"Peter said to Him, "You shall never... !"
John 13:8
Can you believe Peter?? This is God he's talking to! And he's telling Him not to do something!
I'll say this: Peter had chutzpah.
Now, if the point was just that we shouldn't tell God what to do or not do, we wouldn't need to go any further, and we wouldn't need to explore the rest of that sentence.
But as you might know, Peter's protest had to do with Jesus washing his feet. His first response to Jesus' actions was, "Lord, are You washing my feet?" After that came, "You shall never wash my feet!"
And when Jesus told him, "If I do not wash you, you have no part with Me," then Peter went with, "Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!"
Three different responses to what Jesus was doing. But none of them were right.
If Peter was so incensed at the idea of Jesus washing his feet; if he felt it was backwards or inappropriate, then why hadn't he washed Jesus' feet upon their arrival?
And why hadn't Peter even washed his own feet? It was the tradition in that culture, and it was needed.
We're awfully quick to criticize, sometimes, what other people are doing, while we're doing nothing. Or while we're doing nothing but criticizing.
We have no idea what God has called others to. We don't know what obedience looks like for them. Criticism is easy. Action is hard.
And don't second-guess God.
~ "For I have given you an example,
that you should do as I have done" ~
John 13:15
~
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