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1 Peter and Jesus #8 – 1 Peter 5:5
Clothed yourself with humility (1 Peter 5:5). The specific word, egkomboomai (clothed) means to tie around oneself like an apron. It is only used once in the NT. That means it was never used by Jesus. And yet the idea of clothing ourselves with humility is an echo back to an event in which Peter was prominently featured; the washing of the disciples feet (Jn.13). In that upper room, Jesus took a towel and clothed (diazōnnumi) himself with it (Jn.13:4). Another word for towel is apron. So Jesus puts on an apron out of humility; and Peter says we should put on, like someone would put on an apron, humility.
One lesson from that upper room and Jesus’ interaction with Peter is that sometimes we are acting out of a sense of pride when we think we are acting in humility. But humility means to subject our will to another, even when our proper sense of self says otherwise. So is Jesus washing Peter’s feet the scene behind these words?
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