The Commentary | AdventAI

International Tract and Missionary Society · Oakland, California · Aug 5, 1886

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 12, No. 30.

The Commentary.

NOTES ON THE INTERNATIONAL LESSON.

Jesus Teaching Humility.

IN the lesson for to-day Jesus taught humility, by an example which is to be imitated by his followers. Said he, "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Yet as plain as are the words of the Master, not one in a thousand of those who profess to be his disciples, follow the example given by him. They do not do as he did. In this neglect, or refusal, there is a serious slighting of both the example and the command of the Lord Jesus. This example was given by Jesus to be followed by doing as he did, and not by doing something else,—"that ye should do as I have done to you." That is what the example means, and if it is not followed in the way that he did it, it is not followed at all.

THE common explanation of the fact of the washing of feet is, that, as in those days the people wore sandals, it was the part of the host to wash the feet of his guests. But the Bible itself is the best evidence of the customs of Bible times, and the Bible shows that such an explanation is not the truth. When the angels came to Abraham, he said: "Let a little water, I pray you, be fetched, and wash your feet." Gen. 18: 1-5. When two of the same ones went on to Sodom, Lot "rose up to meet them." "And he said, Behold now, my lords, turn in, I pray you, into your servant's house, and tarry all night, and wash your feet, and ye shall rise up early, and go on your ways." Gen. 19: 1, 2. When Abraham's servant went to the city of Nahor to obtain a wife for his master's son, and came to the house of Bethuel, Laban said: "Come in, thou blessed of the Lord; wherefore standest thou without? for I have prepared the house, and room for the camels. And the man came into the house; and he ungirded his camels, and gave straw and provender for the camels, and water to wash his feet, and the men's feet that were with him." Gen. 24: 31, 32. When Joseph's brethren went down to Egypt, "The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their asses provender." Gen. 43: 24.

In the days of the Judges, a Levite with his servant and concubine, was journeying from Bethlehem-Judah to the side of Mount Ephraim, and came to Gibeah, and the old man whom he met said: "Peace be with thee; howsoever, let all thy wants lie upon me; only lodge not in the street. So he brought him into his house, and gave provender unto the asses; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink." Judges 19: 20, 21. In the song of Solomon it is said: "I have put off my coat; how shall I put it on? I have washed my feet; how shall I defile them?" chap. 5: 3. When Jesus sat at meat in the house of Simon the Pharisee, he did not say to Simon, "Thou didst not wash my feet; but he did say, 'Thou gavest me no water for my feet.' Luke 7: 44. While the woman who had many sins had even washed his feet with tears, and wiped them with the hairs of her head. And the very contrast which Jesus makes in this instance shows that for one person to wash another's feet was entirely out of the usual order. In any case this token of love of the penitent Mary could not be construed as an act of hospitality. See the whole narrative in Luke 7: 36-50.

THE truth is, then, that while in all Bible times there are instances of persons giving to others water with which they washed their own feet, there is not in all the Bible a single instance of one person's washing another's feet, except that of Jesus in this lesson, and of those who followed his example as thus given. This conclusion is strengthened by the fact that Peter did not know why the Lord should wash their feet; for Jesus said, "What I do thou knowest not now." If such was the common practice in those days, it is most singular that Peter did not know about it. The fact is, there was no such custom, and that the act of Jesus was entirely out of the known order. We believe that Jesus spoke the truth when he said "What I do thou knowest not now."

YET He said "But thou shalt know hereafter." "So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord; and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." Here, then, is the Lord's own explanation of an act of which they did not know the meaning. And that explanation is, "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet." Why? Because "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you."

NOT AS Mr. Peloubet says in his "Select Notes on the International Lessons:" "He that serves others; he that does the humblest service in order to relieve their wants, or cleanse their souls from sin; he that . . . seeks out the poor, the sick, the obscure, the unpopular, to be their friend and helper,—he does to them as Christ did to the disciples." But did not Christ do that to everybody? Had he not been doing all these things before the eyes of his disciples, and had he not been teaching them all these things for three years and a half? In the temple, in the presence of a multitude, Jesus, in words spoken directly to his disciples, could exalt the poor widow and her two mites above all the rich of Jerusalem; he could go to the house of Zaccheus the publican, and of Simon the leper, and eat meat there; he could lead his disciples away over to the borders of Tyre and Sidon, apparently for the sole purpose of helping the poor woman of Canaan whose daughter was grievously vexed with a devil; he could show his gracious favor to the poor Mary "whose sins were many;" he could feed thousands of the hungry, twice, because "he had compassion on them;" he could cleanse the lepers, cause the lame to walk, the blind to see, the deaf to hear; he could bring from the dead "the only son of his mother, and she a widow," because "he had compassion on her;" he could heal the sick numbering thousands, all day, till he was wearied out, day after day; all these things, and more he could do year in and year out, and could send forth his disciples themselves to do them all; and yet, according to Mr. Peloubet, after all this, the disciples still lacked an example of Jesus, "serving others," and of his seeking out "the poor, the sick, the obscure, the unpopular, to be their friend and helper, and to relieve their wants!" And then when he does give them such an example, lo, he does it by washing their feet! And "he who seeks out the poor, the sick, the obscure, the unpopular, to be their friend and helper,—he does to them as Christ did to his disciples!" He who does these things does as Christ did to all; but to do these things is not to do as Christ did to his disciples, nor to follow his example, when he washed their feet.

