John 13:6-17

            In Jesus we see humility based in confidence in His Father.  In Peter we see the false humility so evident in ourselves.  He sounds so humble.
          “Oh no, Jesus, you cannot wash my feet.  You are too important; I am so unimportant.  And Lord, if you must wash my feet then wash all of me.”
          So religious.  So humble.  But this is not humility.  This is the height of arrogance.  This is the Christian who knows more and better than his Lord.  He cannot trust God and wait for the later explanation (v7).  He must have more than what the Master offers (v9).
          It sounds so pious to hear someone cry out to God for more good things.  This is the God who says He has withheld nothing from them (Rom. 8:32).  But they must have more love, more power, more of You in my life.  They must have more blessings in addition to every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ (Eph. 1:3).
          A study of the great prayers of the New Testament will show that the need is not to get more of or from God.  Instead the need is to have a spirit to know what He as already given to us (Eph. 1:15-23; 3:14-21; Phil. 1:9-11; Col. 1:9-14).  He has given the Holy Spirit for this very reason:  that we might know what He has freely given to the believer (1 Cor. 2:12).
          Thus Peter is being called on to trust his Lord in this.  He must know that he will be given exactly what he needs, no more and no less.  And Peter must have the submissive heart to receive what is given.
          To miss this is to miss what is fundamental in this passage.  Jesus is not only teaching submission to Himself as their Lord.  He is teaching submission to each other (v14).  The former they desire to do.  The latter they have shown no inclination to learn.  And yet this mutual submission is the Lord’s example to them.  And it is a key to their happiness (v17).
          Do we trust God in this?  Happiness and obedience is lacking for the Christian who cannot wash the feet of his brother.  Even worse is the Christian who will not submit himself so as to receive the Lord’s blessing through that same brother.
          Do you find yourself suggesting to God that He has been holding out on you?  Or that His plan for you is somehow defective?  Remember that Christ has provided abundantly for us in His absence.  And our access to that abundance is through humility, a confident trust in the Sovereign God.