In the News⤒🔗

This year the ceremony of feet washing attracted special attention. The new archbishop of Canterbury, who seems to be fond of rites, re-introduced it in the Anglican Church. The aging Pope was unable to participate in it in Rome. And Queen Elizabeth must have been there when this year, in the civil version of this ceremony, a number of people were presented with special Maundy coins.

What was not especially mentioned is that in many other church groups the washing of feet was repeated. This is what can be fairly confidently presumed when it is noted how many items appear on one's computer screen after the words feet washing can be found by using a search program.

It is, therefore, interesting to learn how the ceremony is performed, and particularly why this is done, and how Christ's example has been interpreted. In this way we can learn many things about the spiritual world in which we are living, about its poverty and our own riches.

There is such an abundance of material that we must restrict ourselves to a brief selection, mainly consisting of sermons. For, whereas tens of thousands of entries can be downloaded when one searches for material on the subject, even when the word sermons is added to feet washing, one will find more than 2000 entries. So there is plenty of information available.

Another aspect is that one can discover how the simple ceremony of John chapter 13 has been changed in the sense that other rites have been added, and even that the emphasis is no longer on the washing of feet itself, but on other things – as we saw it already in the civil version in which the Queen plays a role.

How it is Done←⤒🔗

Among the many groups that still maintain the tradition are the various Mennonite groups, particularly in the USA. Even a brief glance at the history of the Mennonites, let alone of the wider range of Anabaptists, teaches us that it is not for nothing that in Article 29 of our Belgic Confession of Faith a distinction is made between the true church and the many sects which are in the world today, of which the false church is an extreme version. The word today refers to the time when the Confession was compiled, but it can still be applied to the days in which we are living, as can also be learned from browsing on Internet.

In one of those items I found the following description of the ceremony of feet washing as performed by many Mennonite groups. It says:

The most common mode of the observance is as follows: After the communion service is completed, one of the ministers or deacons reads and comments on John 13:1-17. Basins, usually small wooden or metal tubs, with warm water and towels have meanwhile been provided in sufficient quantity to permit a fairly rapid observance. These are placed, either in the front of the church or in the “amen” corners, and in the “anti-rooms”, or in some cases in the rows between the benches. The sexes then wash (more properly rinse or lightly touch with water) feet separately in pairs, concluding with the greeting of the holy kiss and a “God bless you.” In some localities towels are furnished in the form of short aprons to be tied by cords around the waist, in presumed imitation of Jesus “girding himself,” though most commonly ordinary towels are used. In some congregations the practice is not pair-washing but row-washing, in which case each person washes the feet of his right-hand neighbor in turn in a continuous chain (United Missionary Church, some General Conference Mennonite congregations). In the Church of God in Christ Mennonite group the ministers wash each other's feet first, and then wash the feet of all the brethren in turn, the ministers' wives doing the same for the sisters.

Another example of how the ceremony is performed is that of the Dunkers. They are of German origin, belonging to the Pietists, and came to the United States between 1719 and 1733. They reinstituted feet washing in the context of the celebration of the Lord's Supper, but combined this with what later in the New Testament is called the agape, the love-meal. This was a fellowship meal that included taking care for the poor. It ended with the celebration of the Lord's Supper. For the preparation of the feet washing forty-eight men are appointed. These men bring in tubs of warm water, basins, and towels. Two men from each table stand and take off their frock coats. One man takes a very long, special towel with string and ties it around the waist of the other man. These two men take a tub of water to the first person in the row facing them. The people in the row have already taken off their shoes and socks. The first person in the row puts his feet into the water-filled basin. The brother without the towel-apron on washes that person's feet with his hands, shakes hands with the person, gives the person a holy kiss, and whispers a few words of Christian encouragement to that person. The man wearing the towel-apron dries the person's feet with the towel and greets him in the same way. The two men wash and dry the feet of another person in exactly the same way. Then they go to a small basin at the end of the table and wash their hands with soap and water and are seated. Then two new men take a fresh basin of water and repeat the process … The men wash the men's feet. The women wash the women's feet at their own tables.

