Humility is the working out of the supreme ethic of the Heaven. The sovereign, holy King of the universe washed feet, and was later crucified, like only the lowliest would. Funnily enough, this is hard for many to accept. There’s a popular idea today, even among some Christians, that Jesus was too meek and should have encouraged more power-hungry, glory-seeking behavior. They think that kind of degrading humility is repulsive, and Jesus should have been more self-focused. Can you imagine trying to critique the character of a holy God by the standards of a sinful world?
Give Peter some credit though—he had good intentions. He wanted Jesus to be glorified. But he couldn’t imagine that happening through humble means. What he failed to realize was that if Jesus didn’t humble himself for us, there could be no salvation for us. It turns out that the idea that Jesus shouldn’t have humbled himself is connected to the idea that we have the power to save ourselves! But in fact we are stained sinners, completely dependent on God’s grace for cleansing. As Jesus told Peter, unless he steps down from Heaven to cleanse us, we can have no part with him.
What a grace indeed that Christ has made us clean! In the ultimate act of love, God washed our stains away to make us righteous and fit for the kingdom of God. This is what Romans 1:16 was talking about when it said God’s righteousness was revealed “from faith, for faith.” Jesus faithfully, humbly obeyed his Father’s will, so that we may faithfully become people of the same humility and obedience. Perhaps we should respond like Peter did, wanting to be covered head to toe in the cleansing salvation of Christ Jesus!
So what does it look like to live with our former sinful ways cleansed out of us? It means we are dead to sin and alive to God, adopted as his daughters and sons, constantly fleeing whatever sin still lingers. Jesus said we now need only wash our feet because we still always need more sanctifying growth, and yet the main work has been done. Jesus died to cleanse us, and he is still cleansing us today, so that we may belong entirely to him. Praise God for his world-defying, world-transforming humility!
