The incident when the Lord Jesus washed His disciples’ feet is full of important lessons which the Lord wanted His disciples and us to learn. One lesson is emphasized by the Lord’s words to Peter: “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.” This means you cannot have fellowship with the Lord if you insist on having dirty feet. The feet refer to our daily walk in this defiled and defiling world. These feet need to be washed if we are to have fellowship with our holy God.

Our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. We cannot walk carelessly and enjoy such fellowship; so we need to have our feet cleansed. In his zeal, Peter answered, “Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” (v. 9). The Lord then tells him that he who has been washed all over needs only to have his feet washed. This proves that He is speaking of spiritual washing. The believer has been washed all over when he received Christ as his Savior. This does not need to be repeated every time he gets defiled by sin. But he repeatedly needs to have his feet cleansed, his walk with the Lord restored. This is done by the water of the Word (Eph. 5:25–27).

But the Lord also wanted us to have the privilege of washing each other’s feet, and to do it the same way He did. He wants us to lay aside our garments, which means to put off pride, and to take a lowly place, so as not to look down on our brethren. We must also be careful not to wash with boiling water, nor with ice cold water, but by wisdom from above, and with tender love towards those whose feet we want to wash. We should do this so that it may be to His glory and to the blessing of the saints.