Somewhere I read a few lines about the feelings generated during the ceremony. It began with the reading of the story of John chapter 13. Then it says:

In a room lit with candles, we listen to these words and ponder in silence the meaning of girding oneself with a towel, pouring water into a basin, and getting down on your knees before another. During a service of feet washing, it feels as though you are entering a different time and space. Our normal postures and day-to-day identities – as parents, teachers, farmers, businesspeople, sons and daughters, neighbours and friends – dropped away as we took turns washing each other's feet. All the senses are engaged in feet washing … there is the soft touch of warm water upon tired toes, the sound of splashing … the brisk sensation of the drying towel. The increased formality and intimacy of the kiss and embrace … the words of blessing whispered, mingled with the harmonies of familiar hymns filling the room … the exchange of the towel from person to person.

Sense←⤒🔗

It is remarkable to note that, among those who practice feet washing, the meaning and purpose of the ceremony is understood in a different way.

Here are a few illustrations of how the persons or groups concerned understand its sense. Somewhere I read the following lines:

Although the interpretation of the ordinance may vary, it is always held to be symbolical of a spiritual lesson, and is never considered to have any religious value per se, or to be a “good work.” The most common interpretation is that it teaches humility and equality. Often the lesson of service is included along with the other meanings. In some instances it has been and is observed as a symbol of the daily sanctification which is needed by the Christian as he comes into contact with sin and temptation.

In a sermon, delivered two years ago, an American female minister referred to the many groups that still maintain the ceremony of feet washing: Mennonites, Brethren, and the Amish. Then she said:

All of these traditions observe a service of feet washing as an expression of the important place that humility and service has in our Christian walk … We are asked to come in a spirit of repentance and openness to renewal. A new purification is always needed, we were reminded. And the part of us that gets dirtiest the fastest needs a humbling reminder every now and again.

Last year a sermon on John chapter 13 was delivered in a Lutheran Church somewhere in the state of Michigan. Here are a few lines from it:

Having our feet washed can be an uncomfortable experience for those of us who like to keep ourselves insulated from other people. It means baring your feet in public, which is sometimes more difficult than baring our souls to one another. It means allowing another person to serve you, which means accepting that we are all in need. It means letting someone else do something for you, which takes control out of our own hands … Jesus invites us to wash one another's feet. This act of Jesus is something to pattern our community relationships after. It is a call to a life of service. Jesus' humility to take on such a menial task invites us into a life of servanthood.

In a sermon delivered in the year 1997 a minister of a Christian Reformed Church in the USA stated that feet washing was an act of utter humiliation. He called it an act of service and humiliation. We must practice humility … Jesus is not commanding a feet-washing ritual; rather, He is commanding an attitude … We are being called upon to imitate Jesus, to lead a life of humble service, to have an attitude of love.

The following line is taken from a treatise on the above-mentioned Dunkers:

The washing of feet is a symbolic way of showing love, servanthood, brotherliness (or sisterliness), and humility.

Sermons←⤒🔗

As already stated, searching on Internet for items on our topic results in the possibility of downloading thousands of it, and among them many sermons.

Outstanding, in a sense, is a sermon delivered two years ago by a female minister in the local Christ Church somewhere in New Jersey. That lady started with a long story about preparing her own feet for the ritual. She even mentioned the use of Vaseline and other things. Anointing my feet has become part of my Holy Week rituals. After having spent almost half of the sermon with those private particulars, she referred to the biblical story. Finally she lodged an appeal: So, take off your shoes and come, have your feet washed. Come wash a sister's or brother's feet. As we do this in preparation to walk in the way of the cross tomorrow, come do this in remembrance of him. These are a lot of words, but no mention of a possible sense of the ceremony itself.

In a sermon delivered in the middle of the 19th century by John Winebrenner, the founder of the “Churches of God” in the USA, we find the following way of reasoning: Christ issued feet washing as an ordinance, just as Baptism and the Lord's Supper are ordinances (he avoided the term “sacraments” as unscriptural). Therefore we must still maintain this ceremony because, when He sent out the apostles, Christ told them that they had to teach the disciples of all the nations to observe all things that I have commanded you (Matthew 28). So, the message must not only be obeyed, but the ritual maintained as well!

It is equal in importance with what we call the two sacraments. One of the Reformed sermons, delivered in a Dutch sister church, emphasised the fact that the matter of being good for each other is not the main point in the story of the feet washing. We find the same duty already explained in the Old Testament, and again in the Sermon on the Mount. Therefore the story must be read in the context of the apostles' preparation for their task. Another emphasis is laid on the fact that serving each other is only possible if we first let ourselves be served by Christ's Self-humiliation into death and hell – a thought to be remembered!

