Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet (John 13:14).
Jesus washing the disciples’ feet would have been a major shock in that culture. Washing feet was generally reserved for the lowest servant in the household. For Jesus, the Master, to get on his knees, don a towel, and wash the twenty-four feet of the disciples would have created an awkward situation for all of those assembled that night. Peter is the one who finally expresses this awkwardness. “You shall never wash my feet!” Peter’s shock and dismay come out in his words. This simply did not feel right. And the disciples did not know what to say…what to do… But inside they felt like Jesus needed to get up and be served not stoop to such a low level and wash their dirty feet.
But Jesus wanted to teach His disciples a simple, unforgettable truth….following Him involves stooping down to wash dirty feet. And not primarily in a literal sense. I don’t think Jesus was interested in creating an ongoing hygienic practice as much as He was trying to teach the disciples to humble themselves enough to get involved in the dirty aspects of servanthood. “Washing one another’s feet” seems to be a graphic way of saying, “Love others enough that you are willing to see the dirtiest aspects of their lives and not turn away.”
Hey, let’s face it, we are all sinners by grace. We all have dirty feet. We all have aspects of our lives that we don’t want others to see. Why? Because deep down we are ashamed…and we are scared…scared that if others knew our weakness, our anxiety, our insecurity, our selfishness, our greed, our lust, our past, our anger, our grief, our pain…they would turn away. So we cover our stinky feet with nice white socks and brand new Nikes and hope no one notices the smell.
But part of being the body of Christ is learning, like Jesus, to wash another’s dirty feet…and learning, like Peter, to let another person see and wash our dirty feet. Both are essential. I must learn to be vulnerable and I must learn to be humble…vulnerable enough to let others see my weakness and sin, humble enough to see the weaknesses and sins of others and be moved toward compassion and not condemnation.
Only when we learn to wash each other’s feet do we grow in the love of Jesus. And only as we grow in Jesus’ love does the world see the difference that Christianity makes in the human heart. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another (John 13:35).