Then he poured some water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and dry them with the towel round his waist. John 13:5, GNT

 

Many years ago, a friend and I took a long weekend to visit his family at their farm in the Northern Cape. His two teenage sisters were also present. On the first evening after supper, they came with a small basin filled with hot water and started washing their father and brother’s feet before bedtime. It was a custom of some of the old farming families. When they moved towards me, I quickly declined the offer. I did not want them to wash my feet; they were certainly not very clean after walking around the farm the whole day.

 

It is strange how an incident like that can stay with you. I wanted to spare myself and the two girls some embarrassment, but could not forget that they, out of hospitality towards a guest, were willing to wash my feet. Their willingness to perform this humble task for me, an actual stranger, reminded me of the occasion when Jesus washed the disciples’ feet.

 

Jesus did not hesitate for a moment to wash not just one pair of feet, but all of them down the line – dusty, dirty feet that walked on the roads of Palestine the whole day. What he did was actually the work of a slave or servant, but he did not mind. As he told Peter, “If I do not wash your feet, you will no longer be my disciple.”(John 13:8b) We can also translate Jesus’ words as ‘you will not belong to me’.

 

The love that Jesus has for us goes far beyond washing a pair of dirty feet; it is meant to cleanse my whole life of all that prevents me from belonging to him. To achieve this, he does not use a little basin with hot water, but his precious blood that was spilt on the cross.

 

He does it out of love, but he does want something in return. In John 13:14, he told them: “I, your Lord and Teacher, have just washed your feet. You, then, should wash one another’s feet.”

 

Prayer: Dear Lord, I still can hardly believe that you, the Lord and Teacher, have to do such a lot of work to cleanse my life every day. Thank you for doing it without fail. Please help me to be a washer of feet. Amen