Another Dutch sermon, delivered in rather more modern parlance more or less limits the message to a contrast between washing the other one's feet and, according to a Dutch saying, washing the other one's ears, meaning: telling somebody off; i.e. in English: warming a person's ears, or taking a person to task.

Our final illustration is from a sermon delivered by a Roman-Catholic priest somewhere in The Netherlands. He, too, laid the emphasis on humility, the will to be the least. Several times he used the word solidarity. The Roman-Catholic doctrine of a two-fold origin of knowledge, biblical revelation as well as tradition, seemed to look around the corner when the work of the deacons to care for the poor was mentioned, something we don't read about in the story of John chapter 13. The same deacons are mentioned when the relationship between the feet washing and the Mass is mentioned: the ceremony took place during the Last Passover, when Christ transformed it into the Lord's Supper. Although this sermon was delivered a few years ago, the message had something of a somewhat antiquated “social gospel”, though in a Roman-Catholic application: by showing solidarity after Christ's example we are redeemed from our guilt and impotence. Self-redemption! A good work!

The Story←⤒🔗

Altogether browsing on the Internet was rewarded with a bouquet of interpretations and applications. This brings us to the relevance of the question, asked by the Lord Jesus: Do you know what I have done to you? This question was addressed to Christ's disciples, but it may be useful to attempt answering it for ourselves. What did Christ actually do when He washed the feet of His disciples, and what message is there in this for us?

Question←↰⤒🔗

We will read the story as recorded in chapter 13 of John's gospel.

Thereby we will keep in mind the question the disciples were asked by the Lord Jesus:

Do you know what I have done to you?←↰⤒🔗

The right answer to this question will show us whether or not it was Christ's intention that the ceremony of feet washing should be repeated from time to time. Of even greater importance is what the Lord expects from us today.

Act and Reaction←⤒🔗

We begin with Peter's reaction, because what is found in several sermons and other publications on the story of the feet washing has much in common with what he thought the Saviour was doing.

I believe most of us, reading about his reaction, would think: Oh, here is that impetuous Peter again! But let us be careful. His reaction was quite normal in the sense that he did not yet fully understand that the Lord Jesus was doing more than making the courteous gesture of a host welcoming his guests. The very strange thing for him was that their Teacher and Lord had lowered Himself to a menial position: feet washing had the character of rendering a service to honoured guests. The person who performed it considered himself to be of a lower status than his guests. This, then, for Peter turned the world upside down! He did not yet understand the special purpose the Lord Jesus had intended, nor its meaning, although soon afterwards this would become clear to him.

That purpose was a two-fold one: This gesture was made in the sphere of both a farewell and an example.

These two aspects should never be separated. And, in my opinion, this is the most notable mistake made by the many groups that have maintained the tradition of feet washing. Christ does not expect us to imitate Him and reenact the ceremony. He expects from us a certain attitude, based on what He Himself has done for us.

Let us clarify this from a few details of the story.

Introduction←⤒🔗

According to the New King James Version the evangelist introduces the story as follows:

Now before the Feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour had come that He should depart from this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end.

The whole story must be read in the light of these introductory lines. Here a few very important things are said.

For example, the double use of the world here is remarkable. Christ would leave the world. His disciples would remain in it. According to John 1:9 the world is to be understood as mankind, represented by the people of Israel. And because these people had rejected the Lord Jesus as the promised Messiah, and their leaders had already made plans to kill Him, the world would be hostile to the disciples of the Lord. In such a situation they would have an acute need for each other, so this is the reason why the Lord Jesus prepared them for it.

As we can see, the word loved is also used twice in this translation, which could suggest that both times it refers to the same thing. However this is not the case. There is a difference. In the original text the term, when used for the first time, is intended to assert that during all the time that He had them with Him the Lord had loved His disciples. Then, when used for the second time, that He would prove this in a special act.

This means that the apostle opens a new section in his gospel story. Attention will no longer be drawn to Christ's public activities among the people of Israel, but from now on focussed mainly upon what He will do for His followers.

This, then, will be of the greatest significance. Henceforth He would express His love in a very special way. It says that it would be a love of ultimate depth.

The NKJV and RSV have here: He loved them to the end, but the NIV is better when it translates by: He now showed the full extent of His love.

