Washing the Disciples' Feet

Washing the Disciples’ Feet
John 13.1-11

I had never washed anyone else’s feet (bathing my own children doesn’t really count) until I went to work in a church where they acted out this scene every Holy Week. On the Thursday, the day before Good Friday, many churches arrange a service where the senior ministers, copying Jesus, wrap themselves in towels and wash the feet of twelve people.

The first time I did it, I had prepared for the service in the usual way. But nothing could have prepared me for the sense of holy intimacy that went with the simple but profound action of washing other people’s feet. Feet are very basic things: not pretty, not ugly, just basic. Down to earth, you might say. Washing them is both very mundane (we all have to wash our feet, and we do it so regularly we hardly think about it) and very close and personal. Washing between someone else’s toes is an intimate action. It is a moment of tenderness...

Taken from John for Everyone Part 2 – by Tom Wright