On the night that Jesus was betrayed, he washed his disciples feet. With this powerful act of service and submission, Jesus powerfully symbolized the atonement that he would soon complete on the cross.
Peter at first responded by declaring that he would never allow Jesus to wash his feet. (John 13:8). Then, when told ” “Unless I wash you, you have no part with Me,” Peter went to the opposite extreme and requested that Jesus wash “not only my feet, but my hands and my head as well!”
Jesus offered a profound correction, “Jesus told him, ‘Whoever has already bathed needs only to wash his feet, and he will be completely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.’” Peter failed to realize that with Jesus’s one act, he was already “completely clean.”
When I was a Latter-day Saint I interpreted the “though not all of you” to be a reminder of our imperfections and the need for ongoing striving for perfection before we can be completely clean. But that was actually not Jesus’s point. John clarified that Jesus said this because “He knew who would betray Him. That is why He said, ‘Not all of you are clean.’” In other words, Jesus was clarifying that he knew that one of the twelve was not actually clean at all, and had never truly been changed by the grace of Christ. But for those who were his true disciples, Jesus pronounced them “completely clean” without qualifications.
Later that evening, likely as they walked from the upper room to the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus reiterated this point: “You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. ” (John 15:3-4)
Jesus wanted his disciples to understand that they were already clean not because of the works that they had done in his service or because of their diligence or righteousness, but because of his word and because they had put their trust in Jesus and were in him.
As I heard this verse read in Church today, I could not help but contrast this with my belief in a Latter-day Saint that being fully cleansed from the “blood and sins of this generation” depended on me being valiant and faithful in my service of Jesus. I had to serve and endure in order to then receive absolution and complete cleansing.
I wrote about this during Easter last year: “When we are saved, we are washed with the spirit and born again. After this birth, we are truly a new creation free from the sins of this and any other generation. This healing and cleaning is given generously to all who are in Christ, not only to those who have proven their loyalty. It is a free gift. It makes no sense to talk about a partial or incomplete cleansing here. Jesus does not save someone part way. As Jesus explained elsewhere, ‘if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.’ If we are in Christ we are made ‘completely clean’ John 13:10.”
When we come to Jesus we are “already clean.” We do not need to prove our worth to him to merit full cleansing and forgiveness. All we need to do is trust in him and abide in him.