Sabbath Devotional :: He Came, Not to Judge, but to Save

“Jesus Washing the Feet of his Disciples” by Albert Edelfelt, courtesy National Museum Stockholm.

Last week, at a Relief Society activity on mental health, I found myself asking an expert what we are supposed to do with warranted but overwhelming sadness. As I mentioned how difficult it is lately to be even remotely aware of the news without feeling a deep sense of mourning, I noticed other women around the room nodding their heads in agreement. Our expert provided some good tips about the importance of self-care and then moved on to the next question.

Throughout the rest of the week, I have been thinking about how I could apply her tips while also trying to manage a very hectic week, attend to my family responsibilities, and prepare a sacrament meeting talk on creating a Christ-centered home. To be honest, it hasn’t been going very well!

But then my preparations led me to a talk my dad and I had written together a few years ago that brought things into focus for me.

The talk was about understanding our part in the atonement of Jesus Christ, and it focused on the account of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples at the last supper.

The Joseph Smith translation of John 13 reads:

6. Then cometh he to Simon Peter; and Peter saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet?
7. Jesus answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt know hereafter.
8. Peter saith unto him, Thou needest not to wash my feet. Jesus answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me.
9. Simon Peter saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head.
10. Jesus saith to him, He that has washed his hands and his head, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit; and ye are clean, but not all.

It’s easy to imagine that Peter thought the task of washing his feet was beneath Jesus — a task normally relegated to servants. And when you think about feet, especially feet that had walked dusty paths in open sandals, it’s easy to imagine that they would be pretty dirty and maybe even a source of some embarrassment. It’s as if feet represent the part of us that is farthest from us, our dirtiest or most neglected part — the farthest to reach, so to speak.

Yet, it’s as if Christ is saying to Peter and to us, “Give me the worst you’ve got.”

The Atonement can cleanse and heal it all. That’s what the Atonement is for — all the parts of us that are most abused or neglected, the least desirable, the farthest from who we really are and who we want to be. Christ can cleanse those parts, heal those heartaches, change those traits — if we let Him. In fact, it is the only way.

When Peter finally gets it, his response is to insist that Jesus wash his hands and head, too. But Jesus declines, explaining in the last verse that “He that has washed his hands and his head, needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit.” In other words, it is acceptable that Peter has washed his own hands and head, and now Christ is prepared to complete the process so he will be “clean every whit.”

This washing seems to be the final preparatory step for Peter’s next experience on the holy ground of the Garden of Gethsemane. Yet, he almost turned that blessing away. I realize now, as I think back on the past week, that like Peter, we so often get it backward. It’s easy and natural to seek divine guidance for the spiritual things in our lives and then be too embarrassed by the dinginess of the heavy, temporal burdens.

But those are the parts only Christ can cleanse. He came, not to judge, but to save.