Wash One Another's Feet

John 13:12-17 – “So after he had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.”

If pride was involved with the very first sin and with the beginnings of every sin thereafter – as the Proverb writer states, “An haughty spirit [goes] before a fall,” (Proverbs 16:18), – then perhaps it is also involved in the arguments against and resistances to the practice of Christians washing one another’s feet in modern times. Interestingly and, I think, not coincidentally, pride is one of those very sins which this practice is meant to shame; thus, it is the first to protest even the suggestion of the practice.

“It’s just weird,” someone might say. But such was not the case in Biblical culture, unless, of course, a master would happen to wash his servants’ feet. But then to say such a thing would be to declare the actions of Christ Himself as weird. And although the practice was somewhat common in Biblical times, one should not assume that pride therefore never got in the way back then. Why did Peter at first recoil at his Master’s actions? Why did not the hosting Pharisee wash Jesus’ feet?

At the time of writing this exhortation, I have yet to observe or recall a persuasive argument against feet washing, … at least, not one as clear and precise as the Lord’s own words in saying, “Ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. Ye should do as I have done to you.”