Jesus does something extraordinarily simple and yet profound
in our gospel reading tonight. Jesus
gets up from the table, wraps a towel around his waist, and begins to wash the
disciples feet. I’m not sure about you,
but other than my own feet and the feet of my son, I had never washed anyone
else’s feet until I came to a service on Maunday Thursday. I remember attending the first service,
watching as people came forward and both washed and had their feet washed. Sitting in my seat, I swore I would never
allow someone to wash my feet. Feet are
a very private intimate part of our bodies, something we cover up when we are
in public. And yet, here was a whole
group of people exposing their feet and allowing a stranger to touch and wash
them. I wondered what was I missing? What would allow someone to become so
vulnerable as to expose their feet?
It wasn’t until I saw a movie called The Second Chance, that
I finally understood the significance of Jesus foot washing. In the movie, the main character is a pastor
of an inner-city church with lots of neighborhood issues. He feels that he is too good to be their pastor. In the pivotal scene, he realizes his error
and gets down and washes the feet of the church janitor, a man that is learning
disabled. The janitor protests while the
pastor cries. The pastor had finally
realized his wrongs. I was in tears watching it. The importance of foot washing finally dawned
on me.
NT Wright describes it like this:
nothing could have prepared me for the sense of holy
intimacy that went with the simple but profound action of washing other
people’s feet. Feet are very basic things: not pretty, not ugly, just basic.
Down to earth, you might say. Washing them is both very mundane (we all have to
wash our feet, and we do it so regularly we hardly think about it) and very
close and personal. Washing between someone else’s toes is an intimate action.
It is a moment of tenderness[1]
The holy intimacy of a relationship
based on love.
Last year, as my mother lie unconscious and dying, I found
myself sitting at the foot of her bed massaging her feet. It was something I did unconsciously. An act
of love for a woman that had given so much of herself to our family. Rubbing her feet was an act of love and
intimacy for someone that had nothing she was able to give back. It was the final loving l act I could provide
her.
In many ways, Jesus washing the disciples feet was also his
final act of love. Tonight, we remind
ourselves that it is his grace and love which unites us one to another and into
the family of God. It is his love which binds us forever. It is our work to
follow his example, to get down on our knees as servants, to let go of
ourselves and our egos, and to become vulnerable for and to Christ.
[1] Tom
Wright, John for Everyone,
Part 2: Chapters 11-21 (London: Society for Promoting Christian
Knowledge, 2004), 42–43.
