There is something in our culture about having to deal with feet. In the hierarchy of the medical community, podiatrists, foot doctors, are seen as being at or at least near the bottom. In the clothing industry, those who sell shoes have also been traditionally looked down on as being at the bottom of the selling hierarchy as well. In the ancient world, this wasn’t much different. It was a servant’s responsibility, which can also be read as a slave’s responsibility, to wash people’s feet. This task was seen as being so demeaning, that under Jewish law it was impermissible for a Jewish slave holder to have his slaves, if they were also Jewish, to wash his feet. Moreover, foot washing was simply not something done by anyone with power, money or authority.
While there were such things as paved streets in the Roman Empire, they were rare and would be found only in the bigger more affluent centers. In addition, foot wear consisted primarily of sandals, so between the dirt and waste from homes and from animals, people’s feet would become quite dirty. Imagine walking around in flip flops in your pasture or corral and you’ll begin to get an idea, only there would probably be more waste on the streets then you have in your yards. Understandably dealing with people’s feet and cleaning them would be relegated to those who are low on the social scale, and yet here is Jesus washing the feet of his disciples.
The foot washing in the gospel of John takes place, as we are told in the first line of today’s passage, when Jesus’ hour had come and as John prepares us for his passion story. In the synoptic gospels, that is Matthew, Mark and Luke, as Jesus prepares for his arrest, he and the disciples gather in the upper room for the last supper, where Jesus institutes what we celebrate as Holy Communion. In the synoptic gospels, this happens on the day of Passover. In John’s gospel, however, not only does the meal not take place on the day of Passover, but instead the day before, but Jesus also does not institute the practice that we celebrate as communion. While they are gathered together for a meal, Jesus does not say anything about the bread or the cup, but it is during the course of this meal that Jesus stops and washes the disciples’ feet.
There is no indication given as to why it is done during the meal, as foot washing would normally be done before the meal began, as guests entered the house as a sign of hospitality and welcome. Perhaps, as takes place in the synoptic gospels, James and John, and maybe other disciples, had been arguing about who is the greatest disciple, because they still don’t get it, and so Jesus wants to give them a visible demonstration of how much they don’t get it. But that is merely speculation because John does not tell us that or anything like that, and we can run into significant problems when we try and combine the gospel stories into one as if they all tell exactly the same thing, because they don’t.
Peter of course initially rejects Jesus’ attempt to wash his feet but then relents after Jesus replies that in order to have his share with Jesus he must allow Jesus to wash his feet, but Peter doesn’t truly understand what Jesus is doing. Peter wants the reward that he is promised for going along with the foot washing, and thinks that the cleansing that comes is related to the water. But Jesus message is much greater than that. To be unclean in this relationship is not to be unwashed. Peter does not need to be ritually cleaned, that is to have his entire body washed, instead he needs to be in relationship with Christ to accept what Christ has to offer him and to us. The water of the foot washing is not cleansing the way baptism is cleansing, which is what we are told because presumably Judas also has his feet washed.
But that is what the disciples don’t understand. Here is their leader, their teacher, their rabbi and someone that they understand to be the messiah putting himself on the ground and doing the work relegated to slaves. The garb and the position is that of a servant, so through this act Jesus is demeaning himself, lowering himself below his position, but, and this is one of the cruxes of this passage, the act of hospitality of cleansing their feet is granted only to the prerogative of the host. It is the host who makes the water for washing available and it is the host who makes the servant available for washing, but here Jesus is both host and slave, servant and master, first and last. The teacher or leader could and would expect this type of service from his followers towards him, which is why Peter is so taken aback, because here is Jesus flipping this on its head
It is Christ giving of himself. It is in fact a modeling of what will come on the cross. The verb that John uses when Jesus removes his clothes, is the same verb that is used when Jesus says he is going to lay down his life. The removal of clothing to be the servant, and the laying down of his life for our salvation are the same acts, they are linked. Jesus does not simple say, go out and serve, instead he says go out and give as I have given. We are told to pick up our cross and follow, and that comes with meaning and consequences.
One of my mentors was in a jewelry store one day looking at some crosses, and the sales clerk told her that crosses make great fashion statements, and some days that’s what it feels like. We have forgotten the power of the cross, as Paul says the cross is foolishness to those who don’t believe. There are even churches that have removed the cross from their sanctuaries to attract the unchurched in order to remove what they see as an obstacle for people becoming Christian. But to be a Christian is to claim the cross and to cling to it, we cannot be ashamed of it or to try and wish it away, it is at the heart of our faith. To proclaim Christ as our lord and savior, to pick up our cross means to be prepared to give ourselves sacrificially to the world, sometimes even to the point of death. To wear a cross is not a fashion statement, it is a proclamation to the world that we are in service to God and to the world, that we are picking up our cross daily and carrying it forward.
