This is the fourth meditation in a series on the feet of Jesus. We’ve spent some time each Wednesday night thinking about the feet of Jesus. The first night we meditated on the passage in Isaiah that says, “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news!” And we contemplated Jesus’ feet walking over the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea as he traveled from village to village.
The next week we put ourselves in the place of the tenth leper who was healed of his leprosy and then returned to fall at the feet of Jesus to thank him and give praise to God. We imagined ourselves there holding on to those beautiful feet of Jesus that brought us such healing.
Then last week we remembered the story of the woman who washed Jesus’ feet with her tears and dried them with her hair. We thought about how much forgiveness she felt as she washed those beautiful feet of Jesus.
Tonight we’re going to get a little different perspective. Rather than meditate on the feet of Jesus, we’re going to meditate on our own feet being washed by Jesus. The Biblical passage is in John chapter 13, and the scene is the last supper that Jesus will eat on earth.
The disciples have gathered before the Passover, and they are eating a meal together. According to John, it was not the Passover meal, but it was undoubtedly a very meaningful meal for Jesus and his disciples. They were in Jerusalem, and the tension was high in the city because of the things Jesus was saying. The disciples knew that the authorities did not look kindly upon them, and they were undoubtedly concerned as they reclined for their meal.
John says that the devil has already put it into the heart of Judas to betray Jesus. So even at this meal of comradeship and solidarity between Jesus and his disciples, there’s an element of distrust and evil intent. Jesus doesn’t let it bother him, but he simply loves his disciples and he loves them to the very end.
During the supper, Jesus gets up from the table and does something very surprising. He takes off his outer robe and he wraps a towel around his waist. Then he gets a basin and fills it with water from a jug.
He kneels at the feet of one of the disciples and starts to wash his feet. The disciples are in shock at first. “Why is he doing this,” they wonder. Normally the job of washing feet is given to the lowliest of servants and it’s something you don’t even acknowledge.
To have your feet washed is a good thing, because in a land where the streets are always dusty and sandals are open-toed, your feet are almost always gritty and dusty. So to have your feet washed is a welcome and pleasant luxury. But to have your Lord and Teacher doing it? Well, it seems all wrong!
When Jesus comes to Peter, he finally speaks up, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” he asks in a stunned voice. Jesus says, You don’t know what I’m doing now, but you’ll understand later on.” Peter says, “Lord, you must never wash my feet!” He’s just saying what the other disciples are thinking, that to let Jesus do such a thing is a terrible insult and injury to Jesus’ reputation. What if other people found out?
But Jesus says to Peter, “Unless I wash your feet, you will have no share with me.” In other words, this foot washing is at the core of their relationship. Jesus is willing to make it a test of their friendship.
Peter blurts out, “Not only my feet, then, but also my head and my hands!” Peter would never let something like this come between him and Jesus.
Jesus washes the feet of all the disciples, then he puts up the towel and puts his robe back on. He says to the disciples, “Do you know what I’ve just done to you? You call me Lord and Teacher, and that is right, for so I am. And if I, your Teacher and Lord, wash your feet, then you also must wash one another’s feet. What I’ve done is to set an example for you to follow. You must be servants to one another.”
What Jesus does for them at this last supper is to teach them a lesson they will never forget. For ever after, they will look back and remember that night and all that happened – the foot washing, the speech Jesus gave saying goodbye to them, the betrayal by Judas, the arrest and Peter’s denial of Jesus.
Out of all those things, they remember the foot washing because it was Jesus’ last tender act of love for them before he was taken away.
Washing someone’s feet is a very personal and intimate thing. If you’ve ever had someone wash your feet, you know how revealing it feels. Usually we keep our feet encased in shoes and socks, and we don’t let anyone see them, much less touch them. It seems too personal, too intimate.
Maybe you’ve seen that oil painting by Mary Cassatt around 1900 of a young mother washing the feet of her little girl. The mother has on a long dress and she’s holding the child on her lap with the child’s feet in a basin of water. The little girl’s feet are chubby and round, and you can almost feel the mother’s hand on her feet.
I remember washing my sons’ feet when they were babies, and how much I learned by being a father. I learned that these little people needed to be provided for. They needed to be fed and protected and they needed to be kept clean. That was something I had to learn when I became a father.
I remember hearing a story on NPR about a four star general. It was a profile of his life at the Pentagon, and how much responsibility he carried and the decisions he had to make every day. The reporter followed him home after work and interviewed him and his wife about their home life. He said that when he came home from work, he had to put aside his role as a general and become a husband. If he came home and the garbage needed to be taken out, he would take out the garbage. He said that he discovered that if he didn’t do that, his ego would become unmanageable. Taking out the garbage kept him human. It’s the same thing with washing someone’s feet.
Perhaps you’ve participated in a foot washing ceremony on Maundy Thursday. I’ve done it may times, and I’m always impressed by the difference in people’s feet. Some feet are long and elegant and muscular. Some feet are puffy and swollen and tender. Some feet seem misshapen and lumpy and uncomfortable. Everyone’s feet are different, and when you wash them you sense the personality of that person through their feet.
So let’s imagine that Jesus is washing our feet. Close your eyes and imagine Jesus kneeling at your feet. “Let me wash your feet,” he says gently. Your feet are dirty after walking through dusty streets, and you feel embarrassed to have Jesus do this. You protest, but he insists, and you give in.
He takes your feet in his hands and he pours warm water over your feet. Then he takes his hands and rubs your feet, carefully washing off all the dirt and grime. His hands run along the bottom of your foot which is so sensitive, and you feel how gentle his hands are. His fingers run between your toes, making every part clean.
Then he takes the towel and wraps it around your feet. The towel is warm and dry, and it massages your foot to a new level of energy. As he finishes both your feet, he steps back and he says to you, “I’ve washed your feet. Now will you wash others’ feet?”
And you say, “Yes, Lord, I will. I will do to others what you did to me.”
Doesn’t it feel good to have clean feet? Doesn’t it feel refreshing? Doesn’t it feel like a new start, a new beginning? Having your feet washed by Jesus is like feeling brand new again, cleansed, forgiven.
Jesus has given us this sacrament of foot washing as a way of teaching us that we are to care for other people. The church is supposed to be a place where people care for each other. In the church we remember that we are human, and we remember that every person deserves care and support.
In our baptismal vows we’re asked, “Will you seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving your neighbor as yourself? And we say, “I will, with God’s help.” When we care for another person, it’s as though we are caring for Christ. Jesus has washed our feet, now we wash his feet.
Questions for Lenten Meditation Small Groups
1. Share a time when you washed another person’s feet.
2. How do you feel when someone touches your feet?
3. What feelings did you have as you imagined Jesus washing your feet?
4. Why do you think Jesus chose foot washing as the last lesson to give the disciples?
5. Share a time when you felt cared for in the church.
62. A Prayer attributed to St. Francis (BCP, p. 833)
Concluding Prayer, said together
Lord, make us instruments of your peace. Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is discord, union; where there is doubt, faith; where
there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy. Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.
