Dusty Roads - 4/2/2023

Last week we talked about dirty feet, and this week we are talking about the dusty roads that created those dirty feet. When invited to someone’s house for dinner, we typically make sure we have taken time to get ready. In the same way, it was customary to bathe before going to a feast. However, the dusty roads would gather around the sandaled feet of those guests as they walked. Before dinner, a servant would often wash the feet of the guest. It wasn’t that they were dirty, but they had the dust of the earth on their feet. In John 13:10, Jesus says, “He who has bathed needs only to wash His feet, but is completely clean; and you are clean, but not all of you.”

Jesus uses the washing of feet as a symbolic metaphor for our lives. We each receive a bath through our initial faith and trust in Jesus. We are clean when we surrender to Him as our Lord and Savior. However, living in a world that creates a lot of dust, we must let Jesus wash our feet often. We must allow Jesus to do what only He can do. It was with false humility that Peter protested his feet to be washed, but Peter’s heart was to have his portion with Jesus, so he surrendered. Although not all had taken that initial bath and therefore were not clean. Judas did not protest Jesus washing his feet, yet he was not clean, not because Jesus didn’t give Him the same invitation, but because his heart would not surrender to Jesus’ cleansing influence. His dusty feet were a representation of his heart. We all walk dusty roads, which create dirty feet. The question is will we let Jesus wash our feet?