To Make Something Clean, Make Something Else Dirty

I sure wish I knew who came up with this witty and profound statement. The more I think of it, the more I realize this applies in spiritual terms as well. We need to know the person who offers us cleansing from sin.

Jesus is the only one who can cleanse people from wickedness and change their lives for the better. Paul gave the reason for this exchange of spiritual filthiness in 2 Corinthians 5:21 (BBE). "For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him."

We all know the story of when Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. Those slow-witted men were arguing about which of them would be the greatest. In reference to baptism, Christ said in John 13:10 (BBE), "Jesus said to him, 'He who is bathed has need only to have his feet washed and then he is clean all over: and you, my disciples, are clean, but not all of you." Those last five words refer to Judas Iscariot.

But baptism doesn't make a person holy, as Peter explained with the example of Noah and his family being saved through the flood. We read in 2 Peter 3:21 (BBE), "And baptism, of which this is an image, now gives you salvation, not by washing clean the flesh, but by making you free from the sense of sin before God, through the coming again of Jesus Christ from the dead;"

As for foot washing, we need a spiritual sort since we walk through a filthy world and become soiled with sin. But Paul admonished in 2 Corinthians 7:1 (BBE), "Because God, then, will give us such rewards, dear brothers, let us make ourselves clean from all evil of flesh and spirit, and become completely holy in the fear of God.

So we can see that foot washing was not only the lowest job a first-century person could do but it's a spiritual image of asking for forgiveness from our inevitable lapses of love for Christ. I hope to add this to my next book called You Think You're Going to Heaven? God took sin so seriously that he sent Christ to pay for it on the cross. Shame on us if we don't take rebellion against the Lord seriously.

On Thursday, I'll explain about the ironic naming of a school for the blind and its namesake.