YE ARE NOT ALL CLEAN
By Pastor G. Reckart, Sr.
Passover 2008 Message
John 13:10-15
Jesus saith to him He that is washed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all.
For he knew who should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean.
So after he had washed their feet, and had taken 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.
Jesus and the Apostles were celebrating the old Passover in Jerusalem in an upper room. After the Passover supper was completed, Jesus arose and laid aside his garments and girded himself with a towel. The poured water into a bason and began to wash the feet of the Apostles. When he came to Peter, he objected to Jesus washing his feet. Jesus told Peter that if he washed him not, he had no part with him (John 13:8). Peter did not want to be excluded from among the Apostles and he did not want his ministry to come to an end. So he looked at Jesus and said: "not my feet only, but also my hands and my head."
Then Jesus gave the lesson above about being clean wherein he indicated one of them was not clean!
According to the Laws of Moses there were many different kinds of ritual washings for purification and cleanliness. Passover was a special religious observance and required each person to make special preparations. Washing of hands before supper was a requirement. It was believed that during the course of the day a person might with their hands come in contact with unclean and evil or sinful things unknowingly. So they washed their hands to sanctify themselves from handling or touching any unclean thing. This special care was given to all the items that would be eaten that evening. The whole event was to be kosher. By kosher it is meant free of any and all uncleanness or defilement. To be clean for the evening of Passover meant a person was totally kosher, clean!
The unleavened bread was kosher;
The five cups of wine were kosher;
The bitter herbs were kosher;
The roast lamb was kosher;
Those who assembled were separated from the world unto this feast and they also were to be kosher.
Passover that is not totally and fully kosher is a celebration that is not Biblical.
Into this sacred feast of joy came one man. He no doubt washed his hands. He perhaps had clean clothes on for the evening. But he had just come from the Temple where he was given blood money to betray Jesus. We know it was blood money because when he tried to take it back the temple leaders said it was not acceptable to take this money and put it back into the treasury (Matthew 27:6). The money was considered profane, unclean, unholy, and tainted with evil. But here we have Judas at the Passover supper with his money bag and his 30 pieces of silver. He was not kosher by any stretch of the imagination. He was unclean. Did Judas get his feet washed or did he leave the Passover supper before this event occured?
According to the text in John 13:30 Judas left the kosher supper after he took the sop. This indicates he was not there when Jesus washed feet.
Ye are not all clean!
What does foot washing have to do with whether a person is clean (kosher) or not?
First, submitting to having your feet washed indicates you are kosher and clean spiritually for the Lord's Passover.
Second, the remaining eleveen Apostles whose feet were washed, were kosher and clean for the feast.
Third, if Jesus washed not their feet they would have no part with him. So footwashing signified the seal of being kosher (clean) within this purification event. What Jesus did was bring the eleveen into a unity of cleanness that Judas would NEVER obtain. He departed from the holy feast and went straight to hell. His rebellion, his subversive spirit as a traitor, his attitude of having disrespect for Jesus, his selfish goal of personal importance: all pointed to his unclean soul. He was not kosher for Passover. He was not kosher for anything of God. This is why Jesus said it would be better if a man was never born then to betray him.
Ye are not all clean! What a horrible and terrible statement. Someone would never be clean for all eternity. And this means they cannot go to heaven to the New Jerusalem, because only the kosher, the clean, can enter therein. Shut out for all eternity because of a choice to be unlcean.
May we all come kosher to the Lord's Passover feast this April 20, 2008.
Let there be no one among us who like Judas departed and was condemned to be unclean for all eternity.
This Feast is a glorious time to come into unity.
May the Lord bless your Passover on April 20, 2008
May we all be clean!
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