In the 1980s, Dale Parent was the head of the prison system for the state of Minnesota. As the state was facing severe budget shortfalls, it’s cyclical after all, he was told by the governor that he needed to cut a certain amount of money out of his personnel budget, but he would be the one to decide where the cuts would be made. As Dale agonized over this, and thought of all of the various ways it might be done, he finally came the conclusion that he was the one who should be let go. If his position was eliminated, along with all of the things that went with his position, and the work spread to the three highest people below him, then he wouldn’t have to lay anyone else off. The loss of his job would save everyone else their job, and so he sent his new budget to the governor and fired himself. Don’t we wish more executives might think that way? Dale sacrificed his own position for the sake of others, that is an example of servant leadership.
Being a disciple of Christ is not about being greater than or holier than thou, but instead about humbling ourselves, not only before God, but also before others. To be a disciple of Christ means being a servant to others while also being a leader for them. That is where the true difficulty lies in trying to be both servant and leader. How do we humble ourselves in order to serve others?
Sandra Schneiders has said in reflecting on this passage, that the problem lies in our relationship to the other and how we view them. “As long as we keep others in a relationship of neediness to us,” she says, “our self-esteem is validated, while they long for escape or rebellion.” As long as our relationships are based on power, authority and high and lower positions then we can never properly be servant leaders. Instead she says, it is when we see all those we help as a friend that we “subvert the obligation and the privilege of meeting the needs of others less privileged,” for she says “friendship is the one human relationship based on equality.” In many ways this returns us to the parable of the Good Samaritan.
In order to be in service to the world, just as Christ was and because of what Christ has done, then we need to view those we help, not as people who are below or subordinate to us, but instead as equals. We are not in service to the others, but instead we are in service with them. As Paul also tells us in his letter to the Philippians, Christ “humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death – even death on a cross,” and that is our example, and it is one of the great challenges of following Christ. Believing the right things is not enough. You must also act on those beliefs. That of course has been a common theme of this series. Being a disciple of Christ means not just accepting Christ’s salvific actions, but in return acting on those beliefs in the world. Jesus does not merely tell the disciples that they need to wash each other’s feet, he demonstrates the practice, and if Jesus can do it then there is no way they can claim that they are too good to return the favor for others, nor can we. This is where we must walk the walk as they say, for we must also follow the practice by humbly.
What we should also see in today’s passage is that not only are we told that we need to be out in the world as servant leaders, that is a response of accepting a relationship with Christ, but that we also need to take time to be taken care of ourselves. So let me illustrate this for you. Now the way we typically have viewed being in service to the world is that we get filled with the Holy Spirit and then we go out someplace and give everything out. And then we have to come back to church and be filled again, and then go dump ourselves again. But that’s not what we are being asked to do. Instead, we should be viewing God’s blessings and grace as always being with us so that they flow out of us into the world. We don’t need to be refilled because when we are accepting Christ’s actions for us, then we should always be overflowing with God’s grace and mercy and love so that it flows out from us to everyone with whom we come into contact.
It is not about having to dump ourselves onto others, or about having to be refilled, but instead about putting ourselves into positions in which God’s grace flows out of us onto others. I have said it before, and I will say it much more, John Wesley said that we are saved by grace, but the only appropriate response to accepting God’s saving actions on our behalf is to act on that in the world. That is what Jesus is telling peter and the other disciples and us. As one commentator said, “the foot washing reveals Jesus’ unfettered love for the disciples, and it is this love that holds the promise of new life for the disciples. The call for the disciples is to allow themselves to be ministered to in this way, to accept Jesus gesture of love fully” and I would add to act on that love, to model Christ for others.
We cannot separate the foot washing from the cross. It is the ultimate claim of servant leadership, it is the lens through which it must be viewed, a lens highlighted for us today through the receiving of communion a reminder of Christ’s offering for us. The cross is directly connected to the table and to the foot washing. The table is full of people in need of Jesus’ love and of God’s forgiveness. There is Peter, who doesn’t get it and will soon deny Jesus, there is Judas, the one who will soon betray him, there is James and John arguing over who will be the greatest and who say that they can drink of the same cup as Jesus, but then are unable to stay awake in the garden and keep watch, and all of the others who will all abandon Jesus in the dark of the night. And yet, there is Jesus, going around one by one and washing their feet. Leonora Tubbs Tisdale said, “We will watch in wonder as Jesus’ response to his inner circle that has disappointed him over and over and over again is not to chastise or scold or punish, but to take a towel and a basin of water and kneel to wash… each one in turn. We will remember that the Communion table is a place where we can come – time and time again – to have our own ugliness lovingly touched and washed clean by Jesus.”
By being washed clean, by accepting Jesus call and responding to the invitation, by breaking bread and sharing the cup together, we open ourselves up to respond in turn to a broken and hurting world, to pick up our crosses and to carry them forward to be both leaders and servants, to be open to the beloved community. In love for us, Christ laid down his life and we are called to be ready to do the same, to love one another as he has loved us. Foot washing is the act of humbling ourselves for others, of being in service to others who are in need, of being willing to do the little things that others don’t want to do, and these are the things which reveal us as being disciples of Christ. These are the challenges of being a disciple. Amen.
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