feet

Before the Passover celebration, Jesus knew that His hour had come to leave the world and return to His father.  He now showed the disciples the full extent of His love.  It was time for supper and the Devil had already enticed Judas Iscariot to betray Jesus.  Jesus knew that the Father had given Him authority over everything, and that He had come from God and would return to God.  So He got up from the table, took off His robe, wrapped a towel around His waist, and poured water into a basin.  Then He began to wash the disciples' feet and wipe them with the towel.  -St. John 13

Feet don't lie.  Dusty fields, gravel roads, muddy river bottoms-they all stick to the feet.  My Dad always knew when I had been playing in my church clothes before and after church by what stuck to my feet.  Any casual observer can know where someone has been, and they can easily guess what went on there.

Jesus' demeanor had changed.  Even after He plainly told His closest followers what was going to happen to Him, they did not grasp the gravity of it.  They had been changed by His powerful compassion, witnessed His awesome miracles, and stared wide-eyed at His unflinching challenges to the religious leaders.  And now they were watching this same God-man abase Himself as a household servant would.  Dressed only in His undergarments and a towel, the Lord of Heaven of earth bent down and began to gently, carefully wash their feet, their dirty, stinking feet.

He knew their dirt.  He knew their tendencies to say and do the wrong thing.  He knew Peter's impulsiveness, James' and John's hot tempers, and even Judas' recent traitorous actions.  He knew their overzealous nationalism, their naivite, and their passive-aggressive attitudes.  He knew they were not worthy of Him, yet He did not consider it.  And still, He stooped before each one, knowing the agony that was waiting just a walk and a prayer away, and He lovingly washed the most filthy parts of their bodies.  Amazing!  As close as He was to the most crucial moment in His human life and in human history, it is amazing that He did not claim this time as "Me" time.  Instead, the Savior of the world poured Himself out, showing them the full extent of His love.  And for the most part, they were oblivious to the epic display of compassion being demonstrated before them, to them, for them.

He washed their feet; feet that would keep Peter a stone's throw from men mocking, beating, killing his Master, feet that would support his denial as he walked past a crowing rooster; feet that would soon run and hide in fear for their lives at Jesus' unjust execution; feet that would keep Thomas away from fellowship with the other disciples unless his risen Lord showed him the nail scars; feet that would take them sullenly back to the life they left before Him.  Jesus washed the feet that would quit on Him, in full knowledge of their relapses to come.  But He still did it. 

Jesus knows the darkest places we've been, and the most heinous acts we've comitted that keep us just outside real fellowship with Him and our brothers and sisters, the reason why we discount ourselves for service to Him.  He's got all the dirt on us.  And it is for those very things He poured Himself out, showing us the full extent of His love, because He totally believes in us.  He believes in YOU!

What faith He places on such a faithless lot as us.  Even believing, our feet take us backward.  But, as He did not leave the disciples in their sad state, He does not leave us in our doubt, frustration, and fear.  I have been involved in "feet washing" ceremonies in churches that venerate this act, and have little idea the depth of Jesus' act of service.  The disciples had no idea, either, when He told them, "As I have washed your feet, so you must wash each others' feet."  He wasn't talking about feet or feet washing services.  He was talking about humility, service, acceptance, the true meaning of tolerance.  He was telling them that the kind of love that would change the world is an all-encompassing love.  He loves completely; all of whatever is good in us (nothing), all of whatever is filthy, all of it.  And when those numb skull disciples got it, their feet took them to Jerusalem, and to Samaria,  Damascus, Asia, Greece, Italy, Spain, India, the Isle of Patmos, and to the uttermost parts of the earth.

What will change our world?  Those people you can't stand, that you don't understand, that maybe you even despise, those of different races, religions, cultures, the weak and seemingly irrelevant, those with hoodies on and baggy pants who seem hateful and disrespectful, those country bumpkins who just don't get it, those high and mighty overly-educated, those stuck on political correctness, and lost in political ignorance; you have to wash their feet.  Love them completely. Invite them in.  Serve them.  What you do for them, you do the very same for the Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, Who did it all and more for us.  Wash their feet.