I was at a leadership meeting at my church earlier today, when out of nowhere, foot washing basins were brought in! I groaned so loudly inside, I'm sure everyone heard it and just thought someone was very hungry. Immediately I begin to look for a way to escape, glancing about like a caged cat. People begin to go up to the front while I hang back in the safety of the pews, like a bear in the depths of it's cave. I am genuinely not sure about what is going on, or why. I know Jesus washed his disciples feet, but I don't know why He did, maybe their feet smelled that bad. So I thumb over to John 13 where the whole foot washing thing occurred. I immediately became a huge fan of Peter. He asks Jesus, "Lord, are you going to wash my feet?" That was the same question I was going to ask everyone around me, and if they had asked me then to either wash or be washed I would have said "NO!" as politely as possible. But I continued reading, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me." Jesus pulls out the trump card. That got my attention, and I continued reading. "You do not realize now what I am doing, but later you will understand." Jesus pulls out the trump yet again. Those words hit me, could there be something in this bizarre ritual of Pedilavium(fancy smancy for foot washing) that I really don't understand?
I look up, some of the Pedilavium is dying down. People are praying, and I decide to wash someone's feet. I go and grab my father, and wash his feet. It was such an odd experience. I would have cried just a little if I had allowed myself to. There weren't spiritual fireworks and the Shekinah didn't fall on me or anything but it was powerful in it's own way. Once I was done, I thought I had gotten away. I had washed someone's feet, and done my duty! That was when an elder in the church came and began to wash my feet. Having my feet washed by someone was very much more humiliating than washing someone else's feet. He wasn't supposed to wash my feet, no was supposed to wash my feet but me! See no feet, smell no feet, unless they are your own and hopefully you are just looking at them. I began to understand Pedilavium as I performed it. I didn't totally get it, but I went home and studied it a little bit and realized what it was.
The washing of feet is a way of graphically illustrating how we should behave one toward the other; with humility and love. When I realized this I was embarrassed and shamed that i don't even treat my friends this way. Jesus washed the disciples feet, but none of them had done so before, neither to him nor to their companions(at least I haven't encountered it in my readings). The closest we see is when Mary wash Jesus' feet with perfume in chapter 12. One disciple objected, but he was also taking money from their treasury-he wanted the money for himself. So we see the seeds of betrayal sown when Judas revealed his inner state when he mocked the humble attitude of a believer. Let this be a warning when we find ourselves prideful, let us remember where that got Judas. As easy as it is to look at the disciples in the text and laugh at them and high five each other as we chuckle about how much they "don't get it", we should think and wonder if truly we understand it. I personally did not want to wash anyone's feet or have anyone wash mine, I doubt that pride was the prime motivator in this, but I know it was somewhere in the scrum. I was so thoroughly humbled by having my feet washed. At least for now, God grant me humility to love others.
I don't believe that washing feet is something you must do, although the primitive church did practice it(II Timothy 5:10). However, we must have that same humility and love about us. It is easier to wash the grossest feet in the world with 5 ft long toenails, than it is to achieve that sort of love one for the other. Washing feet is a radical practice that while very weird, and very gross, offers us a reminder of a lovingly concerned attitude and the sacrifice it requires to be more than mere concern and step over into love.
"Christ is not instituting an ordinance of foot washing, but is showing an example of humility. He does not command us to perform this act, but to acquire the attitude that this activity displays." -Liberty Bible Commentary
I will finish this post with an important distinction that are not necessary for you to read unless you wish(like the rest of this blog!). Some interpret Jesus and Peter's dialogue in verse 8("No," said Peter, "you shall never wash my feet." Jesus answered, "Unless I wash you, you have no part with me.") saying that unless he washes you, you have no part in him as meaning that foot washing is salvific in some way. This is not the case, rather, we must see that Jesus was referring to washing "his overall humiliation and death"1 while Peter is "still thinking about physical washing."2 Having your feet washed(or not) will not effect you salvation. If you wonder why I included this, The True Jesus Church views foot washing as a sacrament, which it is not. Judas had his feet washed as well, I'm not sure if he will experience heaven.
1.Liberty Bible Commentary on John 13:8-9
2.Ibid
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