Words of Hope: Servant Leadership
Leading up to Easter, our church participated in a foot washing service in remembrance of Jesus washing the feet of His disciples. I was selected to be one of the main people washing feet or assisting as members washed the feet of one another. One of the groups that came forward was a single gentleman and a dad with two young boys under the age of six. The two men did not know one another. The father sat down first, and the other man washed his feet. Both boys stood a slight distance away watching carefully. Then the man washing switched places with the father. As the father began to wash the man’s feet with care and gentleness, his two boys moved close to stand by his side. They crouched down beside their father, and one leaned his head against his father’s shoulder. As a witness, the scene took me by surprise; in just two minutes a lifetime of teaching was covered in a moment.
Jesus calls us to “wash the feet” of others. This was one of the lowest jobs in a household. No one of authority, power, wisdom, position would ever wash someone else’s feet.
What tasks do we as Christian see as “beneath” us? What are the lowly jobs in our daily lives that signify washing what is unclean? As I washed someone’s feet, I sensed the vulnerability in the action, a self-consciousness that arises when a person is in proximity to us. No wonder we dehumanize those who do the work of very human actions.
In India, those who are of the lowest class handled the human waste. They were called untouchables. They were the humans, bringing consciousness that we are all human, have waste, smell, and create mess. Jesus, in His demonstrating of foot washing, equalizes all humanity and exposes the very human desire to appear perfect.
Washing feet is a reminder not only to be a servant to others in tasks that categorize people as valuable or invaluable but also to allow Jesus and those who act on Christ’s behalf in my life to have proximity to the areas of dirt, filth, and shameful places. Places that need washing and areas that remind me of my own humanity, my own sullied ways that I try and cover or fail to see.
When he (Jesus) had finished washing their feet, he put on his clothes and returned to his place. “Do you understand what I have done for you?” he asked them. “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. Very truly I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him. Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them.”
– John 13:12-17
