Foot-Washing

"Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that his hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. He laid aside his outer garments, and taking a towel, tied it round his waist. Then he poured water into a basin and began to wash the disciples' feet and to wipe them with the towel that was wrapped round him. When he had washed their feet and put on his outer garments and resumed his place, he said to them, "Do you understand what I have done to you? You call me Teacher and Lord, and you are right, for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Teacher; have washed your feel, you also ought to wash one another's feet. For I have given you an example, that you also should do just as I have done to you."

Never before have I understood foot-washing. Never before have I understood what it is to be a servant. Never before have I understood the grace of God. Over this last year however, I and some of my closest friends have embarked on a beautiful journey to know God more fully. We have begun to learn to love one another. To love with the love of Christ.

The water poured into the basin, the towel sitting nearby, and a single solitary chair sitting in the corner of the room. People exchange awkward looks, wondering who will sit first, and who will first wash the other's feet. At the beginning, jokes and side-comments battle the intense tension filling the room. To wash another's feet requires a servant's posture, you must bow before them. It humbles you to wash another's feet. There is no greater act of service. The true humility of foot-washing though, is on the part of the one whose feet are being washed. As people continue to wash one another's feet, the need for noise is replaced with a pure, and beautiful silence. The only noise is the soft whirling of water in the basin. Sitting in the seat, your spirit is humbled, and you see the grace of God.

Jesus Christ came to the Earth, to wash the feet of mankind. The blood of the almighty righteous King, spilled through a servant's death, in order to redeem the souls of those who caused it to flow. The only sovereign Lord humbled Himself, so that He might humble the hard hearts of those who nailed Him to the cross. He washed our feet, and with a broken and contrite spirit, we must weep and look upon the crimson-stained grace of God for our salvation.

Oh how great is the love of God for us. How great the grace of Him on whom stripes were laid.