HERE are the words of Christ: 1. "I have washed your feet." 2. "I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you." 3. "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet." Therefore it is certain that no man follows the example of Christ as he gave it on this occasion, unless he washes the feet of a disciple of Christ.

HERE are the words of Christ again: "Ye also ought to wash one another's feet." "Ye should do as I have done to you." "If ye know these things, happy [blessed] are ye if ye do them." Ought is the old English past sense of owe and means "under obligation to pay." Should is the imperative of shall and means "you must, you are bound to." "To owe, to be under obligation to do a thing." "OUGHT, SHOULD—Both words imply obligation, but ought is the stronger." Obligation—"That which constitutes legal or moral duty." See Skeat's Etymological Dictionary, and Webster. Therefore if Christ's words mean anything at all, they mean that the washing of one another's feet is a duty which the disciples of Christ owe to one another and to him. And so long as any of His disciples fail to do this, they fail to do their whole duty as his disciples. Nor will the performance of some other duty meet the obligation to perform this duty. To visit the sick is a duty. To seek out the poor and the obscure, to be their friend and helper,

is a duty, whether they be disciples or not. Christ taught all this all his life as a teacher; but till that night, the last one before his death, he never taught them nor anybody else, that they should wash anybody's feet. But there in the last fast-fleeting hours of his earthly life, just before dark Gethsemane, in his last tender meeting with his disciples, he gave this example of humility, and said to his beloved disciples, 'Ye ought to wash one another's feet,' 'Ye should do it.' Reader, if you are a disciple of Christ, and have not done this, why don't you do it? He says, 'Blessed are ye if ye do.'

WE know that this duty is refused, and its obligation bitterly resented, by many and many of those who profess to be his disciples. But we feel fully assured that if there were anywhere any single expression of Christ such as that, Ye ought to keep holy the first day of the week; or, Ye should keep the first day of the week as Sabbath; or, Happy are ye if ye keep the first day of the week as the Lord's day;—we are perfectly certain that were there any single saying such as any one of these, there could not be found in this world a solitary person who keeps Sunday who would not cite it as of sufficient authority to settle all dispute that might arise on that question. And it would be sufficient authority for such service too. Then when all three of these expressions—'Ye ought to;' 'Ye should do;' 'Happy are ye if ye do;'—are used with direct reference to the washing of feet, why is it that there are among those who profess to be his disciples, any at all who will not do this duty so repeatedly laid upon them? But no, a thing which neither Christ nor his apostles ever mentioned or showed by any example—the keeping of the first day of the week—is exalted and clung to as though it were the chiefest token of allegiance to Christ: while this duty, having for its obligation his example and his thrice expressed injunction, is neglected, despised, and condemned, by those for whom the rite was instituted. 'Brethren, these things ought not so to be.' We assure you that whenever we find the words of Christ saying 'ye ought to,' concerning anything, that thing we are going to do. And when his word to his disciples concerning the washing of one another's feet, is, Ye ought to do it, Ye should do it, and Happy are ye if ye do it, we are going to do it.

BUT it may be asked is there any further notice of this in the writings of the New Testament? There is. In 1 Tim. 5:3-16, Paul gives directions concerning the duty of the Church toward widows. And of those who are to be taken into the charge of the Church, he says: 'Let not a widow be taken into the number under threescore years old, having been the wife of one man, well reported of for good works; if she have brought up children, if she have lodged strangers, if she have washed the saints' feet, if she have relieved the afflicted, if she have diligently followed every good work.' Verses 9, 10. This shows that the washing of the saints' feet was practiced in the Church as late as A. D. 65; that it was one of the things that a disciple of Christ must do to have the favor of the Church; and that it was to continue in the Church; because it was a part of the directions which Timothy was to follow in setting in order the things in the churches, and it was one of the things which he was to 'commit to faithful men who should be able to teach others also.' 2 Tim. 2:2. And it is not according to the will of Christ that this example should be neglected by his followers to-day. 'Why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?' Luke 6:46. It also shows that Mr. Peloubet's teaching before quoted is wrong; for they were to be received, if they had lodged strangers, if they had relieved the afflicted, and if they had washed the saints' feet. Relieving the afflicted covers all of Mr. Peloubet's examples; but that is not to wash the saints' feet, nor is it to do, either in letter or in spirit, as Christ did when he washed the disciples' feet.