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...Why does Peter resist? It must be that Peter still doesn't understand the Way of Jesus. In Peter's eyes Jesus is Lord, Messiah, and King. Consequently, it makes no sense for Jesus to wash Peter's feet. It's humiliating. That's not the behavior of lords and kings.
Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. 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.
He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand.”
“No,” said Peter, “you shall never wash my feet.”
Peter doesn't want a Lord or King who washes feet. The same way he doesn't want a Lord or King who goes to the cross.
Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.And I wonder, has anything changed? Are Christians still rejecting a Lord and King who washes feet?
Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
Jesus is washing feet in the world. Jesus is serving the least of these in humiliating, ignominious ways.
And still his followers look on and say,
"No. That's not my Jesus."
