It is easy to see the washing of the disciple’s feet as a symbol. After-all, we still do it today during our Maundy Thursday worship services. We wash people’s feet as a symbol of loving service.
But, what Jesus cares about is not making sure you perform a symbolic act in the church once a year. You see, when the disciples arrived to eat a last meal with Jesus, they actually had dirty feet. Jesus actually cleaned feet that needed to be cleaned.
And, to be absolutely clear that he was not talking about some sort of symbolic act here, when Peter suggests, “Lord, [do not clean] my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus responds to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean…” This is about doing something that the disciples actually need to have done, having their dusty and muddy feet washed. Seeing Jesus bend down and clean their dirty feet is witnessing an act of real love.
This still happens actually. A pastor once told me about a village in Africa where a school was run by a small church. The kids had to travel miles and miles each day on foot to attend this school. The very first thing that all of the teachers did as the children arrived was bend down and wash the feet of those children. The adults were serving the children, not as some sort of symbolic act of love commanded by the Bible, but as an actual act of love because their feet were tired and muddy from the journey. The warm water soothed and washed their feet so that the children would be ready to learn.
We see this sort of love all the time, but we do not necessarily see it as following Jesus’ command to love. I see adult children washing their elderly parents after using the toilet. It is an actual act of love, fulfilling an actual need.
I see people going out of their way to pick up a fellow co-worker who cannot afford to drive to work. They may not necessarily see it as following Jesus’ command to love, but it is an actual act of love, fulfilling an actual need.
I see one teen take the heavy backpack of another (carrying two heavy backpacks) to help out a classmate struggling on their crutches. They may not necessarily see it as following Jesus’ command to love, but it is an actual act of love, fulfilling an actual need.
I read about a soldier who jumped on top of their young friend when the grenade fell into their trench. I doubt he thought about Jesus washing the disciple’s feet as he protected his friend’s body with his own, but it was an actual act of love, a life-ending act of love, fulfilling an actual need to help a young friend to survive.
While that soldier probably thought nothing of Jesus washing the disciple’s feet out of love, he may have briefly thought about Jesus dying for his friends on the cross. He may have briefly thought about how he was joining in the love of Jesus; bits of explosive piercing his body in the same way that nails pierced Jesus’ hands and feet and the spear pierced his side. His last thoughts may have been about how Jesus had drawn him to be one with him, in this act of love.
“I give you a new commandment,” Jesus told his disciples, “that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This love looks like something. This love is an actual act, fulfilling an actual need. As we participate in the symbolic washing of feet, let us not forget that it points to actual acts of love that serve actual needs. It is a reminder that we are disciples of Christ’s love.
No comments:
Post a Comment