washed

Opening Prayer: Lord, enfold me in the depths of your heart; and there hold me, refine, purge, and set me on fire, raise me aloft, until my own self knows utter annihilation. ~Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

Scripture: John 13:1-17

Journal: What is your response to the offer of Jesus to wash you?  Do you really believe you are in need of it?  Do you really believe that if you do not let him wash you, you can have no part with him?  Will you let Jesus wash you today?  And will you then help in the process of others being washed as well?

Reflection: “Jesus answered, ‘Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.’”(John 13:8, NIV)  

     A good friend of mine used to say, “You can come to Jesus with dirty feet, but you can’t stay that way.”  Which is, or course, the message of the cross.  We need washing, and we cannot do it ourselves.  Only Jesus can make us clean, we just have to be willing to let him wash us.

     I’m not quite sure why we, like Peter, would resist or refuse such an offer.  Who knows?  Maybe we don’t think we really need it.  Or maybe we think we are simply too far gone, our sin is too dirty and too awful, to ever come fully clean.  Maybe our pride and our self-sufficiency will simply not allow us to be in such a position of need.  Or maybe we just don’t think our sin is that big a deal.

     Whatever the reason, we must take Jesus up on his offer to wash us.  For if we do not, we can have no part with him.  A holy God simply cannot and will not tolerate our unholiness.  The beautiful part is that he gives us his own.  By washing us, Jesus makes us clean, he pronounces us holy once again.  That is the beauty of Holy Week.  That is the beauty of the gospel.  Will you let Jesus wash you this day?

Prayer

Closing Prayer:  Wash me clean, Lord Jesus, for only then will I be truly clean.  Only then can I join in the life of the Holy Trinity.  And only then can I be a part of others being washed in your blood as well.  Amen.