Jesus washed His disciples’ feet. We take note of that because although He was and is the Master, He plainly said that He came not to be served, but to serve (Matthew 20: 28). Humility through servant-leadership is what He dramatically showed in the foot-washing episode.

Moreover, He told us that we’re to follow His example of humility; not just with the ordinance of foot-washing, but in our everyday interactions with others, motivated and guided by a lowliness of heart and mind. While that teaching clearly comes through, I think there is another lesson too. It’s in the words of Jesus that was a response to Peter’s reluctance to having his feet washed by Jesus:

“If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me. He who has bathed needs only to wash his feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.” John 13: 8, 10.

I’ve been perplexed a long time over the “completely clean, but feet need washing” part. I think I’ve finally untangled it, but I’ve got to say that I don’t think of my conclusion as a surety. In fact, I may be reading into what’s written, rather than drawing from it. But for what it’s worth, here’s what I’ve come to hear from Jesus’ response.

Jesus said that all except one of the disciples were clean. The one who was unclean was Judas. It was Judas’ spiritual condition that Jesus was referencing. So when Jesus declared the others clean, it comes across to me that He was referring to their spiritual condition too. Their cleanliness was that of being deemed completely innocent, having been credited with and covered by Christ’s righteousness. Their cleanliness was justified by their faith in Jesus.

We believers also share in the disciples’ spiritual cleanliness, having been bathed in Justification. However, like the disciples, our inside makeup – the heart, mind, character – needs a continual washing. Because of that, I sense that our inside makeup can be compared to our feet. After all, our feet are associated with traveling, and as we move throughout this world’s culture, we find that it is our inside makeup that is constantly exposed to the dirt of this world.

In other words, though justifiably clean in our spiritual condition of imputed, covered righteousness; the physical state of our hearts, minds, and characters continually need to be washed by an impartation of righteousness. That is done by the Holy Spirit through the “washing of water by the Word” (Ephesians 5: 26).

So, along with representing humility and servant-hood, my conclusion is that the  washing of the feet ceremony may also be symbolic of the life-long process called sanctification.