Foot Washing or Box Carrying

Scripture — John 13:14-15 (NRSV)

So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you.

Devotion

Two days from now it will be Maundy Thursday, the day in which Christians remember how Jesus washed the feet of his disciples. The name “Maundy” comes from the Latin word mandatum, or “command.” After washing his disciples’ feet, Jesus gave them a “new commandment,” namely, to love one another (13:34).

As we read the account of Jesus washing the feet of his disciples, we see in his action a powerful theological statement about his identity and mission as the Suffering Servant of God. Because we know Isaiah’s prophecies about this Servant (see Isa 52:13-53:12), and because we know that Jesus was soon to offer his life on the cross as the ultimate act of servanthood, we rightly see deep meaning conveyed through his foot-washing activity. In many Christian traditions, foot-washing ceremonies provide a way for brothers and sisters in Christ to express their deep commitment to and deep care for each other.

Such theological reflections and traditional enactments are quite appropriate and quite wonderful. Yet they can also keep us from seeing what Jesus did as it would have been seen originally. For us, foot-washing is a sacred ritual, something filled with deep spiritual meaning. For the disciples of Jesus, foot washing was an ordinary, necessary, and fairly unpleasant activity. Because feet got dirty from unpaved roads and paths walked with open footwear, and because people reclining at meals tended to put their feet where others would encounter them, it was necessary for feet to be washed before meals. People of limited means would provide water for their guests so they might wash their own feet. If the host of a meal was wealthy enough to have a servant or slave, then foot washing would be part of this lowly worker’s duty.

Thus, when Jesus began to wash his disciples’ feet, they did not think lofty theological thoughts or feel inspiring religious feelings. Rather, they saw their Master doing the work of a servant. They saw him humbling himself to do the work that nobody else would have chosen to do. It’s no wonder that at first Peter declined Jesus’s gesture (John 13:8).

After Jesus finished washing the feet of his disciples, he interpreted what he had done. He called upon his followers to imitate his example by washing each other’s feet. “For I have set you an example,” Jesus said, “that you should also do as I have done to you” (13:15). Jesus was not setting up some new religious ritual. Rather, he was instructing his disciples to serve each other in tangible and humble ways.

As we seek to follow Jesus in our daily work, it’s unlikely that we will actually wash the feet of our coworkers or customers (unless we are pedicurists). Rather, we should consider how we might serve our coworkers and customers in ways that are neither required of us nor worthy of our station.

I think for example of a friend of mine who was an executive in a large company. One day he noticed that one of the company’s custodians was struggling to carry several large boxes up some stairs. The executive offered to help. For several minutes the two of them labored over the boxes until they were put away. When this sweaty executive turned to say goodbye to the custodian, he noticed tears in the other man’s eyes. “I’ve worked in this company for many years,” the custodian said. “Before today, no boss ever stopped to help me. Thank you so much. You have no idea what this means to me.” Sometimes foot washing is not foot washing, but box carrying.

Find all Life for Leaders devotions here. Explore what the Bible has to say about work at the unique website of our partners, the Theology of Work Project. Reflection on today’s Life for Leaders theme can be found here: Servant Leadership (John 13:1-20).