11. Pure and Clean: Washing Everything from Head to Toe
- Pure and Clean: Washing Everything from Head to Toe.
“After washing their feet, He put His robe on and returned to His place at the table. ‘Do you understand what I just did?’ Jesus said. ‘You’ve called me your Teacher and Lord, and you’re right, for that’s who I am. So if I’m your Teacher and Lord and have just washed your dirty feet, then you should follow the example that I’ve set for you and wash one another’s dirty feet. Now do for each other what I have just done for you. I speak to you a timeless truth: a servant is not superior to his master, nor is he who is sent greater than he who sent him. So now put into practice what I have done for you, and you will experience a life of happiness enriched with untold blessings.’” (John 13:12-17).
A Teachable Moment: Sometimes there is some overlap between related methods of teaching: object lessons, visual aids and demonstrations at times blend together. There are times when an object is used to demonstrate a principle. There are times when a visual object is used to teach a lesson. The momentous event of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples is an example of this sort of blending of methods. Jesus wanted to make sure His lesson was learned, and He did what He could to make it very clear.
Foot-Washing: A simple act of hospitality during this time in the Middle East; a lowly task usually given to a gentile slave, involving placing someone else’s dirty, smelly feet into a bowl of water and carefully cleansing those feet of all dirt, grime and sweat, then drying the feet with a clean towel; a common, menial act of service and humility; exercising the ministry of touch to the untouchable; the powerful sacrament of servanthood.
Imagine that we are in the Upper Room on Thursday night at the Last Supper. The Passion is starting in earnest. Jesus is just beginning to wash the dirty feet of each one of his disciples, including Judas. What was going through Christ’s mind as He lovingly washed the feet of the person who would soon betray Him? And what was Judas thinking as his dirty feet were being washed by the Man he was about to betray? Foot-washing was certainly the work of the nearest non-Jew, the lowliest house servant, not the Master, Messiah and King. No one else offered to do this menial, unsavory act of hospitality, so Jesus stepped right in. He took off his outer robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, filled a pitcher with water, and proceeded to wash everyone’s feet. This was undoubtedly very startling and confusing to the disciples. They have just enjoyed three years of miracles and spell-binding teachings. Certainly this was beneath Him! The Lord acting as a slave? No way. But Jesus, being the Eternal Teacher, wanted to provide a demonstration, an example of what He wanted His disciples to do after He has left this world. He wanted to perform this act to demonstrate the spirit in which to do their ministry in His name. He wants His followers to develop a heart-felt humility, a willingness to serve each other, and to serve mankind. He is saying… If I can be this humble, so can you. If I can put humility into practice like this, so can you. Jesus fleshes out this powerful visual aid so that His disciples realize there should be nothing beneath them, nothing too menial or dirty or basic. Christians are often called to do things in serving people that others are unwilling to do. This foot-washing was a sacred moment, and the Upper Room was indeed holy ground. Instead of a burning bush in a cave or a consuming fire on a mountaintop, we have a bowl of water and a clean towel in a rustic attic room. It seems only right and fitting that everyone had to take off their sandals.
“Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimate.” (Romans 12:16, NASB).
An Early-Church Sacrament. In the Orthodox Church, this foot-washing is a symbol of baptism, for after Peter is revolted by the thought of His Lord washing his feet and flatly refused it, Jesus says, “If I do not wash you, you have no part with me, and you can’t be a part of what I’m doing.” (v. 8). The cleansing water of the bowl symbolizes the cleansing, purifying power of Jesus’ Cross and Resurrection. Finally, stubborn Peter started getting the right idea when he said in v. 9, “not my feet only, but also my hands and my head!” In other words, Peter is proclaiming to Jesus that if this is the only way for him to be Christ’s partner, then wash all of him! Peter is saying… Wash every inch of me, Jesus, a full bath from head to toe! Referring to baptism once again, Jesus replied to Peter, “He whose whole body is bathed need only to wash his feet, but is completely clean.” Foot-washing has since become a sacramental act in the Church, a time when the physical mingles with the spiritual, when we are able to experience the spiritual power of tangible servanthood. Our consistent offering of repentance and confession may be viewed as periodic foot-washing, being cleansed by Christ, the dirt of our sins being washed away as we confess our way through a sinful world.
Kept Clean. When Jesus washed His disciples’ feet in John 13, Jesus made a striking remark, “Unless I wash you, you won’t belong to me and what I’m doing.” (13:8). Jesus is making a spiritual statement here, pointing to Holy Baptism, and that unless He has totally cleansed us, we are neither a follower of Him nor a part of what He is doing. Through accepting the Anointed One into one’s life, and believing in His death and resurrection, Jesus has fully cleansed His followers. They have taken the mikvah, the Jewish ritual bath for purification. As the Message translation puts it, “If you’ve had a bath in the morning, you only need your feet washed now and you’re clean from head to toe. My concern, you understand, is holiness, not hygiene.” (MSG). So those of us who have been purified through our Baptism in Jesus and our anointing in the Spirit continue to need for Him to keep washing our feet. We need to keep ourselves set apart for Him, to remain sacred and holy and pure as we live into Him and His purity. We need to keep ourselves clean, dedicated to God, set apart for Him through His foot washings of repentance, confession and living into the fullness of His Holy Spirit. For “God has called us to live holy lives, not impure lives.” (1 Thess. 4:7). When believers daily repent of our sins, humbly confess allegiance to the Anointed One, and surrender to the Holy Spirit, God is in effect washing our feet and keeping us sacred, holy and pure. Unless He continues to wash us, we will not grow in holiness.