Go Back and Wash Your... Feet???

GO WASH YOUR HANDS!

We all heard that as kids; God forbid anyone should come to the dinner table with dirty hands!  In our house if you came to table with dirty hands, muddy shoes, a dirty shirt or pants you didn’t eat.  Those were the rules; you came to the table properly prepared…no exceptions.

Keeping a truly strict Passover requires even more than that.  The entire house must be prepared.  A thorough cleaning is followed by a ritual that removes all “chometz.”  Chometz is anything that may be even suspected of containing leavening agents.  Plates and silverware must be spotless, but above this, they must also be specially prepared for the Seder table.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Passover food is not just kosher; it must be certified as kosher for Passover, meaning that it, like the house itself, is “chometz” free for the next eight days...no exceptions.

Finally, before the ritual begins, participants wash each others hands; a very special time is about to start, a very intentional time.  It’s a lot of work, but the payback is in the Passover rituals.  Over the course of the meal, which can last for hours, everyone shares in the story of Israel’s liberation from Egypt.  But here’s the thing that’s so wonderful:  it’s more than sharing in a story because participants actually become part of it.  Everyone at the table shares in the story…no exceptions.

That’s the scene we see in the Gospel portrayal of the Last Supper which should really be called the First Supper if we think about it.  This is an intentional scene, one of remembrance and connection.  It is a bittersweet time; the Passover is a joyous time but the events of the next day loom over the scene like a dark cloud.  Let’s just assume that everything is happening “as usual” before the meal starts.  But then Jesus does something shocking:  he washes the feet of his followers.  Everyone’s feet were washed—even Judas’ feet… no exceptions.

It was humbling enough to wash the hands of your neighbor, but the feet?  There was, to be sure, a certain amount of intimacy connected with this act.  But imagine what this meant in 1^st century Palestine:  the streets were mostly dirt and mud.  There were animals everywhere; the stench on a hot day must’ve been overwhelming.  There were likely to have been refuse, filth, and animal droppings everywhere.  All of these things would have been so prevalent as to have been unavoidable.  What about the footwear of the day?  People wore sandals, so the feet picked up all sorts of filth.

Foot washing then, was the job of the lowest slave.  This means that Jesus’ action was profound and a lesson in real leadership.  A true leader must learn and practice humility.  A real leader, religious, civic or anywhere else, must first know what it is to serve others and be willing to do so at a moments’ notice.  

The ceremonies of Maundy Thursday are deliberately intentional; we must be like Him.  Holy or Maundy Thursday is a chance for us to assume the position of the disciples and of Jesus at Seder that night.  We are called to remember.  We are called to share the story with one another any time we gather.  But most importantly, we are called to share in his sacrifice and in his servanthood. 

Jesus wasn’t above any of our human filth and neither can we think ourselves above the filth of anyone else.  Rather, we are to be prepared to exalt the all people in our midst… no exceptions.  We are also to be like slaves and wash the feet of whoever is next to us, regardless of station in life, looks, clothing or smell.  No one can be too dirty to wash clean and no one may be excluded from the feast… no exceptions.