Wash/Be Washed or Die.

I've mentioned before that I am doing a study by Beth Moore, entitled A Woman's Heart, God's Dwelling Place:  An In-depth Study of the Old Testament Tabernacle.  I am finishing up week 4 of 10, and while I still cannot decide with certainty if I really like the style of the study, I am learning a lot and I really enjoy that I am reading all over the Bible and that I have a guide for what to do each day.  It's been nice.  If anyone has any suggestions for other authors who do this kind of daily study (something that would take between 30-60 minutes each day), I would love to explore a bit.

So today some things caught my attention.  A while back, while preparing for Passover, I read about how Jesus washed the feet of the disciples.  I always kinda understood that as a demonstration of servanthood... and it is for sure.  But it seems like there's a bit more to it than that that the Jewish people would have understood.  

Today I read in Exodus about the washbasin used between the Tent of Meeting and the Altar.  It was made from the polished brass/bronze mirrors (1 Cor. 11:28) the women workers had donated as a freewill offering for the building of the Tabernacle and was for Aaron and his sons to wash their hands and feet in.  The verse (Exodus 30:19-20) reads:  Aaron and his sons will wash their hands and feet there.  They must wash with water whenever they go into the Tabernacle to appear before the Lord and when they approach the altar to burn up their special gifts to the Lord-- or they will die!

If you read in John 13, you find the story of Jesus telling the disciples that in order to be part of what he's doing, they need to let him wash their feet, and then go and do likewise.  AND that it will be clear what he's doing later on.  Later we read about the blood and the water coming out of his side as he dies on the cross...  which coincides with the blood from the altar and the water from the washbasin...  An interesting sidenote is that with his last breath, he says "It is finished," which according to Hebrew writings is what the priests would call out to the people when a sacrifice was made.  

Gosh, I really feel like I can't go all the way into this or I would be penning a book... There is so much God's word has to say about washing, being clean, letting Jesus make us holy, etc.  Perhaps I shouldn't have started this without being able to finish it neatly...

I guess the biggest thing I got out of my reading today is the need for us to ALLOW Jesus to wash our feet, make us pure, to get under that cleansing stream of blood and water that was offered freely.  We didn't have to put our hands on the lambs head as in the O.T. sacrifices... God did that for us and took our guilt on himself.

AND that we need to wash each other's feet, because that's what he did for us.  I have a vague idea of what that looks like.  I think maybe I'll look at this a bit more in depth in time.  Jesus washed the disciples feet, something they normally would have done for themselves as an act of servanthood... However on a much deeper level, he was offering himself as a sacrifice, that they didn't have to offer sacrifices for themselves anymore...  Can we do that for each other?  I think we can.  I think we can wash each other with The Word...  We can sacrifice ourselves to really love someone...  

I love that God's Word is so simple... and yet a mystery.  It keeps me humble, and keeps me hungry.  

P.S.  Something else that just occurred to me... there is a flow of water and blood associated with birth.  Just a thought, something to ponder...