Reflections on Jesus Washing the Feet

Holy Thursday - Washing of the Feet

This year, my wife and I attended our local Catholic church’s Holy Thursday Mass. After the priest homilized about the story of Jesus washing His disciples’ feet (Jn 13:1-17), the priest stripped down to his alb, got on his knees, and washed twelve volunteers’ feet.

Over the years, I have heard this Gospel reading and have experienced this Foot Washing. Each year during the sermon, the priest or deacon encourages everyone humbly to wash others’ feet. The sermonizer encourages us to serve one another in humility as Jesus did. It is a simple and poignant message. Each year, I felt I was missing the Foot Washing’s deeper significance.

Then, a few years ago, I heard a deeper explanation of this Gospel reading which changed the way I understood and experienced the Washing of the Feet ceremony.

Jesus’ Jewish religious mindset regarding Foot Washing was very different than what we think. This explanation REALLY helped me to understand this story and Jesus’ words in Jn 13:13-15: “You call me ‘Teacher’ and ‘Lord,’ and rightly so, for that is what I am. Now that I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also should wash one another’s feet. I have set you an example that you should do as I have done for you.”

Let’s dig a bit deeper.

Jewish Religious Mindset: Feet are Sinful

In Jewish religious mindset, the feet were not only dirty; they were sinful and not to be touched by another Jew. A good Jew was not to touch a sinner’s footprints!

If Jew was walking on a path shared by a known sinner, the “righteous” Jew would avoid that path so as not be contaminated by the other’s sins. In my mind, this is a spirituality that ignores the sinner and the sin.

 Who Washed a Jew’s Feet?

The only person who could touch, and wash, another Jew’s feet is a non-Jewish slave/servant who is not concerned about sinful contamination.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus strips down and washes his disciples’ feet. With this mindset, the disciples’ protest makes sense. Jesus was the Rabbi, and Teacher. With this, I understood the significance of WHY the disciples objected to Jesus touching and washing their feet. Once again, Jesus broke the socio-religious mores of his time to prove a point!

A Spiritual Reflection and Invitation

In this blog, I have three reflections on this Gospel Story.

I know it is a bit long; please hang in there with me!

Reflection One - Embrace the Sin-Sinner

First, in Jesus’ time and today, we humans prefer to ignore our and others’ sin. As I grow spiritually, I struggle still with the ingrain thought that God doesn’t want me because I am sinful. I struggle with feeling I need to be sinless to approach God, and my want to approach God for healing because I am sinful. It is a worthy/unworthy struggle.

I believe in this story Jesus concentrates on my later feeling. God wants me to come with my sins, pains, imperfections. God is not disgusted by my sin! In my experience, when I bring my sin, anger, and pain to God, God is overjoyed. We start a new level of our relationship for recognition and healing. With the Washing of the Feet story, Jesus invites me to enter a new level of intimacy and honesty with myself and with God.

When God recognizes and embraces my sin, I feel a deep, spiritual relief expressed in my body and psyche. I let go of some of my defenses, and I let God’s love into my heart. God’s love courses through my spirit and psyche and heals me. I feel the recognition of my sin which brings healing!

This God and me relationship is so sweet and comforting. Then, I am reminded I am to go out and do the same for others. This is where things get difficult.

Reflection Two - Wash Other’s Feet

This leads me to my second reflection. Jesus says, “you also should wash one another’s feet.” I feel it would have been so easy I Jesus never said this!! I could live in my life Jesus and Me relationship! That is not best; we are called to healing and learn from the sin. We are called to teach others how to do it!

Who are the “others”? They are members in our families and our friends. The others are: church members, our city, the soup kitchen, those at the homeless shelter, those in the LGBTQ+ community, criminals, and immigrants.

Jesus embraced my sins, and he washed them away. Jesus wants me to embrace others’ sin, their imperfections, egos, weaknesses. As a spiritual director, I have seen people start to heal as I listen to them and recognize their sin. The hiding is no longer needed. Sin is not evil. Sin is as God’s Love is.  The power of love heals and encourages growth.

Reflection Three - Learn/Teach Others

My third reflection is that Jesus showed me how to heal others. Jesus asks me to turn my sin, others’ sin, and sinful ways into wisdom for helping others. I believe this what Jesus means when he said, “you also should wash one another’s feet.”

As a spiritual director and a disciple, I understand God wants me to bring God into the muck of my humanity. Jesus asks us to the same with each other.

As we wash each other’s feet, we listen to a person’s pain and sin so one may find a way out of his/her issues, wounds, and anger. We listen and help others to find a way out of addiction. Truly, we are help people to mourn and cry through grief (“Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh” Lk 6:21.). Jesus calls us to feed the hungry and clothe the poor.

As difficult as it is, when we enter the muck of our lives and help people to heal, we all find joy and meaning in life.

We wash each other’s feet.

By following Jesus’ example of washing others’ feet, we are not just Christians. We are humans helping humans to heal and to grow.

Please Note: My comments above do not negate the value of, or need for, professional psycho-therapy as an essential healing tool.

May we humbly wash each other’s feet as Jesus taught us.