THE KING’S ■BUSINESS
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the Lord told him that he did not under stand His action now but would hereafter, that even then he set his opinion up against his Lord’s and said, "Thou shalt never wash my. feet.” It is the part of true humility to allow our Lord to do as He will, in the recognition of the fact that not only is He infinitely greater than we, but that He is infinitely wiser, too. It is not humility, but pride, to refuse any grace the Lord wishes to bestow upon us. The second thing to note about Peter is his failure to understand the meaning of our Lord’s acts (v. 7). The third thing to note is his failure to ponder the meaning of Jesus’ words (v. 9). The fourth thing to note is his talking when he ought to have been thinking (vs. 7, 8, 9). The fifth thing to note is his promise of future under standing (v. 7)i What 'Peter did not understand then, he understands perfectly now. And the sixth thing to note is his prompt and eager repentance (v. 9). We are all very much like poor Peter at the points at which he failed. It would be well for us if we were more like him in his stronger points as they came out after Pentecost. We too, in a false sense of humility,, are often ready to protest against the Lord’s bestowing upon us the fullness of grace which He wishes to bestow upon us, but of which we feel utterly unworthy, and indeed of which we are unworthy, but it is not humility, but pride, to refuse grace. Whenever the Lord does anything which we cannot understand, instead of protest ing against, or questioning His action, we should remember the limitations of our present knowledge and rest assured that what we do not understand now we shall understand some day. How much there is the Lord does in His dealings with us which we cannot understand now, but we •do not need to understand, we shall “know hereafter.” The only one who has any part with Christ is the one whom Christ washes (v. 8). Has He washed you? How vividly and with what self-evident truth fulness the whole story brings out the unre flecting impetuosity of Peter’s character.
vs. 10, 11. "Jesus saith to him, He that is washed (bathed) needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. For He knew he (him that) should betray Him, (;) therefore said He) Ye are not all clean.” Consider the deep significance in our Lord’s words, “He-that is bathed needeth not save to .wash his feet.” The thought is that -the man who is regenerated may contract a measure of external defilement from contact with the world, just as a man who has taken a bath and whose body as a whole is clean, being covered from defile ment, may get dust on his sandalled feet, but such an one does not need to be regen erated again, but simply to- wash off the surface dirt and eliminate the defilement by simply washing his feet. This we do by the , study of the Word. We do not need to be transformed anew-in the inner depths of our heart, but the external defile ment that adheres to us by association with the world, needs to be washed away each day when we retire from the world to the secret closet ip the study of the Word of God and prayer. There is also deep sig nificance in pur Lord’s statement, “Ye are clean, but not all.” “Clean” here evi- j dently means, from the connection, regen erate, thoroughly clean. There was one member of the apostolic company that was never regenerated, and that was Judas. Our Lord here pronounces all other mem bers of the apostolic company regenerate men. It is oftentimes held that the Apos tles were not regenerated until Pentecost, but this passage tells us distinctly that they were. But there was one unregen erate man in the company, and the Lord “knew him.” He was never deceived about' Judas. He loved Judas, and though He knew he would not respond to His efforts, nevertheless, He was untiring in His efforts to bring him to repentance. Here is a lesson for us. As there was one member of the apostolic company, that was unregenerate, and as the Lord suffered him to continue a member of that company, though He knew he was unregenerate, we
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