From the chapters that follow we know that this full extent of His love was proved in His crucifixion. This is related to the fact that in John's gospel the fulfilment of Passover plays a prominent role. Whereas the original feast was a commemoration of Israel's deliverance from Egypt's slavery, in which the Passover lamb played its role, a deliverance from an even deeper misery would take place, for which The Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God (John 1:29) would have to die. The last part of John's gospel relates that story in detail, together with what preceded and what followed.

It is in this context and light that we must listen to the story of the feet washing.

Someone characterised it as an acted parable, a dramatic manner of showing the meaning of Christ's death. By washing their feet the Lord rendered a certain service to His disciples, and this is exactly what He would do by means of His atoning death.

Implications←⤒🔗

Reading the story in the light of this introduction has its implications. In the first place it shows us that the main point in the story is a certain service offered by the Saviour to His disciples. This, then, would also characterise His sufferings and death: It was for His people that He would be crucified.

In many commentaries, sermons, and essays on this story it is emphasised that washing the feet of other people was the duty of slaves. Even Jewish slaves, it is said, were not expected to do this, but only those who were pagan. It was a humiliating task, and it is true that in verse 13 the Lord Jesus did use the word slaves. It is also true that the washing of the feet of masters and their guests was done by slaves: As Abigail did to David, calling herself his slave (1 Samuel 25:41). But it was also done by the host to his guests, as in the story of the visit of the Lord Jesus to the house of Simon the Pharisee (Luke 7:44). Besides, this time it was not carried out before the evening-meal as a way of receiving them as His guests, but it took place during the meal.

So, the fact that Christ washed the feet of His disciples does not necessarily mean His humility is the focal point, as many preachers and authors assert: this humility is required of us too. The main issue is the service rendered to His disciples, as an illustration of what He would do for them the next day. He prepared them for it in this unusual way.

The second implication is that an eventual re-enactment of the ceremony is not important at all. In the ritual, as repeated in so many churches and other religious groups, the emphasis is almost always upon what we must be and do for each other. Meanwhile, however, what Christ did as an assurance to His disciples is neglected, namely that His sufferings and death would take place for their eternal salvation. A ritual performed without this faith in Christ is an empty performance, as is such a ceremony when this is pushed into the background. Showing the attitude required by the Lord Jesus when He told His disciples: I have given you an example, is only possible when we gratefully acknowledge what He Himself has done for those who believe in Him as their Saviour. Without this faith the tradition of re-enacting the feet washing is merely a pointless ritual. Our continued reading of the story will confirm this.

Timing←⤒🔗

What follows is also very enlightening for a clear understanding of its great significance.

The name of Judas, even his full name and that of his father, is mentioned, not just to shift attention to him but as an indication of the timing: the feet washing took place no longer than one day before the Lord Jesus was crucified.

It happened during the evening-meal. The RSV and NIV are better than the NKJV, having respectively: during supper and the evening meal was being served.

Then another indication of the great significance of what was going to happen, including the feet washing, is given:

Jesus, knowing that the Father had given all things into His hands, and that He had come from God and was going to God, rose from the supper.

This means that the execution of God's plan of redemption was put into His hands. The emphasis is upon the close relationship between Him and the Father, even on His divine nature. This puts the act of washing the feet of His disciples into a strong light. A great, divine, work is going on! And the same must be said about what the disciples must do: following His example. Even when we apply Christ's command to ourselves, we should not forget that we are doing so in the context of the realisation of God's great plan of redemption. Rendering service to one another is not just a matter of being kind and good to each other, showing mutual love, solidarity, or whatever we would call it, but it is a matter of encouraging and helping one another to stand firm for the sake of God and His Christ over against the indifference and hostility of the unbelieving world in which we are living. In this way Christ's command to follow His example gains considerable depth and value. Rendering this kind of service to one another is effected on a much higher level than just being kind to one another. This is what we confess in our Catechism regarding the “communion of saints.”

Whenever this is forgotten, a re-enactment of the feet washing loses all sense and meaning. Apart from this, Christ did not require such a re-enactment, but a special attitude!

