⁸ Peter said to Him, “Never shall You wash my feet!” Jesus answered him, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me.”

Stark relief, that’s what Peter provides to the Upper Room story. Almost the foil. In his honest, though impetuous reaction, he provides Jesus with opportunity to further elucidate His message. This Passover Supper was not going well, in his mind. It would be one thing for Peter to have accepted one of the other disciples’ washing his feet, establishing that he was the greater among them, something over which the disciples can be found arguing in the Upper Room (Luke 22:24). Foot washing was something that a lesser person would do for the greater person. But it was entirely another thing for Jesus, who was clearly greater than all of them, to wash Peter’s feet. The most prominent of the disciples would not stand for this.

Peter’s flat out refusal, in no uncertain terms (using the strongest possible negative construction in the Greek language), has the force of “absolutely not!” He wouldn’t even hear of it. He could not imagine a scenario in which he would allow Jesus to wash his feet. While we may quietly chide Peter that he would soon have to eat his words, do we not do the same when we quietly refuse the Lord’s leading in our lives? We know we should trust Him when we begin to sink in the waters of discouragement and difficulty.

Jesus responds quickly and tersely. This was not a time to equivocate or mollify. Although not as harsh as when He met Peter’s resistance to going to Jerusalem with, “Get behind me Satan” (Matt 16:23), Jesus adroitly retorts that this washing of Peter’s feet was absolutely necessary, non-negotiable for fellowship with Christ. Literally, without this, Peter would have “no part” with Christ, that is, no sharing with Christ. He is not talking about the washing of regeneration taught elsewhere in Scripture and soon alluded to in this story. It has to do with fellowship.

Whatever the meaning (as will be seen shortly), the essential thing at this juncture is that Jesus washing Peter’s feet was absolutely essential, non-negotiable. If Peter had won the argument, he would have ironically lost fellowship with the Lord. Our fellowship with Christ flows out of His serving us. And it is fellowship with Him that is the most import thing. One is reminded that Paul made the right decision when faced with suffering. Rather than refuse it, he desired to experience the fellowship of sharing in Christ’s suffering, in the midst of his own suffering (Phil 3:10)

Lord, as humbling as it is, I thank You for being my servant. Knowing that humbles my heart and enflames in me the desire to be a servant to others.