Foot Washing - Holy Thursday
Yesterday, my wife and I went to our local Catholic church for the Holy Thursday Mass which includes John’s Gospel reading about Jesus washing His disciples’ feet (Jn 13:1-17). During the Holy Thursday Mass, the priest strips down to his alb, gets on his knees and washes twelve volunteers’ feet.
Over the years, I have heard this Gospel Reading and have seen this Foot Washing reenactment. Each year, the priest or deacon gives a homily encouraging everyone to humble him/herself and wash others’ feet. It is a very good encouragement: serve one another in humility!
A few years ago, I heard this explanation of the significance of Foot Washing in the Jesus’ Jewish mindset. This explanation REALLY made more sense this story and its Jesus’ words in Jn 13:13-15: ““You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. 14 Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. 15 I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”
Jewish Mindset: Feet are Sinful
In Jesus’ Jewish mindset, the feet were dirty. In a time when people did not bathe often, all of one’s body was dirty. Imagine this. In a week you walk miles on dirty roads in sandals. I remember my summertime joy as a child walking barefoot; my first were dirty. I loved it! My mother made me wash my feet before getting into bed!
Further, the Jewish mindset saw the feet as dirty with sin. If Jew was walking on a path saw a known sinner walking in front of him/her, the “righteous” Jew would avoid that path so as not be contaminated by the other’s sins. The righteous Jew was not to allow his/her feet to touch the footprints of a known sinner. If a Jew touched a known sinner’s feet or footprints, a person would gain the other’s sin. That is understandably bad!
Who Washed Others’ Feet?
Also, the only person who could touch, and wash, another person’s feet is a non-Jewish slave/servant who is not concerned about sin contamination.
When Jesus in John’s Gospel strips down and washes his disciples feet, the disciples’ protest make sense to us. Jesus was the Rabbi, Teacher, Leader, etc. A servant definitely would wash his feet and the disciples’ feet!
A Deeper Interpretation
This is my further interpretation. Jesus took on our sins and washed them away. Jesus asks us to do the same! Boom. This taking away our sins is not to be taken as the salvific action of the Lamb of God. Rather, this is an ordinary daily action community members do … for each other. This community is your church, your city, at the soup kitchen, those at the homeless shelter, those in the LGBTQ+ community, criminals, and immigrants. In washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus did not simply wash away our sins, he embraced our sins. Jesus embraced our imperfections, our egos, and our weaknesses. Then, he showed us a way to heal others. Jesus says, “you also should wash one another’s feet.” Jesus did not take away his disciples’ feet or sins. He showed them and us a way to love the person and the sin and help each other to leave sin. Wow. This IS the Good News. We are washing another’s feet.
This is the muck of humanity Jesus asks us to enter into, … with each other. In this story, Jesus asks us to accept others’ sin and help to heal the sin and the person. That is, we help others to work their “issues,” to help by listening with acceptance. We listen so other may find a way out of his/her issues, wounds, and anger. We listen and help others to find a way out of addiction, how to mourn and cry through grief (“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” Lk 6:21.), how to feed the hungry, and help the poor. As difficult as it is, when we enter the muck of our lives and help people to heal sin, we all find joy and meaning in life. By not turning away from someone expressing anger and pain and other negative feelings, we are washing an others’ feet. When we listen, accept, love others as they are now, the healing begins. We wash another’s feet.
Individually, Jesus asks us to love the sin in our individual life. Jesus asks me, and you, to love and accept the sin in my hearts. Jesus asks me to mourn the pain of lost relationships, difficult families, addictions, imperfections and sin. Jesus asks me to mourn my pain, to work my issues, and, then, I will laugh.
By following Jesus’ example of washing others’ feet, we are not just Christians. We are humans helping humans.
I see Spiritual Direction as entering into life’s muck and find a way to make sense of life’s frustrations, pain, and sin that separates us from each other and from God and from loving ourselves. This sin prevents me from loving me as I am, and from my loving you as the person you are. When we identify the pain and bring God into that pain, the foot washing starts. The healing of wounds begins.
May we humbly wash each others’ feet as Jesus taught us.