Once Again: Peter←⤒🔗

For a clear understanding of what it means to act in accordance with the command issued by the Lord Jesus we must also listen to what the Saviour said to Peter when the latter turned from one extreme to the other, and said: Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head! In His answer the Lord Jesus reminded him of the fact that when one is visiting somewhere, only his feet are washed, because they have become dirty on the road, but that before leaving home one must take a bath. In other words, what Peter suggested was not necessary, washing his feet only was enough.

This, then, has a deeper sense than only this that Peter's body did not need full bathing. The Lord said to him that he and the other disciples – except Judas Iscariot – are already clean.

We read the same expression in chapter 15 verse 3. There the image is different: Christ does not speak there of a human body being given a bath, but of branches of a vine that have been 'cleansed'. He then says: Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. They have acknowledged Christ as He had introduced Himself to them, as the Son of God. They had believed that God so loved the world that He sent His only-begotten Son. This had changed them, regenerated them (chapter 3). What they needed was a continuous reminder. They must remain in that status.

Therefore, the symbolic act of feet washing was a clear reminder that they must be kept clean, and even the remaining daily sins and weaknesses disappear.

More Implications←⤒🔗

Christ's command to show the attitude demonstrated in the ceremony of feet washing also includes that in a Christian manner we draw the attention of our fellow-believers to their weaknesses and remaining sins. We are expected to show in our daily life that we have been cleansed by Christ's blood.

Earlier we found that washing one another's feet means that we must support one another when, living in an unbelieving world, we are confronted with its temptations and hostility. There is also this aspect that we must support one another in our fight against the sins that remain in our lives. Not only must we, in a brotherly or sisterly way, warn our fellow believers against them, but also be open to listen to such warnings when it is clear we ourselves have not yet reached the state of perfection.

That these two aspects are closely related may not need any further explanation.

Church Life←⤒🔗

At the provisional end of this conversation the Lord Jesus makes it abundantly clear that we must not only know these things, but also do them. He even adds a promise to it: Blessed are you if you do them.

This blessing also applies to church life. Feet washing in the above explained sense is even fundamental to a healthy church life.

This is in regard to the work of the ministers, for example. They should not follow the example of the apostles who were disputing among themselves as to which of them should be considered the greatest, as Luke (22:24) tells us about what happened on the same evening. Indeed, they are correctly called “ministers”, serving the flock.

The command to wash one another's feet can also be applied to the contents of their preaching. They must always keep in mind that they have before them a congregation consisting mainly of people who are clean in the sense meant by the Lord Jesus, whilst some, children for example, must be exhorted to acknowledge the Lord Jesus as their Saviour, others, as yet, to repent and be converted, but as a body the congregation consists of cleansed ranks of the True Vine. This determines how to preach about sin. The first part of the trio “sin, grace, gratitude” should not be neglected, but there must be a healthy balance in this respect. However, it should not happen in such a way that the impression is created that the whole congregation is made up of unconverted and non-regenerated people. The cleansing should continue, and therefore being stimulated.

Christ's command regarding the washing of one another's feet has its implications about the way in which we should admonish one another, even the way in which church discipline is to be carried out.

The same must be said about the way appeals are made against decisions and actions of our minor assemblies in our federation of churches. Lodging and dealing with such an appeal must have the purpose of reconciling and leading to perfection.

Christ's command must be taken into account when we have contact with other churches. This must be done in both a positive and a negative sense. As for the latter, first of all we as churches must be willing to seriously listen when others point at imperfections in our church life. As for the former, imperfections in the life of other churches must be brought to their attention in a manner that clearly proves that in line with Christ's example and on the ground of His service to His people, we try to render our Christian service to them. We need one another, we as individual believers, we as faithful churches. We are too easily satisfied to accept a situation that has much in common with what happened in the 16th century, with its numerous acts of sects, in particular among the Anabaptists (Article 29 BC).

Many more examples could be given. Christ virtually repeated His ordinance, when on the same evening He told His disciples:

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.John 13:34

The apostolic epistles are full of applications of this “new commandment.”

In Conclusion←⤒🔗

No re-enactment of the ceremony of the feet washing of John chapter 13 is required of us. What really is required is a mind set on Christ's own attitude towards us.

Furthermore we must realise that this attitude is required simply because our life, also our church life, is determined by a great continuing divine work. As soon as we are no longer aware of this, our church life is in danger of becoming just another tradition, and it is even questionable whether the word life can be used for it.

In this respect it can be a blessing that our attention was focussed upon that story by a number of recent news items.