In John:12 we witnessed Mary, the contemplative sister of Lazarus, anointing the feet of Jesus with a costly perfume which she no longer needed for her brother's corpse. In the next chapter of this gospel Jesus washes the feet of Judas knowing full well what was in Judas' heart.
A story is told along a simular vein about the great Rabbi Gamaliel, who was head of the Sanhedrin and defended the disciples ( Acts 5:34-40) and became an influential figure in later Judaism as well. At a banquet, he got up and served food and drink to several rabbis who were of much less stature than he, which shocked them. A debate ensued about whether the great rabbi could set aside his own honor and serve the others, with some initially rejecting his service, just as Peter rejected Jesus' offer to wash his feet. But then they considered how Abraham, who, even though he was the greatest of his generation, ran to serve what looked like three lowly wanderers (Gen. 18:8); and how God during the exodus from Egypt, walked in front of the Jewish people. (Ex. 13:21). Ordinarily a king would walk or ride in the rear of the party. Given these precidents they determined that Gamaliel could do table service for those of lesser stature.
Then there was Paul, a disciple of Gamaliel, who expounded on the humility of God in the very person of Jesus. “Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, although being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but rather made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! (Phillipians 2:5-11) There is a reflection of the incarnation and redemption of mankind in Jesus' washing of Judas' feet.
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