Jesus: The Soul Cleanser

The Soul Cleanser – by Sheldon Bass "No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." John 13:8 NIV I might have responded the same way Peter did. In my teen years I attended an old fashioned tent revival where there was foot washing going on. The preacher’s wife was a very elegant looking lady. When I saw her getting ready to wash the feet of a dirty man from off the street, that didn’t seem right to me. I tried to stop her. “I’ll do it. “ I said. But she insisted on doing it. What a glorious testimony to the love of God! It’s even more powerful to picture Jesus performing this act of love. Imagine, the Creator of the cosmos washing His disciple’s feet. What an ultimate example of humility and servant-hood! But as usual, there’s layers of truth to Jesus’ lessons. Peter later understood. Jesus was saying that He is the only way to get clean on the inside. His blood is the only means of washing our sins away. “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.” Nobody can come to the Father except through Jesus. It’s only through the righteousness of Christ that we are made fit to come before God. We must have Christ’s righteousness, which is received by faith in Jesus alone.  After a long hard day of working outdoors, it’s quite refreshing to bathe and get all clean again. But being cleansed on the inside is an even greater exhilaration. Such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. —1 Corinthians 6:11