Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Scripture for the Day
Now before the festival of the Passover, Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart from this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. The devil had already put it into the heart of Judas son of Simon Iscariot to betray him. And during supper Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he had come from God and was going to God, got up from the table, took off his outer robe, and tied a towel around himself. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples’ feet and to wipe them with the towel that was tied around him. He came to Simon Peter, who said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?” Jesus answered, “You do not know now what I am doing, but later you will understand.” Peter said to him, “You will never wash my feet.” Jesus answered, “Unless I wash you, you have no share with me.” Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, not my feet only but also my hands and my head!” Jesus said to him, “One who has bathed does not need to wash, except for the feet, but is entirely clean. And you are clean, though not all of you.” For he knew who was to betray him; for this reason he said, “Not all of you are clean.”
After he had washed their feet, had put on his robe, and had returned to the table, he said to them, “Do you know what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. 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. Very truly, I tell you, servants are not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them. If you know these things, you are blessed if you do them.
This passage in John marks a shift in the narrative from the anticipation of Jesus’ final hour to its arrival. The events in John 13:1-17 occur at Jesus’ final meal with his disciples before his arrest, and while there are many ways to interpret what is going on here, the overarching theme of this narrative is love.
Foot washing was a common act of hospitality to be offered by a host to guests, and it was typically performed by the guest themselves or by a servant in the host’s home. Here, Jesus offers himself as both servant and host by washing the disciple’s feet, and this act is an offering of himself in love. By doing so, Jesus enters into an intimate relationship with them that mirrors the intimacy of the relationship Jesus has with God. By accepting both this act and Jesus in the role of host and servant, the disciples are recipients of an eschatological hospitality that marks them as sharers of God’s home and as a community of people united with both God and Jesus in relationship.
The foot washing reveals Jesus’ unbridled love for his disciples that ushers in the promise of new life as well as provides an example for them to follow. The call for the disciples is to accept this transformative love and then to go share that love with the world. The ways in which the community embodies the type of love Jesus gave reveals Jesus’ identity to the world.
May we be a community of faith that accepts the humble, sacrificial love of Jesus and, in turn, shares it with the world.
