Me & Peter

I was listening to preaching on a Christian radio station this lunch-time while running errands, and the preacher talked about Jesus' washing of the disciples feet. It made me think about how I would probably have acted like Peter in the situation.

You know the story, after a while, Jesus gets up and begins to wash His disciples feet in an act of humble service. When He reaches Peter's feet, Peter tells Him not to was his feet. Jesus, doing this act to demonstrate how that if even the Lord will humble Himself to serve others, so ought we.

Well, Peter (like me!) wanted nothing to do with this. Now, I don't really know his intentions, but if I were in the situation, this is what I'd be thinking.

First of all, he really didn't want to wash anyone else's feet. That would have required work. It would have made him get up and then even humble himself to his peers. What would they think of him? Would they stop seeing him as the important apostle that he was - one of the "elite 3"?

Second, he (or, at least what I would be doing) was willing to let his feet stay dirty so he could just keep eating dinner. That would be due to my laziness. "Yeah, my feet are dirty... oh well." Now, Jesus explains that there's a spiritual significance to it all too. How many times might we notice that parts of us are dirty with the things of the world, yet we're too lazy to do anything about it! Forget helping others with it, we won't even get ourselves clean.

Third, when Jesus, the Lord, came to wash his feet, he wanted nothing to do with it at first. I don't get it - why is it humbling for us to be served? Is it just because we don't want to show that we are dependent on others? Is it because we want people to think that we don't need anything, or that we're so good, that others can't even do anything to benefit it us? Peter didn't want his feet to be cleaned by Jesus. He could have done it himself if he wanted them clean, but he certainly didn't need someone else to do it for him --

It reminds me of a poem by Michael P. Johnson:

The prince of pride who’s of the night
Was once to Me a great delight
But pride took hold with sin’s desire
Now he awaits eternal fire

Ok, while I do like that poem, I hope you all recognize the joke of 3 points and a poem...

Just a thought...