loved them to the end" (v. 1).  The phrase ‘to the end’ in the original language means both ‘completely, utterly, perfectly’ and ‘to the point of death’.

To Ponder:

• Does this mean that when we come to believe in Jesus as our Lord and saviour we should go through something which would show that we too had been washed clean?
• Do we perhaps miss out on such a ceremony when people make a true commitment as we often tend to use just words?

Prayer
Lord, when we come to faith, we often we make it a private commitment, but we would ask that you encourage us to demonstrate by our actions that we have truly changed our lives to follow the road you have placed before us. Amen.

Bible notes author: The Revd Pat Billsborrow
Pat came into ministry 39 years ago and has been a supernumerary for 20 years. She is happy to continue serving wherever she is needed.