Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-10-16
THE WASHING OF FEET.
LESSON III, FOURTH QUARTER, INTER-
NAT iONAL SERIES, OCT 10.

Commit Verses. 1917 - Golden Text.
Phil. II. 5-Commentary by the Rev. ID
NJ. Stearns.
Compiled from Lesson Helper Quarterly by
permission of II. 5. Hoffman. publisher. Phil.
adelphia.
|. "Now before the feast of the passover
when Jesus knew that His hour was come
that He should depart out of this world
unto the Father"
This is that passover concerning which
He had said that He heartily desired TO eat
it with them before He suffered duke xxi.
15). When we read of the passover we should
always think of the words, Christ our
passover is sacrificed for u.s. Il Cor. v, y
9. And supper being ended, the devil
having now put into the heart of Judas
I%scariot, Simon's son, to betray Him"
The revised version says during sup
per" AS to the character of Judas from
the very first see chapter vi, 20, Have not
! chosen you twelve, and one of you is a
devil2'
3. Jesus knowing that the Father had
given all things into His hands, and that
He was come from God and went to God
4. HE riseth from supper, and laid aside
His garments; and took a towel and girded
Himself"
In this and the following verse see a
seven fold action indicating it's complete
n@ss. Jesus could not do anything i'm
perfectly. The laying aside of His gar
ments reminds us of lsrael's high priest.
who on the day of atonement laid aside his
garments of glory and beauty that clothed
only in white linen he might 90 into the
holy of holes to make atonement for the
sins of the nation Qev XVI, ~ 1t also
suggests to us that Jesus laid aside the
glory which He had with the Father before
the world was that He might become our
atonemeut to cleanse us from all sin I'll
Cor. viii, Q; V, 2D.
5. after that He poureth water into a
basin, and began to wash the disciples feet,
and to wipe them with the towel where
with He was girded."
6. "Then cometh He to Simon Peter, and
Peter saith unto Him, Lord, dost thou
wash my feet?''
Z Jesus answere and said unto him,
What | do thou knowest not now; but
thou shalt know hereafter"
S. Peter saith unto Him, Thou shalt
never wash my feet"
This may seem like humility, but it is in
reality resisting the loving and all wise
Saviour. Rather should Peter have said.
"Be it unto me as Thou wilt" Let us be
entirely and cheerfully submissive to His
will in all things, desiring to learn thor
oughly whatever He desires to teach us.
never setting our will against His.
Jesus answered him, If | wash thee
not thou hast no part with Me-"
o. Simon Peter saith unto Him, Lord,
not my feet only, but also my hands and
my head"
10. Jesus saith unto him, He that is
washed needeth not save to wash his feet.
but is clean every whit"
When we receive Jesus as our Saviour we
are Immediately accepted in Him, and are
washed, justified and sanctified, complete
in Him tEph. i, 6, Z; | Cor. vi, II. Col. ii,
10Y, so that by His finished work we arc
made perfectly whole as to our standing
before God and acceptance with God. But
in reference to our state in this world and
our daily life, we are constantly liable to
contract defilement from without or be
come defiled by yielding to the sin that is
within us, and therefore need this constant
cleansing or washing of our feet as the part
that comes in contact with the earth. 1t is
the figure of one having bathed, but need
ing afterward to cleanse the feet.
~, II. And We are clean, but not all, For
He knew who should betray Him; there
fore said He, Ye are not all clean"
IL. 80 after He had washed their feet,
and had taken His garments, and was set
down again, He said unto them, Know ye
what | nave done to your"
"He is now about to make good His word
to Peter, Thou shalt know hereafter, or
after these things Verse y Teaching by
object lessons begun in Eden with the Tree
of Life, the cherubim and the flaming
sword. Israel was taught that Aaron was
the chosen of Goo by the rod that budded,
blossomed and bare fruit; and the nation
was taught holiness by the riband of blue
on the fringe of their garments. Ezekiel
commanded not to mourn for his wife was
a sign or object lesson to Israel, and now
Jesus has given His disciples something to
remember and put in practice.
10. "Ye call Me Master and Lord; and We
say well, for so | am"
IA. IF l., then, your Lord and Master,
have washed your feet, ye also ought to
wash one another's feet"
That we are not our own but bought
with a price is found in | Cor, vi, 10, 20
That Paul and Peter and James loved to
call themselves servants or bone slaves OF
Jesus is seen in Phil. /, l; Titus i, |; Jas
l, l., ii Pet. !, l, and that as servants OF
Christ we are to have the mind of Christ
is seen in our golden text, Phil. ii, 8.
Is, For ! have given you an example
that ye should do as | have lone to you"
We cannot be saved by trying to follow
His example, but being saved by His pre-
cious blood we can then by His spirit in
us follow His example, for He left us an
example that we should follow his steps
Il Pet. ii, 81. AS to this feet washing, We
may do it by admonishing each other OF
faults and sins. We may correct and
cleanse each other by the Word of God.
IL. Verify, verify, | say unto you, The
servant is not greater than his lord; neither
he that is sent greater b he that sem
him."
There are those who rebel against being
servants, and | know of at least one
preacher who teaches his people that nc
one should be the servant of another, bul
such is not the spirit of Christ. He
teaches us that "He that is greatest is TO b'
as the younger; and he that is chief as h,
that doth serve duke xxi, 26). He teache,
nlso that we as servants must not think t,
receive better treatment than He received
Chapter XIV, 20). We are to serve as the serv
ants of Christ, doing the will of God from
the heart (Eph. vi, %. Being made fire,
from sin II become servant to God, W,
are to ave our fruit unto holiness from
vi, 22).