Let’s face it , feet are smelly and dirty, especially after a long walk in sandals in a hot and dusty climate, so I’d rather you washed your own. Come to think of it, why don’t you take a shower, you’re looking a bit sweaty and its starting to ‘hum’ in this room!
My guess is that any guest would protest at this point in the proceedings and if I’m honest I wouldn’t blame them. What is Jesus up to, cleaning people’s feet? Is this the custom in the local culture or did he have a foot fetish? We get a hint of an answer in an earlier passage in Luke 7: 44-46. It appears it was the custom to at least provide a bowel of water and a towel for guests to clean their feet, but Jesus imbues it with greater significance.
The foot washing is a drama of Jesus’ act of sacrifice on the cross on our behalf. .
The example that Jesus gives the disciples in washing their feet is the pattern of sacrificial and costly service. In our loving service to others we witness
to them the pattern of Jesus’ in making us “clean” through his costly love.
It’s a prophetic act that signifies the Master’s identification with our humanity and how that love makes us more human. A kenotic act of self-abasement, where the ego is held in abeyance. The story involves both rejection, and betrayal exemplified in the lives of Peter and Judas and fidelity in the guise of the “beloved disciple” We are invited to respond and we can identify our own pattern of behaviour in relation to our following in the way of Jesus.
I believe that foot-washing is sacramental and through it’s re-enactment this Maundy Thursday, the presence of Jesus is known.
Will I let Jesus wash my feet and cleanse me? Will I pattern my lifer after his own?


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