April 3, 2026

When I was the student pastor at White Oak’s Colerain Campus several years ago, I led our high school ministry on an annual summer mission trip. As the years went on, I developed a desire to see our teens spiritually formed through the process of the trip planning and preparation and not just go on the trip itself. One of the things I required for each trip participant was that they memorized a passage of Scripture in the preceding months leading up to the trip. One year, I had the team memorize John 13:1-17. Go ahead and take a couple minutes to read it now.

It was just before the Passover Festival. Jesus knew that the hour had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end.

² The evening meal was in progress, and the devil had already prompted Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot, to betray Jesus. ³ Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; ⁴ so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. ⁵ After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him.

⁶ He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”

⁷ Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”

⁸ “No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”

Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.”

⁹ “Then, Lord,” Simon Peter replied, “not just my feet but my hands and my head as well!”

¹⁰ Jesus answered, “Those who have had a bath need only to wash their feet; their whole body is clean. And you are clean, though not every one of you.” ¹¹ For he knew who was going to betray him, and that was why he said not every one was clean.

¹² When he had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. ¹³ “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. ¹⁴ Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. ¹⁵ I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you. ¹⁶ Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. ¹⁷ Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.

Jesus said and did many things during the last week of his life. But this is how he spends some of his last moments with his disciples. The washing of feet was the dirtiest, lowest job for any household slave. There were rules that didn’t allow a fellow Jewish servant to wash feet (that job should be left to a Gentile servant). People walked miles in sandals everywhere they went in Jesus’s day and culture. By the end of the day, their feet would be caked with muck, dirt, sweat, and anything that was on the road (like animal feces). This was a humiliating job.

John says that Jesus’s motivation was simple: He loved his disciples to the end. He would now show them the full extent of his love (v.1). Jesus was about to cleanse the dirtiest part of his disciples. He did this out of extreme love. He didn’t just show love, Jesus embodied love itself.

No one has ever loved you like Jesus. Even the closest people in your life have at times looked on you with anger, disdain, or disappointment. Jesus never has. He never will. His love for you is so intense, he was willing to suffer two agonies on the cross. One, he would bear the full weight of humanity’s sin. All the rage and punishment our sin deserved from God, Jesus took it. Two, Jesus experienced full separation from the Father. The agony of those realities broke Jesus’s spirit. Again, no one has ever loved you like Jesus.

Before you think about what you should do and how you can lead a life of servanthood and sacrificial love (washing another’s feet), sit today in the full knowledge of the humiliation and agony Jesus faced for you. Let that drive you to your knees in worship, gratitude, and thanksgiving. Let the full weight of his love for you pour over you and cleanse you.

Have a beautiful and meaningful Easter weekend!

Nathan

Nathan Hinkle

Lead Pastor

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